Tengwar Basics for English

Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo! A star shines on the hour of our meeting!

Goal: Clear up some possible points of confusion and learn how to choose the right letter when the tengwar don't exactly match their English counterparts.

You should already know: Tengwar basics. I'll assume you are familiar with the contents of my previous tengwar tutorial.

Part 2: Things you should know.

Let's just keep this up here for reference, shall we?

C and Q(U)

There is no tengwa for "c" or "q" in this mode (at least, not the way we use them). For "c", you should use "s" or "k", depending on how it is pronounced. For "qu", use "k"+"w" or just "k" if it's not pronounced "kw".

Queen, coin - note also the spelling of "oi".

S and Z

Yes, there are two tengwar for "s" and "z" (each). The first one is the standard - you use the second one if it needs to have one of the tehtar over it. (You can also use the "z" tengwar for "ss", if you like.)

Sit, ask - you can find some more uses of the "s" tengwa (its name is silme, by the way) in some of the previous examples.

And Y...

Ignore the "y" and "w" on the bottom row - they're used for vowel sounds, actually (or "semivowels", if you like). For a consonant "y" (as in year), you need to use the tengwa named anna. You need to add double dots under it whenever you use it as in the examples.

Year - we'll get to the thing with the two "r" tengwar (very soon).

R or...R?!?

There are two tengwar for the letter "r". You don't get to pick which one you like best or the one that looks/fits better (as with "s" and "z"). One of them goes before a consonant or at the end of a word and the other goes before a vowel.

Note: Sometimes this distinction is ignored. It doesn't make as much sense for English as it does for Elvish.

A set of examples for the two "r" tengwar.

The th/dh distinction.

There are actually two different sounds that we usually spell "th". A linguist would generally write them "th" (thin)and "dh" (thou). They are spelled with two distinct tengwar, so you need to learn to tell the difference if you want to use them.

Most native English-speakers have a hard time telling the difference because, although we clearly make the distinction when we talk, we just don't hear it. You'll probably have to think about it a lot at first - it gets easier with practice (I don't have any trouble anymore).

Here are some more examples to help to get the difference straight in your head:
th: thigh, three, theory
dh: thy, then, the

Here are some more examples using "th" and "dh" sounds.

One more note on vowels...

The "y" and "w" listed on the bottom row are actually used for vowel sounds, to make dipthongs (two vowel sounds together) ending in "i" and "u". You don't have to use them, but they'll add an extra touch of sophistication to your writing if you do. (Just don't try to use them for consonant sounds!)

Next: Modifiers, Shorthand, and Stuff!

References

I learned to write with tengwar from reading the appendices to The Lord of the Ring and by deciphering the inscription on the title page. I have learned quite a bit from a variety of online sources, which are listed here under 'references'. I wrote most of this off the top of my head (so any errors are my own fault), but I did reference Dan Smith's help files to double-check the values for the standard English mode.