Sindarin plurals are made in one of two ways: by the changing of vowels of the singular form, or by adding a class-plural suffix to the singular form instead. Adjectives that describe a plural noun must also be made plural to match.

This method of forming plurals is not commonly done in English, but there are a few examples that help to demonstrate the concept:

man > men
goose > geese

There are complicated explanations for this that I encourage you to explore in Helge Fauskanger’s essay Sindarin: The Noble Tongue, but for the beginner it is enough to simply learn what to do.

Hopefully you have downloaded and printed the Chart of Vowel Changes in Plurals and will refer to it as you read this. With time and practice, you will find yourself referring to the chart less and less often, but it is a very helpful tool that I often refer to still.

You will see on the chart that the change to a vowel can be different depending on what syllable the vowel occurs in. (As if it weren't complicated enough!) Please note that when a word only has one syllable, it is treated as a "final syllable".

Unfortunately, while it is easy enough to apply the changes shown in the chart, there are a number of exceptions to the rules. I will attempt to include them without going into great detail about the phonological changes during the evolution of Sindarin. As always, these intricacies can be learned at Ardalambion. You did bookmark Ardalambion, didn’t you? ;)

I do not recommend expending time and effort trying to memorize these exceptions; you can refer to the listing as needed when writing Sindarin sentences. The Hiswelókë Sindarin Dictionary lists these exceptions next to their singular forms ~ or most of them, at least; I haven’t checked every one.

A: In the final syllable, a becomes ai. In every earlier syllable it becomes e.

Adan "a Man" > Edain "Men"
adar "a father" > edair "fathers"
tâl "foot" > tail "feet"

Exceptions:
narn "tale" > nern "tales
Anfang "Longbeard" > Enfeng "Longbeards"
lang "cutlass" > leng "cutlasses"
tang "bowstring" > teng "bowstrings"
thang "need" > theng "needs"
alph "swan" > eilph "swans"
lalf "elm tree" > leilf "elm trees" (disregard the dictionary entry for this one)
annui "western" > annui (final ae, oe or ui prevent earlier a from changing, according to Salo)

E: In the final syllable, e becomes i. In every earlier syllable e does not change.

Edhel "an elf" > Edhil "Elves"
ereg "holly" > erig "hollies"
hên "child" > hîn "children"

Exceptions:
Where the final syllable has an ie combination (which is not a diphthong, just two vowels together), together they become just i, not ii. In the one attested case of this, the i in the first syllable is lengthened in the plural to í. Unfortunately we don’t know if that should always occur.

Miniel "Minya, ie: Elf of the First Clan" > Mínil

I: This vowel does not change in the plural, regardless of where it falls in a word.

lind "a song" > lind "songs"
dîs "bride" > dîs "brides"
hiril "lady" > hiril "ladies"

Exception:
gîl "a star" > geil "stars"

O: In the final syllable, o becomes y. In every earlier syllable it becomes e.

orch "an orc" > yrch "orcs"
Onod "an Ent" > Enyd "Ents"
bór "trusty man" > býr "trust men"
othlonn "paved street" > ethlynn "paved streets"

Exceptions:
Where the final syllable contains an io combination (which is not a diphthong), together they become just y, not iy.

thalion "hero" > thelyn "heroes"
Mirion "Silmaril" > Miryn "Silmarils"

Also:
Rodon "Vala" > Rodyn "Valar"
Ódhel "Elf that departed from Middle-earth" (a Noldo) > Ódhil
Gódhel (same as above, only a later form) > Gódhil
roval "pinion" > rovail "pinions"

U: In every syllable u becomes y. û in the final syllable becomes ui instead.

tulus "poplar" > tylys "poplars"
dûr "dark" > duir

Y: This vowel does not change in the plural, regardless of where it falls in a word.

ylf "drinking vessel" > ylf "drinking vessels"

Only one diphthong changes its form in plurals.

AU: In every syllable the diphthong au becomes oe. (Note that when au occurs at the end of a word it is written as aw)

Naug "Dwarf" > Noeg "Dwarves"
raw "river bank" > roe "river banks"

Special Note: When it occurs in a word with more than one syllable, the diphthong au is usually changed into o, as in balrog (bal "power" + raug "demon"). When forming a plural it is not known if the au would return, which would produce *balroeg (the final au preventing earlier a from changing), or whether it would pluralize to *belryg. I personally follow the former, but it isn't attested.

Useful Tip: Memorizing a two-syllable word that has the same vowel in both syllables will really help:
Adan "Man" > Edain "Men"
Edhel "Elf" > Edhil "Elves"
Ithil "Moon" > Ithil "moons"
Onod "Ent" > Enyd "Ents"
Tulus "poplar" > tylys "poplars"

There are a number of words that do not follow the regular vowel-change pattern, for a number of reasons. Those reasons are complicated, and at a beginner level it's best to just know what those words are, and what happens to them. I do not recommend that you try to memorize all of these. However, it might be a good idea to print the list and keep it handy for reference, and some of these will become familiar from frequent use.

The diphthong ai becomes i or î or sometimes ý in the following group of words:
fair "mortal man" > fîr
cair "ship" > cîr
gwain "new" > gwîn
lhain "lean, thin, meager" > lhîn
paich "juice" > pich
sain "new" > sîn (although this word seems to have been changed to gwain by Tolkien)
fair "right, right hand" > fýr
rain "slot, spoor, track, footprint" > rýn

These words were once monosyllables that became polysyllables:
badhor "judge" > beidhor
bragol "sudden, violent" > breigol
dagor "battle" > deigor
glamor "echo" > gleimor
hador "thrower, hurler" > heidor
hathol "axe" > heithol
idhor "thoughtfulness" > idhor
ivor "crystal?" (meaning uncertain) > ivor
lagor "swift" > leigor
magol "sword" > meigol
magor "swordsman" > meigor
nagol "tooth" > neigol (replaced by nêl)
Naugol "Dwarf" > Noegol
tadol "double" > teidol
tathor "willow" > teithor
tavor "knocker, woodpecker" > teivor
tegol "pen" > tigol
Possibly gollor "magician" > gyllor
Possibly ungol "spider" > yngol

Note: this list does not include:
maethor "warrior" > maethyr
bachor "peddler" > bechyr

These words used to end in -w:
anu "a male" > einu
celu "spring, source" > cilu
coru "cunning, wily" > cyru
curu "skill, cunning devise, craft" > cyru
galu "good fortune" > geilu
gwanu "death, act of dying" > gweinu
haru "wound" > heiru
hethu "foggy, obscure, vague" > hithu
hithu "fog" > hithu
inu "a female" > inu
malu "fallow, pale" > meilu
naru "red" > neiru
nedhu "bolster, cushion" > nidhu
pathu "level space, sward" > peithu
talu "flat" > teilu
tinu "small spark" > tinu

This group that once ended in -gh:
fela "cave" > fili
thela "spear point" > thili
thala "stalwart" > theili
tara "tough, still" > teiri

These words are longer in the plural form than in the singular:
ael "pool, mere" > aelin
êl "star" (archaic word) > elin
fêr "beech-tree" > ferin (this word was later changed to brethil)
nêl "tooth" > nelig
pêl "fenced field" > peli
ôl "dream" > ely or elei (it is not known for certain which of these is correct)

These words have plurals ending in -in:
Drû "wose, one of the wild men" > Drúin
caun "prince" > conin (only the plural is known; the singular is guessed at)

These words are singulars formed from plurals:
filigod "a little bird" > fileg
lhewig "an ear" > lhaw "a pair of ears"
gwanunig "a twin" > gwanûn "a pair of twins"

Words that are plural compounds:
orodben "mountaineer" > orodbin
rochben "rider" > rochbin
adanadar "man-father" > adanedair (although this is attested as edenedair, both forms are probably valid)

Nouns can also be made plural by adding a plural-suffix instead of changing the vowels. This does not apply to making adjectives plural, only nouns. If you add a plural-suffix you do not need to also change the vowels. There are three different suffixes that can be added to a noun to create a class ~ or collective ~ plural that embraces a grouping, many, or all of that noun. These are:

-ath
-rim (meaning "people")
-hoth (used also for a group of people but with very negative connotations, generally translated as "horde, host, folk").

These class plurals are treated as regular plurals, needing the plural definite article in and plural adjectives to match.

Examples of -ath:

elenath "stars" is a plural of elen "a star" (old-fashioned word)
sellath "daughters" is a plural of sell "a daughter"
Ennorath "lands that make up Middle-earth" is a plural of ennor "central land"

When -ath is added to a word whose primitive root has the vowel i, it appears as -iath.
Osgiliath "citadel of the stars" contains giliath, a collective plural of gîl "a star" (stem ÑIL)
firiath "mortal men" is a plural of fair "a mortal" (stem PHIR)

The primitive root of a word is usually listed in the dictionary at the very end of the entry, in capitals and in brackets.

Adding -ath to a noun that ends in -nc or -m will cause a change to -ng- and -mm- respectively, and a noun ending in -nt or -nd will be changed to -nn-:

ranc "arm" > rangath (-nc- to -ng-)
sam "chamber" > sammath (-m- to -mm-)
cant "shape" > cannath (-nt- to -nn-)
thond "root" > thonnath (-nd- to -nn-)

If the original word is a monosyllable (has only one syllable) and the vowel has a circumflex accent (such as â, ê), that accent is lost when the class plural suffix is added:

sîr "river" > siriath
hîr "lord" > hiriath

If the original word is written with final -f, remember that the sound is actually that of v; when adding a class plural suffix, the v sound is no longer written with -f because it's no longer at the end of the word:

nîf "face" > niviath
parf "book" > parvath

Examples of -rim:

galadh "tree" > Galadhrim "people of the trees"
Nogoth "Dwarf" > Nogothrim "Dwarf-folk"

Examples of -hoth:

Dornhoth "Thrawn-folk" is a not-very-complimentary term for the Dwarves
Glamhoth "Din-horde" is a class plural of glam "din" (another term for an orc)
Lossoth "Snow-horde" is a race name for the Snowmen of Forochel

1. Words are usually made plural by changing the vowels.
2. Only one diphthong changes in the plural: au to oe.
3. Nouns can be made plural by adding a plural suffix instead.
4. Plural nouns require plural adjectives.
5. Memorize the vowel changes to: Adan, Edhel, Onod, Ithil, Tulus

You can use the Sindarin Dictionary for this if you aren’t sure, but try them without the dictionary’s help first.

Turn the following words into plurals in the regular fashion:
1. talagan "a harper"
2. heledir "a kingfisher"
3. naw "an idea"
4. aear "a sea"
5. mellon "a friend"
6. lû "a time"
7. roch "a horse"
8. beriannen "protected"
9. cordof "an apple"
10. guldur "sorcery"

Make the right type of collective plural out of the following:
11. Onod "an Ent"
12. Rochir "a Horse-Lord"
13. gaur "a werewolf"
14. pent "a tale"
15. lanc "a throat"
16. mellon "a friend"
17. maeth "a battle"
18. mist "an error"
19. Hadhod "a Dwarf"
20. ram "a wall"

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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