Resuming from where we stopped, let’s check out the remaining Quenya verbal forms as well as compare their functionality with English verbal system. Some translation problems will arise now. Check below:
Perfect
| A-stem verbs |
Primary verbs |
| enyénië (lamented) |
amátië (eaten) |
| amápië (grasped) |
acárië (done) |
| isintië (known) |
usúcië (drunk) |
Perfect formula is quite simple. Add perfect prefix to the verb (basically you repeat the first vowel of the verb) and then add -ië suffix to all verbs, primary or not. 99% times, the base vowel will become long. Once again, “isintië” is the irregular form presented here. Perfect functions as Present Perfect AND Past Perfect tense of English. There are no distinctions between both.
Imperative
| A-stem verbs |
Primary verbs |
| á nyéna (lament!) |
á matë (eat!) |
| á mapa (grasp!) |
á carë (do!) |
| á ista (know!) |
á sucë (drink!) |
Ridiculously easy! Add the imperative particle “á”. That’s it! The verb remains the same. Nothing more to say about it. That’s Imperative!
Active Participle
| A-stem verbs |
Primary verbs |
| nyénala (lamenting) |
mátala (eating) |
| mápala (grasping) |
cárala (doing) |
| istala (knowing) |
súcala (drinking) |
Uh-oh! Here lies the pit one may fall if one relies simply in a word-by-word translation. Active Participle stands for a verbal tense when actually the verb is not used as a verb, but as an adjective. E.g.: The eating cow, the lamenting woman, the drinking guy. You see? The verbs here have become in essence an adjective to the nouns they are describing and/or attributing a quality. ( = adjective). NEVER confuse the -ing ending with present continuous conjugation or stuff like that. That’s not the case! To form Active Participle, add the -la suffix and make the first vowel long.
Passive Participle
| A-stem verbs |
Primary verbs |
| nyénaina (lamented) |
mátaina (eaten) |
| mapaina (grasped) |
carna (done) |
| istaina (known) |
súcina (drunk) |
Another one tricky! The twin brother of Active Participle. Same thing happen in Passive Participle, when a verb is not used as a verb itself, but as an adjective. Examples will help you with the idea: The eaten hamburger, the known puzzle, the drunk man. Don’t be hasty to translate! When you see an English verb in the perfect tense, the function itself will show you if it’s really Perfect tense in Quenya or Passive Participle. It’s always syntax that matters! Form the Passive Participle by adding the -ina and changing the first vowel from short to long. Careful with irregularities though (súcina, mapaina, carna)
Gerund
| A-stem verbs |
Primary verbs |
| nyénië (lamenting) |
matië (eating) |
| mapië (grasping) |
carië (doing) |
| istië (knowing) |
sucië (drinking) |
Yeah! One more different to go. Gerund tense follows the pattern previously shown. It’s when a verb is not used as a verb, but as a NOUN! Weird? Not that much! Check the examples: The drinking, the lamenting of death, the knowing of suffering. They are nouns! There are other situations where Gerund is used in Quenya, but that’s more complex and involves case declination too. Let’s have that another time. The formation works by simply adding -ië. Pretty regular!
Conditional
| A-stem verbs |
Primary verbs |
| cé nyénuva (would lament) |
cé matuva (would eat) |
| cé mapuva (would grasp) |
cé caruva (would do) |
| cé istuva (would know) |
cé sucuva (would drink) |
This one is a device, a contigency, a feature one may exploit to express better the uncertainty of a statement. Cé means “may be” and it’s related to uncertainty. When adding the uncertainty particle with future tense, one gets the conditional, the “would” not present in Quenya. Cé may be added to any tense as well. For instance: Cé acaries (he might have done), cé istan (I may know), etc.
So,
this is it. I hope this simple, quick guide helps you conjugating Quenya verbs. It’s meant to be simple and not deep. Terms and names here are given and used to make it lighter for everyone. It’s not a treaty of linguistics, it’s just a nice and friendly guide. Use it in your elven path whenever it compels you!
By
Plain, simple, easy to see, easy to get, here is a basic table with 24 Quenya verbs (just a small amount) showing you all we had discussed in the last 2 previous posts. This may look a little daunting, mainly if you only speak English, but with practice, practice and practice, you’ll get used with it pretty quickly. (unless you don’t like languages or have little skill with them)
