Agreement

Subject – Finite Verb

Basic Rule

Rule 1

A finite verb agrees in number and person with its subject.

Rule 2

Within a clause, overt argument noun phrases never appear with concording personal endings¹

• ⸱ i·cirya círa the ship is setting out (overt third person singular)
• ⸱ i·ciryar círar the ships are setting out (overt third person plural)
• círante they (ships) are setting out (implicit third person plural)

Exceptions

When the verb has a covert object and an overt subject, the objective inflection displaces agreement in number:

1. ⸱      sív' emme apsenet tien i úcarir emmen [VT43/12]. As we forgive those who trespass against us.

When a subject is neutral group plural, the verb can be singular:

2. ⸱  i·oromandi tanna lende [PE16/96]. The wood-spirits came thither.

The plural form of the verb may, however, be used to emphasize that the subject consists of various individual members:

3.      Valar ar Maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen [PE17/174]. Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils.

When there are multiple subjects, the verb will normally be plural. Sometimes, however, especially when the verb precedes a first singular subject, it may be singular:

4.   ​ ⸱  ⸱  ⸱ sanome tarne Olórin, Aracorno, Eomer, Imrahil [PE17/71]. There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil.
5.     ⸱ ⸱sinome maruvan ar hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta [LotR/967]. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.

The singular form may also be used with complex conjunctions, for examples  ⸱⸱⸱ ú … ú² neither … nor, particularly if nouns belong to the same grammatical gender:

6.      ú luime ú lúme hora úquen (translation from GN: GL/53). Neither flood nor time waits for anyone.

The verb may agree in number with the subject in meaning rather than in grammatical form: this is called the notional agreement or synesis; for example, when the subject is singular but refers to a collective, the verb may be plural in form:

7.   ⸱ lie tatallaner i·már ampanaina [VT49/43]. While it was being built people marveled at the house. tatallaner agrees with singular lie in plural.

Head – Modifier (in Noun Phrases); Predicative Modifiers and Complements

Basic Rule

Rule 1

An adjective, passive participle or adnominal pronoun agrees in case and number with the head it modifies.

Rule 2

Only one eligible component of a noun phrase receives the case inflection.

• ⸱ i·saila nér the wise man (com. sg.)
• ⸱ i·saile neri the wise men (com. pl.)
• ⸱ i·saile nerin to the wise men (dat. pl. head-last)
• ⸱ i·neri sailain to the wise men (dat. pl. head-first)

Note

Only some numerals decline: for indeclinable numerals, →@@.

Other types of modifiers do not agree with their head, particularly attributive genitive I, adverbs, cardinal numerals and prepositional phrases. For examples, →28.16.

Exceptions

Modifier might not agree with its following head in adverbial case:

8.       ono alye eterúna me illume ilya racsellor [VT44/9]. But deliver us always from all dangers. ilya doesn’t agree with racsellor in number.
9.     man tiruva cirya ondolisse morne [MC/222]. Who shall heed a ship on the dark rocks? morne agrees with ondolisse in number.

Note that if modifier receives adverbial case inflection instead, it agrees in number with its head as usual:

10.     anar púrea ticta acsor ilcalannar [MC/222]. The sun blinking on the gleaming bones.

Modifier might not agree with its following head, if the noun phrase as a whole is a modifier in another noun phrase:

11.   aran linta ciryalíva [PE17/147]. King of Swift Ships.

A demonstrative pronoun or a qualifier which serves as subject to a linking verb and predicative noun (‘this is X’) may either agree with that noun, or appear in the neuter:

12.    ilya sí maller raicar [LR/47]. Now all roads are bent.

A noun in genitive II case usually behaves as an adjective, but might not agree with a head inflected for case or, in later use, if it takes on the role of genitive:

13.    linte yuldar lisse miruvóreva [RGEO/58]. Swift draughts of the sweet mead. miruvóreva doesn’t agree with yuldar in number.

Antecedent — Relative Pronoun

Basic Rule

Rule 1

A relative pronoun agrees in number and gender with its antecedent, but its case is determined by its syntactical function in the relative clause (for details, →@@).

• ⸱  i·cirya ya círa the ship which is putting out to sea (sg. inanim. as the antecedent, com. as subject in the relative clause).
• ⸱   i·nér yen antanes miquelis the man to who she gave a kiss (sg. anim. as the antecedent, dat. as indirect object in the relative clause).

Exceptions

The sense construction (→29.6) is possible with relative pronouns.

For other exceptions, especially ‘relative repulsion’, →@@.

Apposition

An appositive (→28.21) agrees in case with the word it belongs to, but has its own number and gender:

14.      Elainen tárin Periandion ar meldenya anyáran [VT49/40]. To Elaine, queen of Hobbits and my very old friend.

An appositive to a possessive clitic stands in the case of the host:

15.  coarya Olwe [WJ/369]. The house of him, Olwe.
16.  ⸱   ⸱tintilar i·eleni ómaryo lírinen aire-tário [RGEO/59]. The stars twinkle in her voice’s song, of the holy queen.

To-Do

• Fix the case of apposition to a sentence and reference it in case chapter.

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Footnotes

1. The only exception for the rule,   esse úpa nás seems to be an echo of archaic word order. Whether it actually belongs to Quenya proper is debatable. ↩

2. Attested only in GN. ↩