Neo-Quenya/Pronouns

< Neo-Quenya

Personal pronouns

This article can be found on a separate page: Personal pronouns.

Possessive pronouns

This article can be found on a separate page: Possessive pronouns.

Relative pronouns

Neo-Quenya contains two relative pronouns hÍE ya and `B i.

The pronoun `B i cannot be declined, it is only used when it is the subject of the sub-sentence and the antecedent (the noun to which it refers) is a person or a group of persons:


By contrast, the number of ya equals the number of the antecedent:


And it can be used to replace both subject and object. So the following sentence has two meanings:


In contrast to `B i, it is never wrong to use hÍE ya although sometimes the context has to be used to decide which meaning is actually intended.


The pronoun hÍE ya is declined depending on the function it has in the sub-sentence. When hÍE ya is used instead of noun in a certain case, it has to be declined in that case:

is decomposed of:

  • `B aY`C6 5#6 aD65$ i coar nar carnë "the houses are red"
  • `B aY`C,R5 t#7Tjt$ i coassen marilmë "we live in the houses"

So hÍE ya is used to replace `B aY`C,R5 i coassen, so it becomes hÍE,R5 yassen.

It is declined as a noun on -a:

Case Singular Plural Dual
Nominative hÍE
ya		 hÍE6
yar		 hÍE1
yat
Genitive hÍY
yo		 hÍE7Y5
yaron		 hÍE1Y
yato
Possessive hÍEyE
yava		 hÍlDyE
yaiva		 hÍE1nE
yatwa
Dative hÍE5
yan		 hÍlD5
yain		 hÍE4
yant
Ablative hÍEj°^
yallo		 hÍEj°^5
yallon		 hÍEj°^6
yallor - (alt.)		 hÍEj1Y
yalto
Allative hÍE5:#
yanna		 hÍE5:#6
yannar		 hÍE4#
yanta
Locative hÍE,R
yassë		 hÍE,R5
yassen		 hÍE1R+
yatsë
Instrumental hÍE5$5
yanen		 hÍlD5$5
yainen		 hÍE4$5
yanten
Respective hÍE8
yas		 hÍlD8
yais		 hÍE1R8
yates

In a relative sub-sentence the word order is not as free as in a normal sentence as the verb always immediately follows the relative pronoun. And so in this case the subject follows its verb:


The advantage of this is that there is never any confusion between the use of `B i as article and as relative pronoun, as the relative pronoun is always followed by a conjugated verb:


The case-ending of hÍE ya can be omitted when the antecedent has the same case in the main sentence as hÍE ya has in the subsentence:


Relative pronouns without antecedent

The relative pronoun i can be used without antecedent, it then means "the one(s) who":


Such sub-sentences can also appear as direct object of the main verb:


The relative pronoun hÍE ya can also be used in this way, but it means "that which":

Demonstrative pronouns

Quenya distinguishes three distances: close, away, far away. We also have two demonstrative pronouns that indicate that something is in the past or in the future.

Close: this demonstrative pronoun is iG5# sina "this"

and in the plural:

Note: iG5# sina is related to 8~B sí "now" and iG5^t$ sinomë "here"


Away: this demonstrative pronoun is 1E5# tana "that"

and in the plural:


Far away/future: this demonstrative pronoun is `V4# enta "yonder", it is also used to denote something in the future:

and in the plural:

Note: We also have an adverb `V4^ ento that is used with the meaning "next"


Past: this demonstrative pronoun is hÍE5# yana "former, earlier"

and in the plural:

Note: Words with a demonstrative pronoun don't have the article.


Demonstrative pronouns always follow their noun so the rules of the last declinable word have to be followed:


Independant demonstrative pronouns

The pronouns iG5# sina and 1E5# tana can also be used as subject with the accompanying noun:

These independant forms don't change when used in the plural:

Interrogative pronouns

In English most interrogative pronouns begin with a "w": who, what, where, when, why, ... In Neo-Quenya they analogously start in t#\ ma-.

So we find that "who" corresponds to t#5 man:

And t#5# "what" corresponds to mana:


This interrogative pronoun can also be used with the meaning "which", but then it isn't put at the start of the question but follows the noun:


The other English interrogative pronouns correspond to the inflected forms of t#5 man and t#5# mana:

t#5 Who t#5# What
Nominative t#5À
Man?		 Who? t#5#À
Mana?		 What?
Genitive t#5^À
Mano? 		Whose? --- ---
Dative --- --- t#5#5À
Manan? 		To whom?
Ablative t#j°^À
Mallo? 		Wherefrom? --- ---
Allative t#5:#À
Manna? 		Whereto? --- ---
Locative t#,RÀ
Massë? 		Where? t#5#,RÀ
Manassë? 		When?
Instrumental t#5$5À
Manen? 		How? t#5#5$5À
Mananen? 		With what?
Respective --- --- t#5#8À
Manas? 		Whereby?

The final interrogative pronoun t# ma is used to ask yes/no-questions. The word order doesn't change, we just add t# ma to the beginning of the sentence to make it into a yes/no-question:

  • t# 1Ff$8 `B qE6t#À ma tences i parma? "did he write the book?"


  • t# `V`C t#j1E `B `N7Y4$,FÀ ma ëa malta i orontessë? "is there gold in the mountain?"


The verb 5~C ná (or 5#6 nar) is usually dropped when changing the sentence into a yes/no-question:

  • t# 5~B8 `V4# `Vm#À ma nís enta elda? "is that woman an elf?"


In an interrogative sub-sentence, we also use ma:

Indefinite pronouns

When you want to be vague about who performs an action we use "one" or "someone" in English. In Neo-Quenya we use the pronoun zR5 quen:


Its declination is in all cases except the nominative equal to the declination of the noun z~V5 quén, zR5\ quen- "person":


The pronoun ilya means "each" when used in the singular and "all" in the plural:


The pronouns for "many", "much" are:


The other indefinite pronouns are:


The English indefinite pronouns "some" and "few" do not exist in Quenya as they are rendered by the Partitive Plural (see Nouns).

Reflexive pronouns

The reflexive pronouns are expressed by the prefix in-:

There also exists an informal second person: `B4Ì$ intyë.

>> Neo-Quenya >> Pronouns

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