Quenya/Perfect Tense

Regular formation
This tense is formed in the following way:
 * Repeat the central vowel of the verb and put it in front of it,
 * Lengthen the central vowel, if possible,
 * Add the ending -ië (  -ier in the plural).

So we find e.g.
 * mat- "eat" &rarr;  amátië


 * tec- "write" &rarr; etécië


 * not- "count" &rarr; onótië

The A-verbs and U-verbs lose their final vowel before adding -ië:
 * mapa- "take" &rarr; amápië


 * palu- "spread" &rarr;  apálië

Verbs with long central syllable
Verbs with a central vowel that cannot be lengthened are divided into three types:
 * When the stem ends in a consonant-cluster, we cannot lengthen the central vowel, but otherwise the basic rule is followed:
 * nasta- "prick" &rarr; anastië


 * nurru- "grumble" &rarr; unurrië

However, menta- and  fanta- have attested perfect  eménië and  afánië,

While orta- and  henta- have  ortanië and  ehentanië.


 * When the central vowel is long, we put a short version of this vowel in front of the stem:
 * móta- "labour" &rarr; omótië


 * When the central vowel is a diphthong, we add the first vowel of the diphthong:
 * hauta- "stop" &rarr; ahautië


 * poita- "cleanse" &rarr; opoitië


 * vaita- "wrap" &rarr; avaitië


 * suila- "greet" &rarr; usuilië


 * tiuta- "fatten" &rarr; itiutië

Verbs starting in a vowel
When the verb starts in a vowel, we don't add an extra vowel to the beginning of the stem:
 * anta- "give" &rarr; ánië


 * allu- "wash" &rarr; allië


 * ulqua- "rend" &rarr; ulquië


 * ita- "sparkle" &rarr; ítië

Verbs with a prefix
Some verbs are formed by placing a prefix before another verb, in this case we first form the perfect tense of the original verb and then we put the prefix again in front:
 * enyal- "recall" &rarr; en + ayálië &rarr;  enayálië

Verbs on -ya
Verbs on -ya lose both these letters:
 * hanya- "understand" &rarr; ahánië


 * tulya- "lead" &rarr; utúlië

Some ancient verbs end on a diphthong followed by -tya, they probably follow the same rule as the others:
 * paitya- "repay" &rarr; apaitië

Some verbs have a vowel before the ending -ya.

Possibly the perfect can be formed by the insertion of an -n- between the stem and the ending:
 * aya- "honour" &rarr; ánië


 * laya- "flourish" &rarr; alánië


 * naya- "grieve" &rarr; anánië


 * paya- "punish" &rarr; apánië


 * vaya- "enfold" &rarr; avánië


 * oya- "salve, rub" &rarr; ónië


 * loya- "be thirsty" &rarr; olónië


 * séya- "appear, seem" &rarr; esénië


 * súya- "breathe" &rarr; esúnië


 * ahya- "change": as is mentioned on the page about Quenya/Phonology, the combination hy has to be seen as a unit, so the perfect tense is probably  ahyánië

Some verbs can be conjugated by using an ancient stem and don't need an extra n
 * feuya- "abhor" &rarr; efévië (ancient stem  phew)


 * mauya- "compel" &rarr; ambávië (ancient stem  mbaw, see also below: historical influences)


 * tiuya- "swell" &rarr; itíwië (ancient stem  tiw)

The verb tuia- comes from the ancient stem  tuy, so the perfect tense would also need  n:
 * tuia- "sprout" &rarr; utúnië

Historical influences on the perfect tense
Most likely certain verbs undergo historical influences. The problem can be found in the prefixed vowel. Quite a few letters are allowed in the middle of a word but not in the beginning, so they have evolved differently in the perfect tense.

In most verbs there is no problem because they begin in a letter that is allowed in both places: tul- "come" has  utúlië "has come" as perfect tense.

In Primitive-Elvish this verb was tul and there is no problem here because t is allowed at the beginning of a word

(note: the Passive infinitive shows the same irregularities as a prefixed a- has the same effect).

Verbs in d-
Take now the Primitive-Elvish verbs 'dant' "fall" and  'dab' "allow". The letter d is no longer a separate letter in Neo-Quenya, neither in the beginning nor in the middle of a word. In the evolution a d in the beginning of a word changed into an l and in the middle of a word it changed into  r.

So these verbs evolved into the Quenya verbs lanta- "fall" and  lav- "allow"

(the b changed into v but here there is no problem as this letter never appears at the end of a word).

But in the perfect tense the d changed into r:
 * lanta- "fall" &rarr; arantië

If we apply this to lav- we get a nice consequence: Primitive-Elvish also had a verb  'lab' "lick".

In Quenya this verb also evolved into lav-, but their perfect tenses have remained different:
 * lav- "allow" &rarr; arávië


 * lav- "lick" &rarr; alávië

Verbs in mb- / nd- / ng-
These verbs are however not the only ones, in Primitive-Elvish we had verbs that began with the consonant clusters mb-,  nd- or  ng-. In Quenya these are no longer allowed in the beginning of a word, but in the middle of words they are still allowed.

The verbs namba- "hammer" and  núta- "set (of sun and moon)" have evolved from the Primitive-Elvish stems  'ndam' and  'ndú'.

So in the perfect tense we find:
 * namba- "hammer" &rarr; andambië


 * núta- "set" &rarr; undútië

The next verbs show Primitive-Elvish forms to Quenya, then to their perfect tenses:
 * 'mbar' &rarr; mar- "dwell" &rarr;  ambárië


 * 'mbakh' &rarr; manca- "trade" &rarr;  ambancië


 * 'mbarat' &rarr; martya- "destine" &rarr;  ambartië


 * 'mbas' &rarr; masta- "bake" &rarr;  ambastië

The verbs beginning with ng- can in Tengwar script can still be recognised, as they are still written with the Tengwar  ñoldo or ngoldo (Tengwa 19).

In Exilic Quenya pronunciation, there is no difference between ñoldo and the normal  n (númen). Because of this, they can be written with either characters and both forms are acceptable. Note that can only be written as an initial consonant of a word only.

At the moment we know two verbs in this category:
 * 'ngol' &rarr; nol- "smell" &rarr;  ongólië


 * 'nganad' &rarr; nanda- "harp" &rarr;  angandië

Verbs in h-
Verbs beginning with h- can show the same problems because this  h could have evolved from either  'kh'- or  'sk'-.

This last combination gives in Neo-Quenya the letter h at the beginning of a word and an  x in the middle of a word.

Here we have following verbs and perfect tenses:
 * 'skal' &rarr; halya- "hide" &rarr;  axálië


 * 'skar' &rarr; harna- "wound" &rarr;  axarnië


 * 'skat' &rarr; hat- "split" &rarr;  axátië


 * 'skel' &rarr; helta- "undress" &rarr;  exeltië

When this starting h appears in the combinations hy-, hl- or hr- then we find following forms:
 * hyar- "cleave" &rarr; aryárië


 * hlar- "hear" &rarr; allárië


 * hranga- "thwart" &rarr; arrangië

In the combination hw- the changes are like these:
 * hwesta- "breathe" &rarr; eswestië


 * hwinya- "swirl" &rarr; iswínië

Verbs in -s- / -þ-
The final irregularity is found with verbs starting in s. This s can either be a pure s (Tengwa 29 & 30 silmë & silmë nuquerna) or have evolved from  th (Tengwa 9 thúlë / súlë). The only irregularity is within how it can be written in Tengwar.

Words derived from thúlë/súlë can be written with either  thúlë/súlë or with  silmë / silmë nuquerna in Tengwar, but words that originally came from an "s" are never written with  thúlë/súlë and only with  silmë / silmë nuquerna.

Derived from -s-:
 * salpa- "sip" &rarr; asalpië


 * ser- "rest" &rarr; esérië


 * sil- "shine" &rarr; isílië


 * sir- "flow" &rarr; isírië


 * suc- "drink" &rarr; usúcië

Derived from -th- / -þ-:
 * vasarya- "veil" &rarr; avasárië


 * vaþarya &rarr; avaþárië

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