Ad. triconsonantal-verb grammar.

Ad. triconsonantal-verb grammar.

Tolkien states that “the verb form in Adunaic is usually triconsonantal” (SD/416) and there are quite a few examples of triconsonantal verbs, especially compared to the Elvish languages (which have very few verbs derived from triconsonantal roots). There are quite a few attested inflections for these verbs. Based on these forms, my best guess for the conjugations of triconsonantal verbs is as follows:

Tense Formation Examples
aorist Eliminate the second vowel and add an -a to the verb stem kalab-kalba (VT24/12)
continuative-present Change the second vowel to u, add an -i to the verb stem kalab-kalubi (SD/251)
past Double the middle consonant, add an -a to the verb stem kalab-kallaba (SD/247, 429)
continuative-past ? ?

There isn’t enough information on the continuative past to guess how it might be formed. See the entries for the individual verb tenses for further discussion.

Examples (triconsonantal-verb)
dubud- “to fall (under influence/cover of)”
kalab- “to fall (down)”
*nitir- “to kindle”
*phazag- “?to rule, conquer”
phurus- “to gush, flow”
rahat- “to break, rend”
#saphad- “to understand”
#tabad- “to touch”
*zabath- “to (be) humble”

Reference ✧ SD/439 ✧ for example: kalab “fall down”

Element In