Let's learn Quenya on the Downs

[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 there we go, ango is an outdated word for a dragon.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