Let's learn Quenya on the Downs

[Alassë Estel]

That was a bit hard. But it was educational too, so I won't feel too bad about not getting it correct.

Here is my sentence for you: Áva lala se cuita ango.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Alassë Estel

That was a bit hard. But it was educational too, so I won't feel too bad about not getting it correct.

Here is my sentence for you: Áva lala se cuita ango.

It's been a while, but I'll give this a stab.

First thought: "Do not [verb] this [noun] of iron," with lala being related to Lalaith, Turin's sister (something to do with singing?).

Now checking: lala- is "to laugh". Se is not... whatever sort of word "this" would be, but is either a pronoun (he/she/it) or a word "at, in". Hmmm... an idea occurs. Cuita is from the verb "to live", so I'm pretty confident, but let's check... there we go, ango is an outdated word for a dragon.

"Never laugh at live dragons (Bilbo, you fool)!"

Pretty good! Your first three words look spot on. Eldamo prefers coita- to cuita- for "to live". In either case, this time we need the active participle "living", which we can get by adding -ila. I would also probably prefer the later word föalócë for "dragon", so I end up with:

Áva lala se coitaila föalócë!

hS

[Alassë Estel]

Yes! That's it!

That means it's your turn, if you're up for it. If don't want to keep going back and forth, it won't offend me or anything. But I am ready if you have another one.

[Huinesoron]

I'm happy to keep going; it's just been a bit of a month.

Mélamar cata, Ambar epë, ar na tieli telconta.

hS

[Alassë Estel]

Okay, great! I don't mind waiting, I just don't want you to feel that you must continue if you'd rather not.

And my answer is "Home is behind, the World ahead, and there are many paths to tread."

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Alassë Estel

Okay, great! I don't mind waiting, I just don't want you to feel that you must continue if you'd rather not.

And my answer is "Home is behind, the World ahead, and there are many paths to tread."

Spot on! I really wanted to swap the first two clauses round to maintain the rhyme, but I decided it would confuse the translation.

hS

[Alassë Estel]

Great!

Here is the next one: Nyariën náne imnianna. Haimo i yára: tyavilto i ansaila quén har quetanna.

Hopefully that's all in order. I had to use substitutes for one or two words, but it should be very close.