Lesson 21: Conditional & Subjunctive
Sindarin conditional mood using aen and the subjunctive: expressing hypothetical situations, wishes, and uncertainty.
Introduction
In Lessons 17–20 we mastered the four main Sindarin tenses: present, past, future, and the continuous aspect. But Sindarin — like all natural languages — also needs ways to express things that are not simply happening or certain. We need to say "if I were to watch," "I would sing," "may they live long," or "perhaps he comes." These hypothetical, wished-for, or uncertain situations belong to the conditional and subjunctive domain of Sindarin grammar.
This lesson covers everything we know — attested and carefully reconstructed — about how Sindarin handles these moods.
1. What Are Conditional and Subjunctive Moods?
The indicative mood states facts: "The king watches." The conditional mood expresses what would happen under certain conditions: "If the king watched, he would see." The subjunctive mood expresses wishes, doubts, or hypotheticals: "May the king watch!" or "I fear that he may not come."
In English these are often blurred together. In Sindarin, Tolkien provides partial evidence for how they work, primarily through:
- The particle aen — a conditional/subjunctive marker attested in Tolkien's linguistic papers
- The particle ce (ᴺS.) — "if," for conditional protases
- The imperative no! (be!) — used as an optative (wish-expressing) particle
- The imperative cuio! (live!) — used in blessings/wishes
- Participial and infinitive constructions that carry hypothetical meaning
2. The Particle aen
The most important Sindarin conditional/subjunctive marker is aen. Tolkien discusses this particle in his linguistic papers (published in Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon). It is placed before the verb (or at the clause boundary) and signals that the action is conditional, hypothetical, or wished-for.
Placement of aen
Aen comes immediately before the conjugated verb:
aen + [verb with person suffix]
This mirrors how Sindarin places verbal modifiers generally — the modifier precedes the verb it governs.
Aen + Present/Aorist Stem
When expressing a simple conditional ("would do," "might do"), aen combines with the present/aorist form of the verb plus the appropriate person suffix:
| Sindarin | Gloss |
|---|---|
| aen tirithon | "if I were to watch" / "I would watch" |
| aen tirithor | "if thou wert to watch" / "thou wouldst watch" |
| aen tiritha | "if he/she were to watch" / "he/she would watch" |
| aen tiritham | "if we were to watch" / "we would watch" |
| aen tirithir | "if they were to watch" / "they would watch" |
Note that the verb form here looks like the future stem (tirith-) plus person suffixes. There is debate among scholars whether the conditional uses the future stem or a separate subjunctive stem. The current scholarly consensus is that Sindarin likely reused the future stem for the conditional, much as many natural languages do.
Aen + Future Stem
For a more explicitly future-oriented conditional:
| Sindarin | Gloss |
|---|---|
| aen tirithon | "if I should watch" / "I would watch" |
| aen cenitham | "if we were to see" / "we would see" |
| aen linnathon | "if I were to sing" / "I would sing" |
| aen menithon | "if I were to go" / "I would go" |
Attestation note: Aen is documented in Tolkien's linguistic notes as a particle with conditional/subjunctive force. The exact paradigm above represents the best scholarly reconstruction based on that evidence, combined with Sindarin's regular verbal morphology.
3. Conditional Sentence Structure: If…Then
A full conditional sentence in Sindarin has two clauses:
- Protasis (the "if" clause): states the condition
- Apodosis (the "then" clause): states the result
Using aen for Both Clauses
One reconstruction places aen with the verb in the apodosis (result clause), while the protasis uses a conjunction:
[ce / protasis] + [aen + result verb]
The Conjunction ce (If)
The particle ce (ᴺS.) serves as "if" in the conditional protasis. It does not appear to trigger mutation on its own. Examples:
| Sindarin | English |
|---|---|
| Ce tolen, linnon an le | "If I come, I will sing to thee" |
| Ce cenitham, boe ammen tiriad | "If we see (it), we must watch" |
| Ce nâ vaer, cerin | "If it is good, I do (it)" |
Note that in these examples the protasis verb uses the simple present/aorist (expressing a real/open condition), while the apodosis expresses the consequence.
Using aen in the Apodosis
For a more hypothetical/counterfactual conditional (something less likely or contrary-to-fact):
| Sindarin | English |
|---|---|
| Aen tirithon, cenithon le | "If I watched (were watching), I would see thee" |
| Ce bain nâ laur, aen linnathon | "If everything were golden, I would sing" |
| Ce tolant e, aen cenitham | "If he had come, we would have seen (him)" |
The structure mirrors natural-language conditional patterns: the aen marks the "would" clause (the hypothetical consequence), while ce marks the "if" clause (the condition).
4. Attested Uses of aen
Tolkien's aen appears in his linguistic papers in the context of explaining Sindarin grammar. The particle carries a specifically subjunctive or optative force — covering both conditional ("would") and optative ("may, might, let") functions. This polysemy is common cross-linguistically (compare Latin utinam, which covers both wishes and conditions).
What Tolkien says: In his notes, Tolkien describes aen as a particle used to signal that the verbal action is not asserted as fact but as desired, hypothetical, or conditional. The particle can occur sentence-initially for strong emphasis or clause-medially before the verb.
Scholarly sources: David Salo (A Gateway to Sindarin) and Helge Fauskanger (Ardalambion) both discuss aen. Fauskanger's Sindarin course treats aen as the primary subjunctive/conditional particle. The particle also appears in reconstructed Sindarin texts by experienced Tolkien linguists.
5. Wishes and the Optative: No! and Cuio!
Sindarin uses specific imperative forms to express wishes and blessings. These function like the classical Latin optative — they express a desired state of affairs.
No! as Optative
The imperative no! (be! — from na-) is used to express wishes when followed by a predicate:
| Sindarin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| No vell! | "May (thou) be dear! / Be well-beloved!" | vell = soft mutation of bell (strong, valiant); or mell → vell |
| No genediad drannail! | "May the counting be complete!" | hypothetical blessing |
| Nai tiruvantel! | (Quenya parallel) | compare Sindarin no tiriuvantel |
Attested: Cuio i Pheriannath anann!
This is one of the most celebrated attested Sindarin sentences. From Tolkien's text (at the Field of Cormallen, The Return of the King):
A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalmet! Cormacolindor, a laita tárienna! Cuio i Pheriannath anann!
The Sindarin portion: Cuio i Pheriannath anann!
- Cuio = "Live! May (they) live!" — imperative of cuia- (to live), functioning as optative
- i = definite article "the"
- Pheriannath = "Halflings" — plural of Perian (halfling); P → Ph after the article (soft mutation: p → ph)
- anann = "long" (temporal adverb) — attested adverb
Full translation: "Long may the Halflings live!" or "May the Halflings live long!"
This sentence demonstrates beautifully how Sindarin expresses a wish/blessing: simply use the imperative form of the verb as an optative. The subject (Pheriannath) follows with the article. No special optative suffix is needed.
More Optative Constructions
| Sindarin | English |
|---|---|
| Cuio! | "Live! May (he/she/they) live!" |
| No i Pheriannath! | "May the Halflings (be/prosper)!" |
| Tiro! | "Watch! May (he/she) watch over!" |
| Noro lim! | "Ride on! Run swift!" — attested (Aragorn to Asfaloth) |
6. Expressing Necessity: Boe
The impersonal verb boe expresses necessity ("it is necessary," "one must"). It is followed by an infinitive or dative construction:
| Sindarin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Boe ammen tiro | "We must watch" | boe + dative pronoun ammen + verb |
| Boe i·aran tiro | "The king must watch" | boe + subject + infinitive |
| Ú-boe | "It is not necessary" | negated form |
| Boe men | "We must go" | boe + dative men (to us = we must) |
Attestation: Boe ammen i phith dithen = "We need a little word" — attested in Tolkien's drafts. Boe is well-attested as a Sindarin impersonal verb.
Grammar note: Boe is impersonal — it has no subject "he/she/it watches." Instead, the person who "must" is expressed in the dative: ammen (to us = we must), enni (to me = I must), le (to thee = thou must).
7. Uncertainty and Possibility
To express that something might happen or perhaps is the case, Sindarin (in Neo-Sindarin reconstructions) uses several strategies:
Adverbial Hedges
| Sindarin | English | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ᴺS. baw nîn | "perhaps (lit. it may not be mine to say)" | ᴺS. construct |
| ma | "perhaps? whether?" | attested as question particle |
Ma as Possibility Marker
The particle ma (see also Lesson 27) serves multiple functions in Sindarin. When used at the start of a statement rather than a question, it can introduce a tone of uncertainty: "whether X is true, I do not know." This is closely related to its interrogative function.
| Sindarin | English |
|---|---|
| Ma tolen | "Whether I come / I may come" |
| Ú-iston ma cenitham | "I do not know whether we will see" |
| Ma nâ vaer? | "Is it good? / Might it be good?" |
8. Summary: Conditional and Subjunctive Strategies
| Function | Construction | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Simple conditional ("would") | aen + future verb stem | aen tirithon |
| Open condition ("if... then") | ce + present verb | ce tolen |
| Full conditional sentence | ce [protasis] + aen [apodosis] | ce tolen, aen linnathon |
| Wish/blessing | Imperative as optative | Cuio i Pheriannath anann! |
| Necessity ("must") | boe + dative + infinitive | Boe ammen tiro |
| Uncertainty ("whether") | ma before verb | ú-iston ma tolen |
| Negated necessity ("need not") | ú-boe | ú-boe |
9. Full Sentence Analysis: A Hypothetical Elvish Poem
Let us build a complete hypothetical conditional poem using the constructions learned:
Ce cenin i galadh, linnon anann.
Aen linnathon, nathog glassen.
No vell i Edhil!
Cuio i Pheriannath anann!
Translation:
- Ce cenin i galadh = "If I see the tree" (ce + present cenin + i galadh)
- linnon anann = "I sing long" (simple consequence in present)
- Aen linnathon = "I would sing" (aen + future linnathon)
- nathog glassen = "thou wouldst be glad" (nathog = thou wilt be; glassen = glad)
- No vell i Edhil! = "May the Elves be beloved!" (no imperative + vell + i Edhil)
- Cuio i Pheriannath anann! = "Long may the Halflings live!" (fully attested)
10. Practice Exercises
Construct Sindarin conditional sentences for the following. Mark your answer, then check the key below.
Exercise 1: "If I sing, he will hear." (Use ce + present for condition; simple future for result.)
Exercise 2: "If the elf were to come, we would see him." (Use aen for the hypothetical result; ce for the condition.)
Exercise 3: "May the king live long!" (Optative with cuio or no.)
Exercise 4: "We must watch." (Use boe + dative + infinitive.)
Exercise 5: "I do not know whether thou art coming." (Use ú-iston + ma + verb.)
Exercise 6: "If it is good, I would do it." (Use ce nâ vaer for condition; aen + cerin for result.)
Answer Key
- Ce linnon, cenitha e.
- Ce tôl i edhel, aen cenitham e.
- Cuio i aran anann! or No bell i aran!
- Boe ammen tiro.
- Ú-iston ma tolir le.
- Ce nâ vaer, aen gerin.
11. Key Vocabulary from This Lesson
| Sindarin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| aen | conditional/subjunctive particle | attested |
| ce | if | ᴺS. |
| cuio | live! (optative) | attested in LotR |
| boe | it is necessary | attested |
| ú-boe | it is not necessary | attested (negated) |
| anann | long (time) | attested |
| glassen | glad, joyful | attested (variant gell) |
| no! | be! (imperative/optative) | attested |
| ma | whether, perhaps | attested (question particle) |
Next lesson: Lesson 22 — Irregular Verbs