According to Tolkien's son Christopher, Quenya was "language as he [Tolkien] wanted it, the language of his heart". In one of his letters, Tolkien wrote that Ouenya might be said to be composed on a Latin basis with two other main ingredients, Finnish and Greek. The grammatical structure involving a large number of cases and other inflections, was clearly inspired by Latin. For Tolkien, Quenya was the ultimate experiment in euphony and phonaesthetics.

 

The structure of Quenya:

 

A. N o u n s

 

Numbers (nominative):

1. singular = basic form

2. plural: suffix -r for nouns ending in any vowel except e, -i for nouns ending in a consonant or e (displacing the final e): Elda > Eldar, Ainu > Ainur // Atan > Atani, Quende > Quendi

3. dual = a natural pair of: suffix -t, for nouns ending in t or d the suffix -u is used: maryat (her pair of hands)

4. partitive (-li) = some out of a larger group?/many?: ciryali (some?/many? ships, function not fully understood)

 

Cases:

1. nominative

2. genitive

3. possessive (denotes possession or ownership, example: róma Oroméva = Orome’s horn, a horn that belongs to Orome at the time that is being narrated, whereas róma Oromeo = Orome’s horn means a horn coming from Orome, implying that the horn had left Orome’s possession at the time that is being narrated)

4. dative

5. (accusative: in Middle-earth the distinct accusative case of the Quenya spoken in Valinor disappeared from the speech of the Noldor)

6. ablative (carries the meaning "from, out of" similar to the Latin ablativus seperativus)

7. locative (carries the meaning "on" or "in" similar to the Latin ablativus loci)

8. allative (carries the meaning "to", "into", "upon", in Latin the accusative + preposition of direction would be used)

9. instrumental (marks the instrument with which something is done, or the reason why something happens, corresponding to the Latin ablativus instrumentalis)

10. respective ("Mystery Case", function wholly unknown)

Examples of fully inflicted nouns:

singular (ship)	plural (ships)	dual (two/a pair of)	partitive (some)
N: cirya (a ship)	ciryar	ciryat	ciryali
G: ciryo (a ship’s/of a ship)	ciryaron	ciryato	ciryalion
P: ciryava (of a ship)	ciryaiva	ciryatwa	ciryalíva
D: ciryan (for a ship)	ciryain	ciryant	ciryalin
(A: ciryá archaic Quenya	ciryai	ciryat	ciryalí)
Abl: ciryallo (from a ship)	ciryallon/-llor	ciryalto	ciryalillo/-lillon
L: ciryasse (on/in a ship)	ciryassen	ciryatse	ciryalisse/-lissen
All: ciryanna (to a ship)	ciryannar	ciryanta	ciryalinna/-linnar
I: ciryanen (with/by a ship)	ciryainen	ciryanten	ciryalínen
R: ciryas (?)	ciryais	ciryates	ciryalis

 

singular (leaf)	plural (leaves)	dual (two/a pair of)	partitive (some)
N: lasse (a ship)	lassi	lasset	lasseli
G: lasseo (a leaf’s/of a leaf)	lassion	lasseto	lasselion
P: lasséva (of a leaf)	lassiva	lassetwa	lasselíva
D: lassen (for a leaf)	lassin	lassent	lasselin
(A: lassé	lassí	lasset	lasselí)
Abl: lassello (from a leaf)	lassellon/-llor	lasselto	lasselillo/-lillon
L: lassesse (in/on a leaf)	lassessen	lassetse	lasselisse/-lissen
All: lassenna (to a leaf)	lassennar	lassenta	lasselinna/-linnar
I: lassenen (with a leaf)	lassinen	lassenten	lasselínen
R: lasses (?)	lassis	lassetes	lasselis

 

If case endings are added to a noun ending in a consonant, an e is often inserted between the noun and the ending to prevent a difficult cluster from arising:

 

Elendil > All: Elendilenna (instead of Elendilnna).

 

If the noun is plural, an i is inserted between the noun and the ending:

 

elen > Abl: elenillor (instead of elenllor).

 

 

B. A r t i c l e s

 

There is no indefinite article.

The definite article is i for both singular and plural:

 

elen (a star) > i elen (the star)

eleni (stars) > i eleni (the stars)

 

C. V e r b s

 

Most Quenya verbs can be divided into two categories. The smallest group are the basic (primary) verbs ending in a consonant, e.g. mat (eat), tul (come). The second, larger group are the a-stems (derived verbs, final vowel a), that have some ending added to their original root, often the endings –ya or –ta, e.g. tulta (summon), tulya (bring). Quenya distinguishes between singular and plural verb endings (is the subject of a sentence a plural noun, the ending -r is suffixed to the verb), and 5 tenses:

 

1. Aorist (= simple present, timeless truths):

Basic verbs form the aorist by suffixing an –e in the singular and an –ir in the plural. If any further ending is added to the singular aorist verb, the e is also changed into i:

car (make/do) > care (makes/does), carin (I make/do)

> carir (make/do)

i carir quettar (those who make words)

A-stems show no variation, but end in –a whether or not any further ending follows:

lanta (fall) > lanta (falls), lantan (I fall)

> lantar (fall)

 

2. Present (= present continuous):

 For basic verbs it is formed by adding the ending –a and lengthening the vowel of the verbal stem itself:

sil (shine) > síla (is shining), sílar (are shining)

mat (eat) > máta (is eating), mátar (are eating)

For a-stems the final a undergoes dissimilation to e to avoid two a’s in sequence when the ending –a associated with the present tense is added. Lengthening of the stem-vowel only occurs when the stem-vowel is not followed by a consonant cluster:

ora (urge) > órea (is urging), órear (are urging)

lanta (fall) > lantea (is falling), lantear (are falling)

 

3. Past:

 Always shows the final vowel –e, which is very often part of the ending –ne (seems to be the most general past tense marker in Quenya):

orta (rise) > ortane (rose)

ora (urge) > orane (urged)

tir (watch) > tirne (watched)

Basic verbs ending in –p, -t, and –c cannot receive the ending –ne, since the clusters pn, tn, cn are not permitted in Quenya. This problem is solved by inserting a nasal element (n or m) before the last consonant and then adding the ending –e:

top (cover) > tompe (covered)

hat (break) > hante (broke)

tac (fasten) > tance (fastened)

Basic verbs ending in –l lack the nasal element, probably due to assimilation:

vil (fly) > ville (instead of vinle)

 

4. Perfect (expresses actions that have been completed in the past, but are still relevant for the present):

 As in Latin Quenya has a unitary perfect tense, it is not formed by an auxilliary + participle as in English or German. All perfect forms show the ending –ie, the vowel of the verbal stem is lenghtened, if possible (Quenya cannot have a long vowel in front of a consonant cluster!), and a prefix-vowel (augment), which is always identical to the vowel of the verbal stem, is added. In a-stem verbs the –ie replaces the a-ending. Since Quenya cannot have y+i, a ya-ending is also replaced:

tul (come) > utúlie (has come), utúlier (have come)

mat(eat) > amátie (has eaten), amátier (have eaten)

tec (write) > etécie (has written), etécier (have written)

ric (twist) > irície (has twisted), irícier (have twisted)

not (count) > onótie (has counted), onótier (have counted)

tuv (find) > utúvie (has found), utúvier (have found)

mapa (grasp) > amápie (has grasped), amápier (have grasped)

panta (open) > apantie (has opened), apantier (have opened)

menta (send) > ementie (has sent), ementier (have sent)

vanya (go) > avánie (has gone), avánier (have gone)

 

5. future:

 The ending –uva is attatched to the verb, replacing the final a in a-stems:

mar (dwell) > maruva (will dwell)

linda (sing) > linduva

ora (urge) > oruva

The future is also used as a wishing formula introduced by the word ‘nai’ (be it that/wish that):

nai tiruvantes (may they keep it) (tiruva = will watch/keep, -nte = they, -s = it)

 

 

In addition to the five tenses, the Quenya verb may also appear in the form of the infinitive, the gerund and the imperative:

 

infinitive: basic verbs show the ending -e, a-stems show no special ending, the infinitive is identical to an endingless aorist:

quet (speak) > polin quete (I can speak)

lelya (go) > lelya (to go)

Quenya also has an extended infinitive: -ta is added to the infinitive, the final e of the infinitive of basic verbs is dropped:

car (do) > care (to do) > carita (doing)

The extended infinitive may function as a gerund:

lá carita i hamil mára alasaila ná (not to do/not doing what you judge good would be unwise)

 

gerund (verbal noun): see extended infinitive, another gerundial ending is –ie:

tyal (play) > tyalie (playing)

imperative: independent particle á in front of the simple infinitive:

care (to do) > á care! (do!)

laita (to bless) > a laita! (bless!)

A negative imperative may be introduced by áva (don’t):

áva care (don’t do)

 

(Not all Quenya verbs fit readily into the system. Irregularities are often justified in terms of the underlying pholological evolution Tolkien had in mind, e.g.

rer (sow): past tense = rende

instead of rerne since the verb is derived from the original root red, but the d following a vowel in primitive Elvish normally changed to z and then became r, the past tense form thus preserves the original root of the verb)

 

 

D. A d j e c t i v e s

 

Many Quenya adjectives end in the vowel a:

lassea (happy) from alasse (happiness)

numenya (western) from númen (west)

laiqua (green)

vanya (fair)

morna (black)

Others end in e:

carne (red)

varne (swart)

inimeite (female)

A few end in consonants:

firin (dead)

 

The adjective is followed by the noun it describes as in English or German. It agrees in number with the noun. Adjectives ending in a have plural forms ending in –e, those ending in e or in a consonant have plural forms in –i, those ending in ea have plural forms in -ie:

vanya vende (a beautiful maiden) > vanye vendi (beautiful maidens)

carne parma (a red book) > carni parmar (red books)

firin casar (a dead dwarf) > firini casari (dead dwarves)

laurea lanta lasse (golden falls a leaf) > laurie lantar lassi (golden fall leaves)

 

An intensive or superlative form of the adjective is derived by prefixing an-:

calima (bright) > ancalima (most bright)

How to construct a comparative is not fully understood yet.

 

E. P a r t i c i p l e s

 

The present participle describes the condition you are in when you do something, the ending

-la is suffixed. If the stem-vowel is not followed by a consonant cluster or another vowel, it is lengthened. Basic verbs add a connecting vowel a or i:

falasta (to foam) > falastala (foaming)

hlapu (fly) > hlápula (flying)

sil (shine) > sílala (shining)

it (twinkle) > itila (twinkling)

 

The past participle describes the condition you enter if exposed to the action of the corresponding verb (e.g. you are seen) or the condition you are in after having completed the action described by the verb (e.g. after you go, you are gone). It has the endings -na/-ina/-da:

car (make) > carna (made)

rac (break) > rácina (broken)

mel (love) > melda ((be)loved)

 

F. P r o n o u n s

 

Quenya pronouns usually appear as endings directly suffixed to a verb or noun, not so often as independent words. Independent pronouns can be used to emphasize the person as does e.g. the Latin "ego" at the beginning of a sentence. (The system of pronouns is not fully understood, therefore it is not possible to give a complete account of all pronouns.)

 

Examples:

 

Endorenna utúlien (to Middle-earth (allative) I have come) < utulie (have come)+ -n (I)

á utúvienyes! (I have found it!) > utúvie (have found) + -nye (I) + -s (it)

máryat (her pair of hands) > -rya (her), -t (dual)

parmanya (my book) > parma (book) + -nya (my),

parmarya (her book) > parma (book) + -rya (her)

macilerya (his sword) > macil (sword) + -(e)rya (his)

 

The nouns with possessive endings are inflected like normal nouns:

tielyanna (upon your path) > tie (path) + -lya (your) + -nna (allative ending)

 

Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo (a star is shining upon the hour of our meeting) < elen (a star), síla (is shining), lúmenna (allative: upon the hour), omentie (meeting) + -lva (our) + -o (genitive ending, displaces the a)