Quenya/Possessive

Neo-Quenya has 2 cases that together form the traditional genitive case of an inflected language (e.g. Latin, German or Greek): the genitive and the possessive.

So it is important to know when each is appropriate.

Usage

There are 4 situations in which the possessive is used:

1. Present owner

• 7Ya;Y `B `C7E5nE rocco i aranwa "the king's horse"

This means that the horse at this moment belongs to the king. It has no implications of origin or previous ownership.

This is why in English this case is frequently translated by an English genitive.

Of course this ownership is always related to the tense of the verb: it is the present owner at the moment indicated by the verb:

• 5#8 aY`C `B `Vm#yE nas coa i eldava "it's the elf's house"

So this house is at this moment the property of that elf.

• 5$8 qE6t# `B yR2$yE nes parma i vendeva "it was the book of the girl"

In this case the girl was the present owner of the book at the moment of the sentence, but it is quite possible that at this moment she no longer owns it.

2. Properties

The possessive case is also used to denote a property of a person or object:

• 9lU5$ `B 1.D7RyE huinë i taureva "the gloom of the wood"

• `Cj1E7R `B 5$6nE altarë i nerwa "the length of the man"

3. Substance

We also use this case to denote the substance from which something is made:

• 7T`V 1RjqEyE rië telpeva "the crown of silver"

This meaning is of course related to using an adjective:

• `B 1RjqT5# 7T`V i telpina rië "the silver crown"

When we use a possessive case the material from which the crown is made is emphasized (just as can be seen by the English translations).

4. Subject of nouns with an "about" noun

In situation 6 of the usage of the genitive case we have seen that the words after the preposition "about" are in the genitive. The subject of these words is however in the possessive case. This can again be translated by "of" but in this case "of" is equivalent to the preposition "by":

• zR4#j$ `C1E6nE quentalë atarwa "the story of (i.e. by) father"

• `VzR,G `B 5.DalYyE equessi i naucoiva "the sayings of (i.e. by) the dwarves"

(for more about this see also Verbal nouns)

Word order

The possessive is always put behind the noun to which it belongs:

• t~B7T `B 5.DaYyE míri i naucova "the dwarf's jewels"

• 1~C7T `B `VmlDyE tári i eldaiva "the elves' queen"

A possessive can also be used predicatively:

• `B aY6t# 5~C 8.D7Y2$yE i corma ná Saurondeva "the ring is Sauron's"

Use of the article

A noun that is accompanied by a noun in the possessive case normally shouldn't get the article i (however the article is sometimes written for poetic reasons).

So we have to take into account that a noun in the possessive can be translated with either an indefinite or a definite article:

• aY`C `Nd1E6nE coa ohtarwa "a house of a soldier"/"the house of a soldier"

• aY`C `B `Nd1E6nE coa i ohtarwa "a house of the soldier"/"the house of the soldier"

Formation

We discuss each of the numbers separately:

Singular

The basic ending is \hÎD -va after vowels and \nE -wa after consonants.

Most words simply add this ending:

• `Vm# elda "elf" → `Vm#yE eldava

• `C7E5 aran "king" → `C7E5nE aranwa

Singular Exceptions: Penultimate + Vowel

Words that end on a vowel and of which the penultimate syllable is short (see Phonology), lengthen the final vowel before adding \yE -va:

• 1ÎEj%`C tyalië "play" → 1ÎEj%~VyE tyaliéva

• `N7Yt$ oromë "hornblower" → `N7Yt~VyE oroméva

• 1E5^ tano "crafstman" → 1E5~NyE tanóva

Words of two syllables that contain the diphthong -ui in the first syllable and that end in a vowel, also lengthen this vowel before adding the ending:

• 9lU5$ huinë "gloom" → 9lU5~VyE huinéva

• 1lUt# tuima "sprout" → 1lUt~CyE tuimáva

(but e.g. zGs# quinga "bow" doesn't contain the diphthong lU ui because z qu stands for cw).

Words that have a stem-form in a vowel (I-stems and U-stems) use this stem-form:

• aU7Y curo "device" → aU7UyE curuva

• j~Nt$ lómë "night" → j~Nt%yE lómiva

Words that have a stem-form in a consonant use their basic form and not the stem-form:

• eT`N5 fion "hawk" → eT`N5nE fionwa (stem-form eT`N2\ fiond-)

• 1T7T`N8 tirios "burg" → 1T7T`N8nE tirioswa (stem-form 1T7T`N81\ tiriost-)

• `Ct%j amil "mother" → `Ct%jnE amilwa (stem-form `Ct%j°\ amill-)

• 1Y7Y5 toron "brother" → 1Y7Y5nE toronwa (stem-form 1Y65\ torn-)

• iRj$6 seler "sister" → iRj$6nE selerwa (stem-form iRj°\ sell-)

• 9R5$1 henet "window" → 9R5$1nE henetwa (stem-form 9R5$1+\ henets-)

• 1Ej#5 talan "floor" → 1Ej#5nE talanwa (stem-form 1Ej#t\ talam-)

Singular Exceptions: -ss

Words with a stem-form on -ss:

• 5~B8 nís "woman" → 5%,RyE nisseva (stem-form 5%,\ niss-)

• j%8 lis "honey" → j%,RyE lisseva (stem-formj%,\ liss-)

Words with a stem-form on -c:

• eTj%1 filit "little bird" → eTj%zD filiqua (stem-form eTj%a\ filic-)

• 5$j$1 nelet "tooth" → 5$j$zD nelequa (stem-form 5$ja\ nelc-)

• zR,R1 quesset "pillow" → zR,RzD quessequa (stem-form zR,Ra\ quessec-)

Words with a long vowel that is shortened in the stem-form:

• 1~Cj tál "foot" → 1EjnE talwa (stem-form 1Ej\ tal-)

• 5~V6 nér "man" → 5$6nE nerwa (stem-form 5$6\ ner-)

Plural

The ending is \`ByE -iva:

• t#aGj macil "sword" → t#aGj%yE maciliva

• `Vm# elda "elf" → `VmlDyE eldaiva

(note: this ending forms a diphthong when the noun ends in -a, -o or -u)

Plural Exceptions:

Words ending in `V -ë drop this `V -ë and have ~ByE -íva as ending:

• j#,R lassë "leaf" → j#,~ByE lassíva

Words ending in `B`V -ië drop this `B`V -ië and have ~ByE -íva as ending:

• t^65%`V mornië "darkness" → t^65~ByE morníva

Words ending in `B -i (or with a stem-form in `B -i) also get ~ByE -íva. Any preceding long vowel can be shortened:

• 1~C7T tári "queen" → 1~C7~ByE táríva

• 1~C7T tári "queen" → 1E7~ByE taríva

• j~Nt$ lómë "night" → j^t~ByE lomíva

Dual

The dual is regular: u-duals get \yE -va, t-duals get \nE -wa:

• aG7ÎD1 ciryat "a pair of ships" → aG7ÎD1nE ciryatwa (nom.sing.: aG7ÎD cirya)

• `Cm& aldu "a pair of trees" → `Cm&yE alduva (nom.sing.: `Cm# alda)

Partitive Plural

When the nominative partitive plural ends in \j°% -lli, the possessive ends in \j°%yE -lliva:

• 1Y7Y5 toron "brother" → 1Y7Yj°% torolli → 1Y7Yj°%yE torolliva

• t#aGj macil "sword" → t#aGj°% macilli → t#aGj°%yE macilliva

When the nominative partitive plural only has a single l before the final i then the possessive ends in -líva:

• aG7ÎD cirya "ship" → aG7ÎDj% ciryali → aG7ÎDj~ByE ciryalíva

• iD7E1 sarat "sign" → iD7E1Rj% sarateli → iD7E1Rj~ByE saratelíva

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