Quenya/Dative

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 "the man, to the elf, gives the book"

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: ../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" &rarr; aranen


 * tári "queen" &rarr; tárin


 * vendë "girl" &rarr; venden

Words that have a stem-form use this stem-form:
 * nís "woman" &rarr; nissen (stem-form  niss-)


 * curo "device" &rarr; curun (stem-form  curu-)


 * lómë "night" &rarr; lómin (stem-form  lómi-)

Plural
The ending is -in:
 * macil "sword" &rarr; macilin

(Note: this ending forms a diphthong when the noun ends in  -a ,  -o or  -u)
 * elda "elf" &rarr; eldain

Exceptions:
 * Words ending in -ë drop this -ë and have  -ín as ending:


 * lassë "leaf" &rarr; lassín


 * Words ending in -ië drop this -ië and have  -ín as ending:


 * mornië "darkness" &rarr; mornín


 * Words ending in -i (or with a stem-form in -i) also get  -ín:


 * tári "queen" &rarr; tárín


 * lómë "night" &rarr; lómín

Dual
The dual is regular:
 * U-duals get -n:


 * aldu "a pair of trees" &rarr; aldun (nom.sing.:  alda)


 * In t-duals the final -t is replaced by  -nt:


 * ciryat "a pair of ships" &rarr; ciryant (nom.sing.:  cirya)


 * aranet "a pair of kings" &rarr; aranent (nom.sing.:  aran)

(Note: these words are the only Neo-Quenya words that end in more than one consonant)

Partitive Plural
We always add -n to the nominative partitive plural:
 * ciryali "some ships" &rarr; ciryalin (nom.sing.:  cirya)

>> Neo-Quenya >> ../Nouns/ >> ../Dative/