Quenya/Past Tense

Regular formation
The basic ending to form the Past Tense is -në.

Following verbs follow the regular formation:
 * A-stem verbs with a long central syllable that do not end on -ya


 * hauta- "stop" &rarr; i elda hautanë "the elf stopped"


 * lussa- "whisper" &rarr; lussanemmë "we both whispered"


 * móta- "labour" &rarr; mótanelyë "you laboured"


 * apta- "deny" &rarr; aptanenyë "I denied"


 * U-stem verbs with a long central syllable:


 * nurru- "grumble" &rarr; nurrunen "I grumbled"


 * Primitive verbs on -r, -n or -m:


 * tir- "watch" &rarr; tirnes "he watched"


 * tam- "tap" &rarr; tamnentes "they tapped it"


 * cen- "see" &rarr; cennen i alda "I saw the tree"

Nasal inversion
The primitive verbs that end in -t, -c, -p, -l, -qu undergo the so called nasal inversion because the  -n of the past ending is placed before these consonants

(the reason is that the clusters: tn, cn, pn, ln, cwn are not allowed in Quenya).


 * mat- "eat" &rarr; mantë "ate"


 * hat- "break" &rarr; hantë "broke"


 * tac- "fasten" &rarr; tancë "fastened"


 * pequ- "comb" &rarr; penquë "combed"

When a primitive verb ends in p, Quenya/Phonology dictates that  np changes to  mp:
 * top- "cover" &rarr; tompë "covered"

And nl changes into  ll:
 * wil- "fly" &rarr; willë "flew"

There is one final group that undergoes nasal inversion, these are the verbs on -d. In modern Quenya, a single d changes into r. Careful consideration is needed when we meet a primitive verb on -r, because if this r  descends from a d, its past tense changes into  nd (otherwise the past tense is regular, see above).

Following verbs belong to this group:
 * har- "sit" &rarr; handë "sat"


 * hyar- "plough" &rarr; hyandë "ploughed"


 * nir- "press" &rarr; nindë "pressed"


 * quir- "stir" &rarr; quindë "stirred"


 * quor- "choke" &rarr; quondë "choked"


 * rar- "peel" &rarr; randë "peeled"


 * rer- "sow" &rarr; rendë "sowed"


 * ser- "rest" &rarr; sendë "rested"


 * sir- "flow" &rarr; sindë "flowed"

Vowel lengthening
The primitive verbs that end in -v or  -s do not get the regular ending  -në, but instead lengthens the central vowel and gets the ending  -ë:


 * tuv- "find" &rarr; túvë "found"


 * tyav- "taste" &rarr; tyávë "tasted"


 * sis- "fry" &rarr; sísë "fried"

A-stems/U-stems with short central syllable
These verbs can be conjugated by the regular formation, but most of the time their final -a or  -u is dropped and they are conjugated as if they were primitive verbs:


 * cava- "dig" &rarr; cávë "dug" (or  cavanë)


 * maca- "forge" &rarr; mancë "forged" (or  macanë)


 * naqua- "steal" &rarr; nanquë "stole" (or  naquanë)


 * hlapu- "blow" &rarr; hlampë "blew" (or  hlapunë)


 * lutu- "float" &rarr; luntë "floated" (or  lutunë)

These two verbs can never be conjugated by the regular ending:


 * papa- "tremble" &rarr; pampë "trembled"


 * pata- "rap" &rarr; pantë "rapped"

The verbs on -wa only apply in this case:
 * fawa- "smell" &rarr; fangwë "smelled" (or  fawanë)


 * rawa- "run" &rarr; rangwë "ran" (or  rawanë)

And verbs on -ha are always regular:


 * nyeha- "weep" &rarr; nyehanë "wept"

Note: the central syllable in maxa- "cook" and  ruxa- "crumble" is long as  x is short for the consonant combination cs.

A-stem verbs on -ya
These verbs have two different past tenses which are used depending on whether it is used transitively or intransitively.

A verb is used transitively when it has a direct object, and intransitively when it doesn't have a direct object.


 * when a verb on -ya is used transitively it has a regular past tense,
 * when a verb on -ya is used intransitively its past tense is formed by dropping the ending  -ya and conjugating it as if it were a primitive verb.

So we have three cases:
 * Transitive verbs which require a direct object, these are always regular:
 * harya- "have, possess" &rarr; haryanë "had, possessed"


 * haryanes rocco "he had a horse"


 * Intransitive verbs (these cannot have a direct object), they are always conjugated as primitive verbs:
 * lamya- "sound" &rarr; lamnë "sounded"


 * i nyelli lamner "the bells sounded"


 * Transitive verbs that can be used intransitively, these verbs have two forms in the past tense:


 * ulya- "pour, overflow" &rarr; ulyanë "poured" and  ullë "overflowed"


 * i nís ulyanë nén "the woman poured water"


 * i sírë ullë "the river overflowed"


 * yerya- "wear out, get old" &rarr; yeryanë "wore out" and  yernë "got old"


 * i nér yeryanë i colla "the man wore the cloak out"


 * i nér yernë "the man got old"

Irregular Past Tenses
Some verbs are completely irregular:


 * anta- "give" &rarr; ánë "gave"


 * caw- "bow" &rarr; caunë "bowed"


 * ista- "know" &rarr; sintë "knew"


 * lala- "laugh" &rarr; landë "laughed"


 * lelya- "go, travel" &rarr; lendë "went, travelled"


 * lom- "hide" &rarr; lombë "hid"


 * onta- "create" &rarr; ónë "created"


 * serta- "tie" &rarr; sérë "tied"


 * ten- "show" &rarr; tengë "showed"


 * vinta- "fade" &rarr; vintë "faded"

Two verbs have both an irregular and a regular form:
 * atalta- "collapse" &rarr; atalantë/ataltanë "collapsed"


 * orta- "stand, get up" &rarr; orontë/ortanë "stood, got up"

However, the latter is said to be a difference in conjugation between intransitive "rise" and transitive/causative "raise" homonyms, thus:
 * I Elda oronte "The Elf arose" but I Elda ortane márya "The Elf raised his hand."

The irregularities of some special verbs can be found on a separate page.

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