Quenya/Verbal nouns

These are nouns that are constructed out of verbs.

The main types are:

1. The ending -më is used for abstract things:
 * mel- "love" &rarr; melmë "love"


 * car- "make, build, do" &rarr; carmë "art"

2. The ending -ië is used for a noun that indicates that the action is still going on:
 * tyal- "play" &rarr; tyalië "a play"


 * perya- "halve" &rarr; perië "a halving"

3. Verbs on -ta can be used as nouns without changing anything:
 * vanta- "walk" &rarr; vanta "a walk"


 * lanta- "fall" &rarr; lanta "a fall"

4. The ending -ë together with a lengthened stem-vowel are used to make nouns that describe a consequence of the verb:
 * ser- "rest" &rarr; sérë "peace"


 * lir- "sing" &rarr; lírë "song"

5. To make nouns that denote concrete things we use the ending -lë with A-verbs and U-verbs:
 * nurta- "hide" &rarr; nurtalë "a hiding"


 * perya- "halve" &rarr; peryalë "a half"


 * nurru- "grumble" &rarr; nurrulë "a grumble"

and for primitive verbs we add -alë to the past tense stem:
 * quet- "talk" &rarr; quentalë "a story"

This fifth type of nouns is the type most frequently found.

Note: Following examples concerning gender are Qenya forms that may not be valid in Late-Quenya.

To denote someone who performs an action we have the endings: -ro/-rë and  -indo/-indë.

The endings on -o are masculine, and those on  -ë are feminine.

The first two endings are applied to A-verbs and U-verbs:
 * masta- "bake"
 * mastaro "baker" (m.)
 * mastarë "baker" (f.)

and the other two to primitive verbs:
 * car- 'make, build, do"
 * carindo "maker, builder" (m.)
 * carindë "maker, builder" (f.)

Sometimes the ending -ro is replaced by the short form  -r, e.g.  istar "wizard" from  ista- "know".

To make the plurals of the masculine form on -ro I would personally always prefer this shortened form:
 * mastari instead of mastaror

Usage of cases
The connection of a verbal noun to a verb means that it is often a condensed sentence, so that is why such nouns can have a subject and an object:
 * Altariello nainië "the lament of Galadriel"

We call this a subject genitive because Galadriel is the one who laments.

When a verbal noun has an object we use the possessive case: By this we mean that Orome is honoured, so it is the object of "honour", and this is called an object possessive.
 * laitalë Oroméva "honoring of Orome"

Of course both can be present with the same verbal noun:
 * Eruo melmë ataniva "the love of God for men" (or, "God's love of men")


 * atanion melmë Eruva "the love of men for God" (or, "men's love of God")

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