Useful Elvish Phrases
Created | Updated Jan 8, 2016
Here are some handy sentences in Quenya, the language of the High Elves in JRR Tolkien's Middle-Earth. They are useful if you want to impress your friends or are just interested in Tolkien's fascinating invented languages.
Pronunciation
The matter of Quenya pronunciation can be extensively discussed. All that can be mentioned here is that it is similar to that of Italian, but the h is fully pronounced, and c and g are pronounced hard (as in car and garden). An acute accent mark on a vowel (eg á, é) is not used to mark the stressed syllable, but indicates a long vowel.
If a word ends on e, usually it is written as ë to indicate that it is not silent1.
There is a set of rules on stress, which are too long to discuss here. For now, it will be enough to say that the stressed syllable is either the second-to-last or the third-to-last one.
| English | Quenya |
| Hello! | Mára aurë2! |
| Goodbye! | Gára mesta! |
| I'm an Elf. | Ni ná3. Elda |
| A star shines upon the hour of our meeting4! | Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo! |
| How are you? | Manen nalyë? |
| What's up, Doc? | Man marta, Envinyatar5? |
| I love you. | Tye-méla. |
| May Balrogs eat you! | Nai Valaraukar tye-mátar! |
| I will kill you | Tye-mancuva |
| Keep off the grass! | Áva vanta i salquessë! |
| I'm drowning! | Ni quorya! |
| How can I get to ...? | Manen lélië ...? |
| What's your name? | Man ná esselya? |
| Oh! More! Go on! Yes! Oooh! | A! Yonta! Vorya6! Nai7! Ó! |
| Stand aside, mortals! | Heca, fírimar! |
| Honey, I'm home. | Melda, ná máresse. |
| The Elves invented the art of love. | Eldar autar i Carmë melmeo. |
| What goes up must come down. | Ya línna ambanna tulinuva nan8. |
| I think Elvis is still alive. | Intya Elvis er ná cuina. |
| Do not disturb! | Áva nuhta sérenya9! |
| Get a life. | Hira10 cuilë. |
