Sindarin does not use the indefinite articles “a” or “an” with nouns. Unless the definite article “the” is used, you know to translate it as indefinite:

Edhel ~ "Elf, an Elf"
Adan ~ "Man, a Man"
adar ~ "father, a father"
naneth ~ "mother, a mother"

There are two definite articles in Sindarin, depending on whether the noun is singular or plural. For a singular noun you use i:

Edhel ~ "an Elf" ... i Edhel ~ "the Elf"
Adan ~ "a Man" ... i Adan ~ "the Man"
adar ~ "a father" ... i adar ~ "the father"
naneth ~ "a mother" ... i naneth ~ "the mother"

For a plural noun you use in:

Edhil ~ "Elves" ... in Edhil ~ "the Elves"
Edain ~ "Men" ... in Edain ~ "the Men"
edair ~ "fathers" ... in edair ~ "the fathers"
nenith ~ "mothers" ... in nenith ~ "the mothers"
(the change of vowels in plural nouns is addressed in Lesson #3)

In English we use prepositions (to, from, in, above, under, etc.) separately from the definite article “the”. In Sindarin these prepositions can appear alone (in which case you know to use the indefinite article “a, an”) or attached to the definite article in “the”. In their attached form they are applied to both singular and plural nouns.

na "to, towards" becomes nan "to the" (na "to" + in "the")

pedin na Edhel ~ "I speak to an Elf"
pedin nan Edhel ~ "I speak to the Elf"

bedin na aear ~ "I go to a sea"
bedin nan aear ~ "I go to the Sea"

o "from, of" becomes uin "from the, of the" (o "from/of" + in "the")

telin o aear ~ "I come from a sea"
telin uin aear ~ "I come from the sea"

Only a few prepositions with the article attached are attested in the Corpus, but it is possible that all of them can be similarly formed.

The conjunction "and" is a. When the following word begins with a vowel, it takes the form ah:

Pedo mellon a minno ~ "Speak friend and enter"
Finrod ah Andreth ~ "Finrod and Andreth"

Confusingly, this appears instead as ar in The King's Letter, in the title Narn e-Dant Gondolin ar Orthad en-Êl ("Tale of the Fall of Gondolin and the Rising of the Star"), and in Tolkien's translation of The Lord's Prayer. It might be that the Men of Gondor use ar; it could be that Tolkien changed his mind at some point, or was undecided between the two. However, since a is used in LOTR it is best to keep with that.

The conjunction "or" is far simpler: egor. It does not change its form:

erin dolothen Ethuil, egor ben genediad Drannail erin Gwirith edwen ~ "on the eighth of Spring, or according to the Shire-reckoning on April second"

Those are the only two conjunctions we have attested in Sindarin. David Salo uses dan "against, back" for the conjunction "but; on the other hand", because it matches the Quenya word. While this is not considered attested, it is a good choice to use when communicating with Sindarin. an "to, for" is usually used for the conjunction "because", but this is also not attested.

New vocabulary:
Edhel ~ “Elf” ... Edhil ~ “Elves”
Adan ~ “Man” ... Edain ~ “Men”
adar ~ "father" ... edair ~ "fathers"
naneth ~ "mother" ... nenith ~ "mothers"
i ~ “the” (singular) ... in ~ “the” (plural)
na ~ “to, towards” ... nan ~ “to the”
o ~ “of, from” ... uin ~ “of the, from the” aear ~ “sea”
mellon ~ “friend”
pedin ~ “I speak”
telin ~ “I come”
bedin ~ "I go"
a / ah ~ "and"
egor ~ "or"

1. There is no indefinite article "a, an" in Sindarin. The definite article "the" is i for singular nouns and in for plural nouns.
2. When a preposition is followed by the definite article "the", it is always in the form in, for both singular and plural, and is attached to the preposition (na+in=nan).
3. The conjunction "and" is written as a before a word that begins with a consonant, and as ah before a word that begins with a vowel.

Translate the following into Sindarin:
1. I speak to a Man
2. I speak to mother
3. An Elf and a Man
4. Men or Elves
5. Men from the Sea
6. I come from Imladris
7. A mother and a father
8. The father or the mother
9. I speak to the Elves
10. I go to the fathers

Translate the following into English:
11. In Edhil ah Adan
12. Pedin nan Edain
13. Telin o Lothlórien
14. I Edhel uin Aear
15. Mellon ah Edhel
16. Naneth egor adar
17. I Adan a mellon
18. Bedin nan nenith
19. Mellon uin Aear
20. Bedin na Imladris

The answers to the exercise can be found in the Answer Key. If you do not understand something in the lesson, please post questions in the Plaza's Language Forum or in the Plaza house Tham Lammath Edhellin. Please read the Introduction to these lessons for disclaimers and sources. You can contact the author of these lessons at taramiluiel@cox.net

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