Sindarin Summary One: The Articles

This is a summary of Helge Fauskanger's brilliant essay Sindarin - The Noble Tongue at www.ardalambion.com where a detailed analysis of grammar is given. While that is invaluable to the more serious student of Sindarin, it is also quite complicated for the new student. These summaries are intended to simplify the basics of Sindarin. I strongly urge you to read Fauskanger's essay first. If there are conflicts between information there and information in these summaries, do what I do: Trust Fauskanger!

Indefinite articles: "a, an" (indicates a non-specific thing)
Definite articles: "the, plural the" (indicates a specific thing)
Prepositions with definite article: "to the", "under the"
Genitival article: “of the” (shows belonging)

Indefinite Articles: Sindarin does not use “a” or “an” with nouns; unless the definite article “the” is used, you know to translate it as indefinite.

A king ~ aran
An elf ~ edhel

Definite Articles: There are two definite articles in Sindarin, depending on whether the noun is singular or plural. For a singular noun you use i and for a plural you use in.

A king ~ aran
The king ~ i aran
Kings ~ erain (the changes of vowels in plurals comes next)
The kings ~ in erain

An Elf ~ edhel
The Elf ~ i edhel
Elves ~ edhil
The Elves ~ in edhil

Prepositions with Definite Articles: In English we use prepositions (to, from, in, above, under, etc.) separately from the articles. In Sindarin these prepositions are attached to the definite article in “the”, and singular and plural are covered by the one form.

Na “to” becomes nan “to the”
Nu “under” becomes nuin “under the”

I speak to an elf ~ Pedin na edhel
I speak to the elf ~ Pedin nan edhel

I stop under a tree ~ Derin nu orn
I stop under the tree ~ Derin nuin orn

Genitival Article: The genitival article en “of, of the” is used to show belonging for both singular and plural common nouns:

End of the Wood ~ Methed-en-Glad
Princes of the West ~ Conin en Annûn
Home of the Petty-Dwarves ~ Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg
Deer’s Leap ~ Cabed-en-Aras (Leap of the Deer)

En is not needed to show belonging in the case of a proper noun:

Ennyn Durin “Doors of Durin”
Aran Moria “King of Moria”

Sometimes en is shown only as e- because of the initial consonant of the following word, such as in the case of Narn e-Dinúviel “Tale of the Nightingale”, which is explained in the section about consonant mutations.

With plural nouns the definite article in "the" is normally (but not always) used instead of the genitival en:

Annon-in-Gelydh “Gate [of] the Noldor”
Aerlinn in Edhil “Hymn [of] the Elves”

It is also possible to use the article i instead of en with a singular noun, but not common:

Condir i Drann “Mayor [of] the Shire”

The article i “the” can also be used as the relative pronouns “who” or “that”: This is perhaps better discussed in a section on pronouns, so even though Fauskanger talks about it this early, I’d advise you to ignore it for now.

If you have any questions or comments about this summary, please contact me at taramiluiel@cox.internet.com

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