The Noun with an Adjective

adjective syntax, lenition, and number agreement

When an adjective modifies a noun, it follows the noun. Adjectives become plural when their nouns are plural. They use the simple plural form. This is called "adjective agreement."

Another thing that happens is Lenition. The adjective is lenited when following the noun. Lenition is also called Vocalic Mutation or Soft Mutation. I use "lenition" when referring to this sort of mutation when it's not caused by a word, but instead is caused by grammar.

cair + glân → cair 'lân "a white ship"
i + cair + glân → i gair 'lân "the white ship"
cîr + glân → cîr 'lain "white ships"
in + cîr + glân → i chîr 'lain "the white ships"

In English, words like "the/my/our/your/his/this/that/those" are determiners. The determiner "the" can't be used alongside any of the other determiners. But, in Sindarin possessive pronouns, interrogatives, and demonstratives are all determinative adjectives. That means in Sindarin, it's perfectly grammatical to say something like "the my shoe," while in English that makes little sense.

There is a slight difference in meaning when you leave out "the" in Sindarin. It'd be like saying "a(n) ___ of mine." Thus, you will need "the" in combination with possessive pronouns and demonstratives most of the time. The Interrogative adjective (what/which) however isn't talking about a specific thing that both speaker and listener know, so it doesn't get "the" attached to it.

Here is a list of all of the possessive, demonstrative, and interrogative adjectives:

carab nîn a hat of mine
i garab gîn your (informal) hat
ceraib lîn hats of yours (formal)
i cheraib dhîn y'all's hats
i garab hen this hat
i cheraib hin these hats
carab van? which hat?

These adjectives can be stacked onto a noun. The interrogative/demonstrative/possessive adjectives follow the regular adjectives, like this:

i garab vorn hen this black hat
i cheraib vyrn vîn our (not-your) black hats

A sample dialogue:

Quiz goes here