A grammatical case

Usage examples of dative.

In the dative case only the accents over the penult have any significance.

But before discussing how dative forms are constructed, let us have a closer look on indirect objects.

However, what has already turned up is evidence for another system, and since this system yields less ambiguous forms, it is certainly the system I would recommend to writers anyhow: Independent possessive pronouns can be derived by adding the adjectival ending -ya to the corresponding dative forms!

The remaining cases, in addition to the nominative, are the genitive, the possessive, the dative, the allative, the ablative, the locative, and the instrumental.

NOTE: In the keys to this exercise, the following simplified "equivalents" are used: genitives and possessive-adjectival forms are all turned into "of"-constructions, dative forms are represented as prepositional phrases in "for", whereas allative and ablative forms are represented as phrases involving the prepositions "to" and "from", respectively.

Translate into single Quenya words ("of" = genitive or possessive as further specified, "for" = dative, "to" = allative, "from" = ablative): a) To your hills b) For our (excl.

Then any case endings would presumably also be dual: dative ment, allative menta, ablative melto, instrumental menten.

Notice that "to our world" should in this context be a dative rather than an allative form.

In the Plotz Letter, Tolkien listed various case endings also including the dual element -t-: genitive -to, dative -nt, allative -nta, ablative -lto, locative -tsë, instrumental -nten.

Thus, starting from the simple nominative ciryat "two ships, a couple of ships": ciryat + -o for genitive = ciryato ciryat + -n for dative = ciryatn ciryat + -nna for allative = ciryatnna, simplified to ciryatna ciryat + -llo for ablative = ciryatllo, simplified to ciryatlo ciryat + -ssë for locative = ciryatssë, simplified to ciryatsë ciryat + -nen for instrumental = ciryatnen However, the group tn came to be disliked, so the consonants underwent metathesis.

Thus the dative ciryatn, the allative ciryatna and the instrumental ciryatnen turn into the actual forms listed in Plotz: ciryant, ciryanta, ciryanten.

If this is so, we have every reason to assume that the same case endings were suffixed to dual forms in -u as well, for instance like this (using Aldu "Two Trees" as our standard example): Aldu + -o for genitive = Alduo Aldu + -n for dative = Aldun Aldu + -nna for allative = Aldunna Aldu + -llo for ablative = Aldullo Aldu + -ssë for locative = Aldussë Aldu + -nen for instrumental = Aldunen These forms would undergo no further changes, since they are all acceptable Quenya as far as phonology goes.