Sindarin simple plurals change the vowels inside of the words instead of adding an affix. When looking at the vowels, divide the syllables into final and non-final syllables. The final syllable is the last syllable in a word. If it's a word with only one syllable, then that syllable is a final syllable.
Here's a few words with the vowels in the final syllables made bold:
bâr home
coron ball
(n)dúnadan Númenórean Human
The vowels and diphthongs in final syllables change like this:
| Letter | → | Result | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vowels | |||
| A | → | AI | ham chair → haim chairs |
| A from ancient G | → | I | fela cave → fili caves |
| E | → | I | tess pierced hole → tiss pierced holes |
| I | → | I | rim crowd → rim crowds |
| O | → | Y | post rest → pyst rests |
| O from ancient Ā | → | OE | balrog → belroeg |
| U | → | Y | rusc fox → rysc foxes |
| U from ancient W | → | U | (n)golu lore → (n)gelu lores |
| Y | → | Y | ylf cup → ylf cups |
| Long Vowels | |||
| Â | → | AI | (m)bâr home → (m)bair homes |
| Ê | → | Î | hên eye → hîn eyes |
| Î | → | Î | rîn queen → rîn queens |
| Ô | → | Ŷ | dôr country → dŷr countries |
| Û | → | UI | mûl slave → muil slaves |
| Ŷ | → | Ŷ | bŷr follower → bŷr followers |
| Diphthongs | |||
| AI | → | AI | taith mark → taith marks |
| AI in a -YA word with ancient vowel E or I | → | Î | cair ship → cîr ships |
| AE | → | AE | aes cooked food → aes cooked foods |
| AU | → | OE | taur forest → toer forests |
| AW | → | OE | saw juice → soe juices |
| OE | → | OE | goe terror → goe terrors |
| UI | → | UI | uil seaweed → uil seaweeds |
| UI in a -YA word with ancient vowel O or U | → | Ŷ | ruin footprint → rŷn footprints |
These words have AI or UI in their final syllables. In their history, they ended with -YA. They are hard to spot because the diphthongs AI and UI have multiple sources in Sindarin's history, and I will always mark them in wordlists for you. A good place to check what the history of a word is Eldamo.
If the U at the end of a word comes from an ancient suffix like -WE and -WA, it doesn't change. You can spot these words because they end in a -U without anything following it, a U that isn't in a diphthong.
There are only a few words that fall into this category, and they are:
In these words, the second to last syllable counts as the final syllable. Therefore, in these plural words A becomes EI and E becomes I, while in the final syllable the A becomes an I.
Examples
fela cave → fili caves
nadha fetter → neidhi fetters
When you're making something plural, if it ends up with an I before an I or Y, the extra I is deleted.
Examples
iell daughter → ill daughters
iôn son → ŷn sons
The way the vowels change in non-final syllables is called I-affection, and you'll run into it again in other sections of the grammar.
The only vowels that change is short vowels, and only one diphthong changes.
| Letter | → | Result | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vowels | |||
| A | → | E | talan tree-house → telain tree-houses |
| E | → | E | mellon friend → mellyn friends |
| I | → | I | hithu fog → hithu fogs |
| O | → | E | (n)golodh scholar → (n)gelydh scholars |
| O from ancient Ā | → | O | *gothan inventor → *gothain inventors |
| U | → | Y | curu skill → cyru skills |
| Y | → | Y | *ylvon chalice → *ylvoen chalices |
| Diphthong | |||
| AW | → | EW | tawar forest → tewair forests |
O from ancient Ā was sometimes treated like a regular O, especially if followed by another O as in the word nogoth. This was due to it sounding a lot like Sindarin words like coron. Thus, an analogy would be made, like this: coron > ceryn; nogoth > negyth. This process is called Analogy, and it messes with a lot of Sindarin grammar, as well as many of our-world grammars.