Impersonal Constructions

Introduction

Impersonal verbs have no subject in the normal sense. Such verbs always appear in the third person singular. They can be further divided in the following categories:

  • 'Quasi-impersonal' verbs, for which an infinitive or subordinate clause functions as the subject; for details, → @@ below.
  • 'Proper' impersonal verbs, which have no subject at all. This group is virtually limited to weather terms, expressions of time, and 'impersonal passive' constructions; for details, →@@ below.

Some proper impersonal verbs do not have a subject, but do take other obligatory constituents, especially in dative.

Note

English impersonal verbs use the so-called "dummy pronoun" it, e.g. It is raining. With English quasi-impersonal verbs it 'anticipates' the subordinate construction, e.g. It is clear that he is coming (cf. That he is coming is clear.)

Quasi-Impersonal Verbs and Constructions

Verbs

The following common quasi-impersonal verbs take an (accusative-and-) infinitive construction as their subject (→@@), and frequently also a complement in the dative:

  1. ecë nin care sa [VT49/20] I can do that
  2. orë nin caritas [VT41/13] I feel an urge to do it

Adjectives; Nouns

The singular of many adjectives is used with a third-person singular form of ná be in quasi-impersonal constructions, taking an (accusative-and-)infinitive construction or i-clause. For example:

  1.    ninya ná carita·s I need to do this1
  2.         alasaila ná lá carë tai mo nave mára it is unwise not to do what one judges good

Some nouns are similarly used in quasi-impersonal constructions. For example:

  1.       umbe nin i hríve nauva urra I have a feeling that winter will be bad

With such adjectives and nouns ná is very often omitted (→@@):

Proper Impersonal Verbs and Constructions

Weather and Time Expressions

Weather verbs such as the following are used impersonally:

  •  it rains
  •  it is cold
  •  it snows

Assumption

Some expressions of time use an impersonal form of  be:

  • (ná) telwa it is late
  • (ná) tensi andúne it is already sunset

Impersonal Passives

Frequently what is translated into English with a passive voice is expressed in Quenya as an impersonal construction:

  1. ⸱ (a)·mate·s [PE22/107] it is eaten
  2.     masse akime aldar? [PE22/125] where are the trees (to be found)?
  3.       vahaia nóre ëa i a-esta Valinor [PE22/124] far away there is a land called Valinor

Impersonal passives are made by omitting the subject from the active sentence: the apersonal form of the verb is used with or without a marker a (used to avoid confusion with the infinitive use of apersonal form), which was usually optional in PQ but became more grammaticalized in TQ.

When the impersonal passive2 is used as an object of infinitive, this a· is however obligatory:

  1.      man cenuva lumbor a·hosta? [MC/222] Who shall see the clouds get gathered?

  1. Based on the inya karie·te [PE22/123] ↩

  2. Whether it is actually passive or not by WALS definition depends on whether a can be considered a "special morphological marking of the verb" ↩