The subjunctive mood is used for various “unreal” (conditional or hypothetical) statements: things where the speaker is uncertain whether or not they are true. These are slightly different from the optative (things the speaker hopes or wishes were true) and the imperative (actions the speaker demands be done). The various
Quenya Grammar
Quenya Grammar P84: Optative
An optative is the expression of a wish, and Quenya usually formulates such expressions using the adverb nai “may it be that, be it that, maybe”. Its most famous use is in nai hiruvalye Valimar, nai elye hiruva “maybe thou shalt find Valimar, maybe even thou shalt find it” in
Quenya Grammar P83: Imperative
An imperative (command or request) in Quenya is typically formed using the imperative particle á, which generally proceeds the aorist form of the verb: á tule “do come” (PE22/140), a laita te “praise them” (LotR/953), á na márie “be well”, the sentence formulation of namárië “farewell” (PE17/162). The imperative particle
Quenya Grammar P82: Verbal Modality
Modality is a linguistic concept having to do with the possibility, necessity or permissibility of an action. English expresses modality through a set of special auxiliary verbs called the “modal verbs”, followed by the verbal action: “I can do that” (I am capable of doing that). “I may do that”
Quenya Grammar P81: Reflexive
A reflexive formation is one in which the subject and object of the verb are the same. In English, reflexive pronouns are formed with the suffix “-self” as in “the man washed himself”. Quenya has a similar set of reflexive pronouns from with the prefix im- or in- (VT47/37) that
Quenya Grammar P80: Impersonal Verbs and Passive Voice
P79 is skipped because it is another small bridge chapter introducing verbal moods. Both English and Quenya make use of “impersonal” verbs, which are verbs with no determinate subject. An obvious example in English is “it rains”. The verb “rains” describes the entire action, and there is not really any
Quenya Grammar P78: Verbal Adjectives
Aside from participles, there are a number of other common mechanisms for forming adjectives from verbs, but these were not part of formal conjugation and unlike participles could not interact with the system of tenses. -ima: Probably the best known the verbal adjective suffixes, -ima is used to express possibility,
Quenya Grammar P77: Verbal Nouns
P76 was skipped because it is just a short entry introducing verbal nouns and adjectives. Aside from gerunds, there are a number of other mechanisms that were widely used in Quenya for forming nouns from verbs, but these were not strictly speaking part of verb conjugation. Abstract noun endings: Quenya
Quenya Grammar P75: Compound Tenses
Quenya has five simple verb tenses: aorist (timeless), past, future, present/imperfect and perfect. Aside from the “default” aorist tense, two of these tenses have to do with time (past and future) and two have to with the verbal aspect of the action: imperfect (an ongoing action not yet complete) and
Quenya Grammar P74: Perfective Adjective
In addition to the active participle (-(i)la) and the passive participle (-ina), Tolkien discussed a third suffix -nwa, which he variously labeled a “passive suffix”, a “perfective adjective” or a “perfective participle”. The perfective participle. This was formed with -nwa. It originally was not passive or active but denoted the