Quenya Instrumental
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Usage
The instrumental corresponds to the preposition "with":
- técantë tecilden "they are writing with a pen"
But not all uses of the preposition "with" correspond to an instrumental, only when the underlying meaning is "with the help of" or "by means of" this case is used.
For example the sentence:
- cennenyet as elda "I saw them with an elf"
In this sentence we mean that they were together with an elf, not that they were using an elf to see better.
Sometimes the instrumental corresponds to the English preposition "through":
- lassi lantar i súrinen "leaves fall through the wind"
In the passive voice (see Quenya Syntaxis) the instrumental is also used for the agent and in English the agent is expressed by the preposition "by".
Except for the instrumental the preposition "with" can be translated into Quenya in several ways:
- ownership: arwa/arwë with a genitive:
- nauco arwa harmo "a dwarf with a treasure"
- "together with": as (used with a singular)/yo (used with plural, dual):
- quetin as atarinya "I speak with my father"
- quetin yo nildonyar "I speak with my friends"
- also in this meaning the prefix ó- is used with personal pronouns:
- óni "with me"
- ólë "with you"
- ómë "with us"
- ótë "with them"
- óta/ót "with it"
- óso/ósë/ós "with him/her"
Formation
We discuss each of the numbers separately:
Singular
The basic ending is -nen. So after vowels this case is equal to the dative with an extra -en
- tári "queen" → tárinen
- vendë "girl" → vendenen
When a noun ends on -r or -n, we add -nen:
- atar "father" → atarnen
- elen "star" → elennen
or has a stem-form on -m, -r or -n:
- talan "floor" → talamnen (stem-form talam-)
- olos "dream" → olornen (stem-form olor-)
The instrumental of contracted stems doesn't use the stem-form but the nominative singular:
- toron "brother" → toronnen (stem-form torn-)
When a noun or its stem-form ends on -p, -c or -t, we apply nasal inversion (see Quenya Past Tense):
- ecet "short sword" → ecenten
- filit "little bird" → filincen (stem-form filic-)
When a noun ends in -l, the ending becomes -den:
- macil "sword" → macilden
Other nouns ending on a consonant have -enen as ending:
- arquilis "desert" → arquilisenen
- nís "woman" → nissenen (stem-form niss-)
Plural
In the plural we always add -en to the dative:
- macil "sword" → macilin → macilinen
- elda "elf" → eldain → eldainen
(note: this ending forms a diphtong when the noun ends in -a, -o or -u)
The exceptions are regular once you know the dative:
- lassë "leaf" → lassín → lassínen
- mornië "darkness" → mornín → mornínen
- tári "queen" → tárín → tárínen
- lómë "night" → lómín → lómínen
Dual
In the dual we also add -en to the dative:
- aldu "a pair of trees" → aldun → aldunen (nom.sing.: alda)
- ciryat "a pair of ships" → ciryant → ciryanten (nom.sing.: cirya)
- aranet "a pair of kings" → aranent → aranenten (nom.sing.: aran)
Partitive Plural
When the nominative partitive plural ends in -lli, the instrumental ends in -llinen:
- toron "brother" → torolli → torollinen
- macil "sword" → macilli → macillinen
When the nominative partitive plural only has a single l before the final i then the instrumental ends in -línen:
- cirya "ship" → ciryali → ciryalínen
- sarat "sign" → sarateli → saratelínen
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