Quenya Dative
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Usage
The dative is used for the indirect object.
- i nér anta i parma i eldan "the man gives the book to the elf"
The word order is free because we can always recognize the indirect object by its ending:
- i nér anta i eldan i parma "the man gives the elf the book"
- i eldan i nér anta i parma "to the elf the man gives the book"
- i nér i eldan anta i parma
Some verbs can have an indirect object without a direct object:
- i vendi liltar i aranen "the girls dance for the king"
The verb apsen- "remit, forgive" has a direct object in the dative:
- i aran apsenë i neren "the king forgives the man"
The preposition rá "on behalf of, for" is used with the dative:
- i orco tullë rá Sauronden "the orc came on behalf of Sauron"
Impersonal verbs
The dative is also used for the recipient of certain impersonal verbs:
- i seldon óla aiwion "the boy dreams about birds"
(see also: Quenya Special Verbs)
Formation
We discuss each of the numbers separately:
Singular
The basic ending is -n after vowels and -en after consonants.
Most words simply add this ending:
- aran "king" → aranen
- tári "queen" → tárin
- vendë "girl" → venden
Words that have a stem-form use this stem-form:
- nís "woman" → nissen
- curo "device" → curun
- lómë "night" → lomin
Plural
The ending is -in:
- macil "sword" → macilin
- elda "elf" → eldain
(note: this ending forms a diphtong when the noun ends in -a, -o or -u)
Exceptions:
- words ending in -ë drop this -ë and have -ín as ending:
- lassë "leaf" → lassín
- words ending in -ië drop this -ië and have -ín as ending:
- mornië "darkness" → mornín
- words ending in -i (or with a stem-form in -i) also get -ín:
- tári "queen" → tárín
- lómë "night" → lómín
Dual
The dual is regular:
- u-duals get -n:
- aldu "a pair of trees" → aldun (nom.sing.: alda)
- in t-duals the final -t is replaced by -nt:
- ciryat "a pair of ships" → ciryant (nom.sing.: cirya)
- aranet "a pair of kings" → aranent (nom.sing.: aran)
(note: these words are the only Quenya words that end in more than one consonant)
Partitive Plural
We always add -n to the nominative partitive plural:
- ciryali "some ships" → ciryalin (nom.sing.: cirya)
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