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 an covert object and a 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:

  1. 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:

  1. 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:

  1. sanome tarne Olórin, Aracorno, Eomer, Imrahil [PE17/71]. There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil.
  2. 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:

  1. 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:

  1. 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, →26.17.

Exceptions

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

  1. ono alye eterúna me illume ilya racsellor [VT44/9]. But deliver us always from all dangers. ilya doesn’t agree with racsellor in number.
  2. 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:

  1. 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:

  1. 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:

  1. 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:

  1. 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 (→27.6) is possible with relative pronouns.

For other exceptions, especially 'relative repulsion', →@@.

Apposition

An appositive (→26.21) agrees in case with the word it belongs to, but has its own number and gender:

  1. 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:

  1. coarya Olwe [WJ/369]. The house of him, Olwe.
  2. 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.

  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