I need help

[Firiel]

I am really stuck on lesson 9 of HKF's corse. I can't seem to get thru
it. Is there anyone out there who has finished this lesson who can
answer some questions for me?

[Quenarth]

Yes, I have finished that course and gone through it multiple times.
As to whether I can answer...no idea =) All I can honestly say is that
I have a wee bit of expirience, but that's it.

[Firiel]

Thanks for the offer. I took time at work today to read over the lesson
again and do the exercises. It just seems that I wll never get the
endings right. But I have decided to plod on in spite of it. I am
hoping that soon everything will fall into place.
Here is one question:
When you are adding a pronoun to the end of a word that ends in a
consonant, what vowel do you precede it with? I would assume that in
most cases it would be a, but then sometimes it might sound better with
e.
Another question:
What is the pronoun for 3rd person sing. male, female, and neutral? (I
was going to type neutered!) I have seen both -s and -rye. Is one
preferred over the other?
Thanks for helping.

[Bob Powers]

Firiel wrote:
> I took time at work today to read over the lesson
> again and do the exercises. It just seems that I wll never get the
> endings right. But I have decided to plod on in spite of it. I am
> hoping that soon everything will fall into place.

Don't worry, HKF does a good job in explaining everything and I'm sure
you'll get it.

> When you are adding a pronoun to the end of a word that ends in a
> consonant, what vowel do you precede it with? I would assume that in
> most cases it would be a, but then sometimes it might sound better with
> e.

In most cases, the connecting vowel of a possessive pronoun (to a noun,
there is no connecting vowel needed in any verb) is -e-. The only
exeption is the 1st person possessive pronoun (fancy way of saying 'my'
-nya) always uses -i- when a connecting vowel is necessary.

> What is the pronoun for 3rd person sing. male, female, and neutral? (I
> was going to type neutered!) I have seen both -s and -rye. Is one
> preferred over the other?

Neuter is the proper term, though 'neutered' is alot more violent
sounding! The truth is, -rye is not attested (Tolkien never used it),
it's only found in possessive form (-rya 'its'). I would not hesitate
to use it, though. I customarily use -s when there is no accusative
case pronominal (object of the sentence) and -rye when there is an
accusative case pronominal (object of the sentence), because -rye can
take on the ending -l, -n, or -s.

If any of this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll clarify it.

Keep at it.

Bob Powers

[Firiel]

Thanks, Bob. That was helpful. I suppose you understand the -s when you
read the sentence.
Some of the pronoun stuff I haven't gotten to yet. I know pronouns are
covered more in future lessons, but sometimes I need them before I get
to them, if you know what I mean.