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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Quenya Lesson 4 -- Verbs, Present Tense

< Lesson 3


Present:
Lihan Taifun            (teaching)
Rhûn Darkmoon     
Siwan Sandalwood 


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General Note 1 About Verbs:

Quenya verbs are divided into two forms. (Fortunately you can tell, just by looking, which form you are dealing with.)

"Basic" verbs, simple words ending in a consonant:
     mat-  eat,
     car-   do, make,
     tul-    come

and "A stem" verbs, which have an ending (such as "–ya" or "–ta") added. These always end in –a–
     lanta-   fall
     ulya-     pour
     harna-  wound
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General Note 2 About Verbs:

The discussions below shows how to form verbs for a single subject (“he/she”). If the subject is plural (“they”)(and there is no subject-pronoun attached to the end of the verb – a future topic) add –r to the verb to make it plural.
     lassë lanta     a leaf falls
     lassi lantar    leaves fall

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Someone has compiled a complete set of the forms of Quenya verbs:

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Present Tense:

Quenya has two (or maybe three) forms that we would call “present tense”:  Aorist tense and Continuative tense. There are also situations where there is an implied verb “is”.

(Is “Aorist” an English word? It is at least a “linguistics” word.)


Aorist
Aorist” present tense expresses the simple, unmodified, unlimited meaning of the verb. Use this form for general, timeless truths. It is often translated by the English present tense.

Forming Aorist verbs:
     Basic verb: add -ë (or –i– if any other ending is added)
          matë     (one person) eats
          matir    (several people) eat (Remember adding –r for the plural?)

     A Stem: ends in -a
          (That makes A-stem verbs come out just like their plain ordinary dictionary form.)
           lassë lanta     a leaf falls
           lassi lantar    leaves fall


Continuative Present Tense
Continuative” present tense expresses an action that is happening right now. It is sometimes translated as “is ~ing”. Some situations could appropriately use either Aorist or Continuative.

Forming Continuative verbs:
     Basic Verb: lengthen the vowel (add accent), and add –a
          máta     is eating

     A Stem: lengthen the vowel, unless it falls before a consonant cluster, (remember, long vowels never occur before a consonant cluster)
          and replace –a with –ëa
               lantëa     is falling


Examples of timeless truths (Aorist)
     "I am a mermaid"
     "Dogs eat meat."

vs. present actions (Continuative):
     "I am wearing human clothes"
     "That dog is eating my dinner!"

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Implied “Is”
You can leave out the "is" in a sentence, if it is just joining a noun and an adjective.


"That table (is) beige and white": in Quenya you wouldn't even bother with the "is".





An ordinary adjective comes before the noun. (Correcting last lesson to reflect this.) If the adjective comes after the noun, it becomes a sentence, “Noun is adjective.”.
     calima Anar      the bright Sun
     Anar calima     The Sun is bright.

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Quenya word for the day:
     "Hantanyel" — “Thank you”

(It comes from the verb “hanta-”, thank, with pronouns to make it “I thank you”.)

Find even more useful, authentic phrases at: http://www.realelvish.net/quenyaphrasebook.php

> Lesson 5     

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