Disclaimer: I have been learning Sindarin since November 2002. I am not a linguist, I'm just a fan of Tolkien's work. New information is still being released from Tolkien's linguistic papers, which may in future prove some of the theories here incorrect.

Almost everything taught here relies on Helge Fauskanger’s brilliant essay Sindarin: The Noble Tongue at Ardalambion. There you will find in-depth, technical explanations behind all the theories, and I strongly urge you to read that essay as you progress through the basics, for there are details there that I cannot hope to reproduce here.

Unfortunately, the amount of Sindarin that has been published thus far is not much. What has been published, by Tolkien, is called "attested", meaning it is known for certain, and the collection of attested samples of Sindarin is called "The Corpus". Tolkien also left us with a listing of the origins, or roots, of the words, called the Etymologies. Much of what you will be learning is theoretical ~ logical deduction based on what is attested ~ because Tolkien never published a Sindarin Grammar essay to teach the language. Without applying logical deduction and theories, we would not be able to utilize Sindarin.

It is important to understand that future publications may prove some of the theories incorrect, but until that date, if we want to use Sindarin we have no choice. Some linguists find this idea distasteful; I am not a linguist, and quite willingly utilize unattested words because I wish to use Sindarin, rather than just to study it as a museum artifact. I will, however, try to differentiate between what is attested and what is constructed or reconstructed (often from Quenya or from the Etymologies).

I have divided the basic aspects of grammar into 12 lessons. At the end of each lesson is a simple exercise to help you practice what was taught in the lesson. If you do not understand what is taught in the lesson, or something in the answers to the exercise, please ask in the Plaza's Language Forum.

At the end of this Grammar Course you will have a solid foundation upon which to build sentences, then paragraphs, then Odes and Sagas and Ballads! But it will take time and effort on your part; Sindarin is not a gift anyone can bestow upon you.

As with any class, there are some supplies that you will need to have on hand. If you have trouble accessing or downloading any of these, please seek help in the Language Forum, as they are all very useful tools for learning Sindarin. While some of them might not be needed for the first few lessons, I strongly recommend that you download or bookmark all of them at the beginning, and print them as well if you can do so.

The Attested Corpus ~ print this!
Chart of frequently-used accent alt-codes ~ print this if you have a PC!
Chart of Vowel Changes for Plural Nouns ~ print this!
Chart of Consonant Mutations ~ print this!
D. Willis' Hiswelókë Sindarin Dictionary
Sindarin: The Noble Tongue essay by H. Fauskanger
Suggested Conjugation of all Known and Inferred Sindarin Verbs by H. Fauskanger ~ print this if you can
The Sindarin Verb System essay by T. Renk
Chart of Reconstructed Pronouns
Reconstructed Sindarin Verbs listed by Taramiluiel
Reconstructed Vocabulary listed by Taramiluiel

You can contact the author of these lessons at taramiluiel@cox.net

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