Lessons
• Introduction
• Lesson I – Background information
• Lesson II – Black Speech Sounds and Pronunciation
• Lesson III – Nouns
• Lesson IV – Verbs: Infinitive and Present Tense
• Lesson V – Verbs: Future Tense
• Lesson VI – Adjectives and Word Order
• Lesson VII – Pre- and Postpositions, Noun Cases, Phrase Verbs
• Lesson VIII – Verbs: Past Tense
• Lesson IX – Numbers
• Lesson X – Pronouns and Commands (Imperatives)
• Lesson I – Background information
• Lesson II – Black Speech Sounds and Pronunciation
• Lesson III – Nouns
• Lesson IV – Verbs: Infinitive and Present Tense
• Lesson V – Verbs: Future Tense
• Lesson VI – Adjectives and Word Order
• Lesson VII – Pre- and Postpositions, Noun Cases, Phrase Verbs
• Lesson VIII – Verbs: Past Tense
• Lesson IX – Numbers
• Lesson X – Pronouns and Commands (Imperatives)
• * Lesson XI – Adverbs, Gerund
• * Lesson XII – Comparisons
• * Lesson XIII – Suffix Order and Indirect Objects
• * Lesson XIV – Questions
• * Lesson XV – Participles and Passive Voice
• * Lesson XVI – Conditional and Subjunctive Moods
• Appendix A: Prefixes and Suffixes
• Appendix B: Grammar quick overview
• Appendix C: Measures, Directions, Army Ranks
• Appendix D: List Of Abbreviations
• Appendix E: Canonical Tolkien's Black Speech
• * Lesson XII – Comparisons
• * Lesson XIII – Suffix Order and Indirect Objects
• * Lesson XIV – Questions
• * Lesson XV – Participles and Passive Voice
• * Lesson XVI – Conditional and Subjunctive Moods
• Appendix A: Prefixes and Suffixes
• Appendix B: Grammar quick overview
• Appendix C: Measures, Directions, Army Ranks
• Appendix D: List Of Abbreviations
• Appendix E: Canonical Tolkien's Black Speech
Appendix B: Grammar quick overview
Nouns
Pluralizing
Singular | Plural suffix | Collective Plural |
---|---|---|
person shara (a human), mau (warrior) |
– shara turu (many humans), mau krâk (five warriors) |
-ûk, -hai shara-hai (humans), maûk (all warriors) |
consonant ending duf (knife), hont (eye) |
-u dufu (knives), hontu (eyes) |
-ûk dufûk (all knives) goiûk (all cities) |
vowel ending goi (city) |
-z goiz (cities) |
Suffix order
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
gender | article | case | postposition | number |
Adjectives
Pluralizing
Singular | Plural suffix | Examples |
---|---|---|
consonant ending | -u | ûsumu bûrzu (dark thoughts) |
vowel ending | -z | urûk kûz (old orcs) |
Comparison
Degree | Suffix | Examples |
---|---|---|
Regular | gothûrz (powerful), kû (old) | |
Comparative | -ar | gothûrzar snû (more powerful than), kûar (elder) |
Superative | -az | gothûrzaz (the most powerful), kûaz (the eldest) |
Verbs
Tense | 1st, 2nd person | 3rd person sing. | 3rd person pl. |
---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | -at | -at | -at |
Present | – | -at | -ut |
Future | -ub | -ubat | -ubut |
Past | -uz | -uzat | -uzut |
Participles
Tense | Suffix | |
---|---|---|
active | passive | |
Participle I | -ug | -aga |
Perfect Participle I | -ugz | -ufa |
Participle II |
-uga |
Word Order
1. Subject | 2. Attribute | 3. Predicate | 4. Direct object | 5. Indirect object | 6. Adjunct |
n | adj | v | n pron |
n (+ prep) pron (+ prep) |
adv n + prep |
Notice: if the subject is a pronoun then it is suffixed to the verb.
Example
Yesterday | the great warrior | Uglakh | brought | the magical ring | to his lord |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
⇓ |
Uglakh | mau bûbhosh | thrakuz | nazg dushûrz | gothtabu | ârshlût |
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