Quenya/Instrumental

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: In this sentence we mean that they were together with an elf, not that I was using an elf to see them better.
 * cennenyet as elda "I saw them with an elf"

Sometimes the instrumental corresponds to the English preposition "through":
 * lassi lantar i súrinen  "leaves fall through the wind"

In the passive voice (see ../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):


 * matin as atarinya "I eat with my father"


 * matin yo nildonyar "I eat with my friends"

Also in this meaning the prefix ó- is used with personal pronouns:


 * lenden ósë i ostonna "I went with her to town"

The complete list is:


 * óni "with me"


 * ólë "with you"


 * ómë "with us"


 * ótë "with them"


 * óta/ót "with it"


 * ósë/ósa "with him/her / it"

Singular
The basic ending is -nen. So after vowels this case is equal to the dative with an extra -en
 * tári "queen" &rarr; tárinen


 * vendë "girl" &rarr; vendenen

When a noun ends on -r or  -n, we add  -nen:
 * atar "father" &rarr; atarnen


 * elen "star" &rarr; elennen

or has a stem-form on -m,  -r or  -n:


 * talan "floor" &rarr; talamnen (stem-form  talam-)


 * olos "dream" &rarr; olornen (stem-form  olor-)

The instrumental of contracted stems doesn't use the stem-form but the nominative singular:
 * toron "brother" &rarr; 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" &rarr; ecenten


 * filit "little bird" &rarr; filincen (stem-form  filic-)

When a noun ends in -l, -"den" is attached to make the ending  -lden:
 * macil "sword" &rarr; macilden

Other nouns ending on a consonant have -enen as ending:
 * arquilis "desert" &rarr; arquilisenen


 * nís "woman" &rarr; nissenen (stem-form  niss-)

Plural
In the plural we always add -en to the dative:


 * macil "sword" &rarr; macilin &rarr;  macilinen

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

The exceptions are regular once you know the dative:
 * lassë "leaf" &rarr; lassín &rarr;  lassínen


 * mornië "darkness" &rarr; mornín &rarr;  mornínen


 * tári "queen" &rarr; tárín &rarr;  tárínen


 * lómë "night" &rarr; lómín &rarr;  lómínen

Dual
In the dual we also add -en to the dative:
 * aldu "a pair of trees" &rarr; aldun &rarr;  aldunen (nom.sing.:  alda)


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


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

Partitive Plural
When the nominative partitive plural ends in -lli, the instrumental ends in  -llinen:
 * toron "brother" &rarr; torolli &rarr;  torollinen


 * macil "sword" &rarr; macilli &rarr;  macillinen

When the nominative partitive plural only has a single l before the final  i then the instrumental ends in  -línen:
 * cirya "ship" &rarr; ciryali &rarr;  ciryalínen


 * sarat "sign" &rarr; sarateli &rarr;  saratelínen

>> Neo-Quenya >> ../Nouns/ >> ../Instrumental/