Neo-Black Speech

(Ghashnumorfîn)
(from Black Speech School)

(Author: Un4givenOrc - Russia)

Font: http://blackspeech.ru/index.php?page=0&lang=en

Welcome to the Black Speech School, the place

where you can learn the language of Orcs, Nazgûls
and other Mordor's inhabitants.
I advise you to start with Dialects page to understand
where dictionaries and grammatic rules used in this site have come from.

Dialects
It's possible to find a plenty of different dictionaries of Arda languages. But
only few of them develop Tolkien's ideas. Some of the dictionaries are too
small, made just for fun or simply have nothing common with Black
Speech linguistics. And some good vocabularies are dead for a long time...

“Ring Verse” analysis

J.R.R. Tolkien left only few Black Speech words, but we shall analyze them
to develop the language according to his ideas. Obviously The Ring Verse is
too short and repetitious to be the source for statistical accounting, but
unfortunately it's the only example of Classical Black Speech. Anyway Nils-
Lennart Johanneson made a phonetical analysis of Black Speech in
comparsion with Quenya (his work among the others can be found in this
book). He showed why Tolkien considered Black Speech “harsh” and elvish
languages “fair”. The Ring Verse contains less vowels and more non-
sonorant sounds including stops (p, b, t, k, g) and fricatives (f, v, s, z, etc.).
The syllabes are mostly closed as opposed to Quenya where the majority of
syllabes is opened. Some paragraphs below I'll put his results (for Black
Speech only).

Neo-Black Speech dialects overview

The most widely used Black Speech dialects are Shadowlandian (LOS),
Svartiska (SV), MERP and Horngoth. Let's briefly review them and
compare their phonology with Ring Verse.

LOS (Shadowlandian, Uzg Burgûlu-ob) is the closest to Tolkien's works

and the most promising dialect in my opinion. It has taken its name from
site The Land Of Shadow, which actively used it. This dialect was created
by Scatha. It has the simpliest set of language's rules and the most
restricted character set. It is based on idea of adopting and perverting
words from languages of other races by orcs. So Scatha adopted some
words from Quenya without remorse, but sometimes these words seems
very different from original (for non-linguist person). Although orcs hate
the elves above all, their vocabulary was the largest amongst the nations of
Middle-Earth. Moreover, this language was significantly better developed
by Tolkien than any other one. Now this dialect is slowly mixing with
Svartiska. The only thing I don't like in Shadowlandian is the sound “qu”
adopted from Quenya, which is used not so seldom as it should be.

Svartiska is the dialect of Swedish roleplayers. It was created by Mikael

“Adragoor” Bynke in the late 1990's, so it's the oldest surviving Black
Speech version nowdays. Its name is translated from Swedish as
“blackish”. Actually it doesn't sound very “blackish” because of using letters
absent in Tolkien's examples and higher rate of open syllabes. The author
himself states that Svartiska “has very little to do with the language
invented by J.R.R. Tolkien”. But Swedish orc community is the most active
it seems. So this dialect has very large vocabulary, and spread beyond
Sweden to other countries. Some of its words became to get into LOS. I've
recently discovered that there are some subdialects exist which differs in
Grammar. Attention! Svartiska dictionary was originally BS-Swedish and
was translated into English later, therefore it has some typos and
inaccuracy traslations. But the original seems to be vanished from the web.

MERP (Middle-Earth Role Play) – I don't know the history of this dialect,
but it seems the dictionary came from The Orcish Nations site. It looks like
Svartiska without diacritic marks and with some inconsistent additions to
vocabulary. For the Slavs some words would sound almost just funny as the
ones from humorous dictionaries because of their similarity to Turkish and
Slavic words. Apparently the association of Orcish horde with Mongol-
Tartarian has played a role. There also borrowings from other Middle-East
languages. Because this dialect was created by a group of users, it contains
a lot of contradictions and too large number of synonyms and omonyms.
On the other hand MERP has very big vocabulary. Note: this dialect doesn't
contain long vovels, so you'll meet a word with them in dictionaries only in
shared entries for several dialects. In this case just omit ^ above vowel for
translation into MERP.

Horngoth is translated from Black Speech as “cowboy”, that was a nick of

its creator. Many unique words of it are closer to original BS than LOS,
sometimes sounding even more harsh than Tolkien's examples. Another
distinctive feature in Horngoth is the vowel reduction in verb forming (i.e.
ghashan – ghashn). But a lot of words are taken from other dialects
because of their widespread use. So it sounds like LOS but sometimes uses
Svartiska variants. Unfortunately it isn't widespread.

Zhâburi – the most serious approach on Black Speech in many years,

however under construction yet. Using mostly Svartiska vocabulary, but
with more developed complex grammar inspired by A. Nemirovsky's
hypothesis that Tolkien's Black Speech was based on ancient Hurrian
language.

There also other dialects, but they are whether disappeared from the web
(as Mugbûrz) or are purely compilative. Example of the last case is Red
Hand, lead by Lugrekh. It has even more adoptations from languages of
real world including Slavic. This situation can be explained by looking at
home country of its contributors (Poland, Bulgaria). Officially Red Hand
dialect is a subset of Shadowlandian. But Lugrekh is the first one who
mixed all the dialects described above indeed. There were also Bulgarian
and Russian dialects, defunct now. Both of them were created on the basis
of LOS. Distinction is in some grammatic rules.

Phonetical comparison of dialects

I made an analysis of Orcish-English-Russian dictionary using some
automation script. As it could contain some errors in algorithm, and the
whole word list with repeating stems and not the real text was analyzed it is
not 100% accurate, but it's better than nothing. Diphtongs and some of
consonants clusters pronounced as the single sound were treated as one
letter. Finally, here are resulting tables. First column is based on
Johanneson's Ring Verse analysis, the second – on whole Tolkien's
wordlist, others are for modern dialects which include original LOTR Black
Speech words. All values are expressed in percents.

Sounds
Rin LO MER HOR
TK SV
g S P N
59. 55. 59. 60
Sonorants 61 57.9
1 4 7 .2
34. 34. 35.
Vowels 37.9 36.6 34.1
7 6 5
 Glides 0 0 0.3 1 1.4 0.1
(j, qu, w, y)
Liquids 14. 15.
12.1 16.6 14.5 16
(l, r) 3 4
Nasals
9.1 6.4 8.2 8.4 8.5 7.7
(m, n, ng)
40. 44 40. 39.
Non-Sonorants 39 42.1
9 .6 3 8
Fricatives 15. 15.
(f, v, th, dh, s, z, sh, zh, h, gh, 15.1 17.1 13.7 17.6
kh)
1 1
Affricates
0 0 0 0.2 0 <0.1
(ch)
Stops 25. 29. 23. 24.
25.3 24.5
(p, b, t, d, c, k, g) 8 5 2 5

Syllabes
All words were splitted in syllabes. “Opened” syllabes are ended with vowel
(V) and “Closed” – with consonant (C)

Rin LO MER HOR

TK SV
g S P N
30. 34.
Open 36 23 37.3 28.7
1 4
V 4 8 4.2 2.8 2.7 3.3
12. 28.
CV 28 21.8 31.7 22.1
6 7
CCV 4 2.3 4 2.9 2.9 3.4
69. 65.
Closed 64 77 62.7 71.3
9 6
VC 16 6.9 4 2.3 1.6 2.9
VCC 0 1.1 1.7 0.7 0.4 1.1
42. 45.
CVC 32 46 49.7 45.2
3 6
17. 10.
CVCC 12 13.3 5.5 12.9
2 5
CCVC 4 4.6 6.8 5.4 4.6 6.9
Other 0 1.1 1.8 1.2 0.8 2.2
(i.e. longer
 syllabes)

Number of syllabes per word

Black Speech words invented by Tolkien were typically short. And what
about neo-orcish?

Syllab
LO MER HOR
es TK SV
S P N
count
62. 37. 31.
1 34.5 37.2
3 9 9
37. 46.
2 51.4 45.2 52.8
7 8
21.
≥3 0 10.7 20.3 10
3

Conclusion
As you can see from tables above difference in sound's distribution
between dialects is small enough to consider it as statistical error. However
in syllabic structure deviation is little more sufficient. But groups of
dialects (Tolkien vs LOS and Horngoth vs. Svartiska and MERP) differ
mostly in average number of syllabes per one word.

Morphological analysis
Black Speech is considered as synthetic and agglutinative language with
suffixal derivation which means that words are grammatically modified
(inflected) by adding numerous suffixes. But Classical Black Speech has
lack of grammatical categories (no gender, few cases etc.), at least in
Tolkien examples, and very short words (one or two syllabes); sole word
stem could mean noun, present tense verb or adjective, which brings
some analyticness similar to English. Pure agglutinative languages have a
lot of grammar categories and distinct morphemes for each of them. But
modern Black Speech dialects have lack of grammar forms (even having
added some to Tolkien's inheritance) with some morphemes having dual
meaning, and some meaning several categories at once, which brings a bit
of fusional model of inflection in addition to analytic feel. Svartiska has
rich set of cases for nouns and pronouns but lacks category of person for
verbs. Shadowlandian has no cases but case postpositions (similar to
English prepositions “of”, “by”). Horngoth has perfect verb times in
addition to indefinite. Horngoth's vowel reduction in forming verbs from
nouns indicates more fusional properties. All modern dialects have
tendency to make new words by joining two existing (i.e. names for
animals) and also to spell some phrases as one word, that
signifies polysynthetic derivation. But after all in my opinion Black Speech
is still agglutinative language, with strong analytic properties however.

Black Speech in modern media

Ring verse was read by many musical groups but very few of them have
lyrics completely in Black Speech. In PC games Orcish language is rarely
stylized to Tolkien's Black Speech. Often their creators doesn't even
consider to loose the time for language development. But there is some
exceptions:

Austrian band Summoning, whose works based entirely on Tolkien's

books, has a song “Mirdautas Vras”, lyrics for it is written completely in
Black Speech. They used Shadowlandian dialect. However, the band also
tried to invent their own words absent in LOS dictionary. I have found 6
words created by Summoning, one of them has a meaning close to existing
LOS word (“werewolf” was used as “wolf”), and one conflicting with LOS
phonetics – “shosvart” (“victory”). The other 4 inventions comply with
Black Speech rules. As you can see the composition's title violates the LOS
rules, but this phrase was invented by one of the Black Speech contributors
long before the creation of all dialects mentioned here.

Swedish two-man band Za Frûmi comes even further. Their debut album
“Za Shum Ushatâr Uglakh” (The Great Warrior Uglakh) contains
compositions with orcs talking! They used Svartiska dialect of course. Only
3 of 7 albums has Black Speech, on the last releases the band started to use
other languages of their created world.

There are also a lot of bands using Black Speech words in their names
(these bands plays Black Metal as a rule), The most famous of them is
Burzum of course. But these artists didn't go further than citing Ring verse
and inventing names for themselves.
Lessons
Introduction

The Land of Shadow's Black Speech

This dialect of the Black Speech know as the Shadowlandian Black
Speech was created by Scatha, the great Dragon Queen of Mordor and
Morgoth's Lair, and was made for the Dark Community of Mordor... the
Land of Shadow.com and Dark Messages our community board. She has
since expanded it's use across the web into many of our fellow Dark Sites,
including Morgoth's Lair and Lugburz ensuring it's longevity over time and
giving the dedicated students of this dialect of the Black Speech, a variety
of forums and communities to discuss, learn, speak and write in the Dark
Tongue of Mordor.

We will be forever grateful to Scatha and many other dedicated Black

Speech linguists who contributed to this great work of linguistic wizardry
that breaths life into the expedience of Tolkien's Land of Shadow. We
Thank you Scatha!

An Introduction from Scatha the Black Speech

Linguist
Then J. R. R. Tolkien invented the Black Speech for his Lord of the Rings
trilogy, he created only a few phrases and orc names. In order to develop
the language for use and communication, we have invented new words and
have developed some grammatical rules. In order to make it clear which
words came directly from Tolkien, and which ones were created by other
people, source abbreviations (in all caps) are given with each word. This
dictionary was based on several online Black Speech discussions and
resources. (See URL's in Appendix below.) I tried to base my new words on
Tolkien's original BS vocabulary and on his proper names for orcs. The rest
I extrapolated from the sources noted below and from Quenya. I apologize
if I have neglected to credit anyone. If you find that I have, please email
me. Please also let me know if you find any errors or problems.

Several different groups and people have invented various versions of

Black Speech. This is entirely in keeping with Tolkien's observations that
orcs spoke many different dialects. These “dialects” are named by their
creators. Mine is called “Uzg Bûrgulu-ob” (Land of Shadows). There is also
a dialect called “Horngoth”, another one by a Swedish LARP group called
“Svartiska”, and a defunct one by the name of Mugbûrz. If you decide to
create your own dialect, please give yours a distinctive name. Please feel
free to to use, share, or copy these dictionaries and lessons as you wish, but
please do give credit to the various creators. Thank you.

Scatha

Note from author of this site: I let myself change the order of lessons
according to my point of view about their difficulty and consistency.
Lessons marked with asterisk are written by me. My notes to Scatha's
original lessons are marked with different font. Lessons for russian- and
english-speaking users are different because of distincts in grammar and
phonetics. Language-specific parts of lessons are marked with a flag and
dashed border (all of russian-specific parts and some of english-specific
parts are mine).
WARNING: however dictionaries featured here contain words from
almost all dialects of Black Speech, grammatical rules of these lessons are
applicable only to Shadowlandian dialect (LOS).

All information in “Lessons” is taken from Mordor – The Land Of

Shadow site.
Un4givenOrc
 Lesson I – Background information
I know you'll be tempted to skip this stuff, but humor me and just read
through it once. You probably already know that J. R. R. Tolkien's original
Black Speech consists of only two phrases and several orc names. First, the
famous Ring inscription:

“Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg

thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.”

“One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring
to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

There is also an orc curse by Tolkien, which appears in Book 3 of The Two
Towers:
“Ugluk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob bûb-hosh
skai!” which is translated as:

“Ugluk to the dung pit with stinking Saruman-filth – pig-

guts gah!”

Apparently Tolkien later forgot that he had already translated the orc curse
and so made up a new translation:

“Ugluk to the cesspool, sha! the dungfilth; the great

Saruman-fool, skai!”

This dictionary, which was created for the Mordor, Land of Shadows
Message Board (abbreviated “LOS”), uses both translations. I decided to do
this for several reasons: first, we have so little original JRRT Black Speech,
that I thought it would be best to follow both translations, even if the
results can be a little confusing. Second, I noticed that folks on that
Message Board were already mixing up the two translations, so I decided
just to go with the flow. Third, using both translations gives us a little more
flexibility with the vocabulary. Finally, the orcs in Mordor were constantly
fighting over stupid, trivial causes, so I didn't think it would be a problem
to mix things up a bit more by creating confusion with word meanings.

Other than the phrases above (and about half a dozen orc names invented
by Tolkien), all phrases and words are new and were invented by people
other than JRRT. The dictionary that comes with these lessons was partly
based on A. Appleyard's work, which appears in this
site: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/articles/Appleyard.Bla
ckSpeech (I placed a readable copy of this document here).

My dictionary also uses ideas from the Ardalambion site. I don't know the
name of the author: http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/orkish.htm -- and
on this one by Craig
Daniel: http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/blackspeech.htm. But my
impression is that Daniel's work is controversial, and I don't agree with
everything he says. Still, his ideas on pronunciation and on Black Speech
sounds and letters are correct. The English-Orcish dictionary was based on
the work of Rob Eaglestone, also a contributor to Tolklang. A word of
caution: several online RPG groups have created new words and phrases.
Because many of these people are making up the words to suit their
activity, not to conform with Tolkien's language or grammar, these sites are
not completely reliable as guides to Tolkien's ideas. Some are better than
others, so be careful. For other URL's, please see the dictionary.

I will try to avoid technical terms (because I don't know many) but I do
think it would be helpful to have a basic understanding of English grammar
before you begin.

One other point: Sauron invented the original Black Speech. This language,
which he mostly drew from the ancient languages of Arda, is
considered Classical Black Speech (abbreviated CBS). The Ring inscription
is the only example we have of CBS. The orc curse is an example
of Debased Black Speech (DBS), which is a mixture of CBS, orcish dialects,
and so on. As stated in the appendix to LOTR, the orcs spoke a debased
version of CBS. I am assuming that the Black Speech in this dictionary and
in these lessons is basically Debased Black Speech, and will therefore allow
for small variations and errors.

Here is a very quick overview of Black Speech grammar, to get you started:

Black Speech has no articles, either definite (the) or indefinite (a, an). All
verbs are quite regular. Sentences appear to be constructed similarly to
English: subject–verb–object (Lat bugd Uruk = you call the Uruk). BS
differs from English in that adjectives and adverbs follow the words they
modify. (Lat bugd Uruk gothurz = you call the powerful Uruk.) By the way,
misplacing adjectives seems to be the most common mistake beginners
make – be careful always to put the adjective after the word it modifies.

In Black Speech prepositions like to, of, in, by are suffixed to the word they
modify (for example, Mordor-ishi = in Mordor; Gondor-ob = of Gondor,
Saruman-irzi = by Saruman). You might already have noticed that the orc
was using poor grammar in his curse, when he said “Ugluk u bagronk”. He
should have said, “Ugluk bagronk-u”. This is a good example of orc
grammatical sloppiness, but such mistakes occur frequently in orc speech.

Feel free to use this information any way you like, but please be careful to
give the appropriate credit to all the various web sites/inventors who have
contributed to the development of Black Speech. I would appreciate any
feedback or criticism of these lessons or the dictionary. Please email me at
[email protected]. Thanks!
How to use these lessons
The lessons are more or less in order of difficulty. The second set, 6–10,
includes some tricky exercises and grammatical rules. I have not yet
worked out the third set, but obviously that will be even more difficult. It
might be very helpful to have on hand a basic book on English grammar.
Good luck!

A note about names in other languages: I have not tried to translate

Sindarin, Quenya, or Common Speech names into Black Speech. Therefore
you will find names like Gondor, Shelob, Saruman, etc., in the lessons.
 Lesson II – Black Speech Sounds and
Pronunciation

Consonants and clusters

We know that the following consonants appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's original
examples of Black Speech: sh, d, r, b, th, k, m, p, t, l, k, gh, z, g, n, h, s. Orc
names include f and kh.

Black Speech does not seem to contain c, j, v, w, or x. (Some dialects

contain j and v).

Pronouncing Consonants
The following consonants are pronounced more or less as they appear in

English: b, d, f, g, h, k, m, n, p, qu, s, t, z.

For American students: the letters p, t, and d should be pronounced

a little harder, more like the Italian, not the softened American versions.

For example, pronounce these letters the way you would at the beginning

of a word or name: P as in Peter, not as in “open”, T as in Tom, not as in

“litter”, D as in „door“, not as in “adore”. This should be less of a

problem for British students.

Pronouncing the letters R and L in Black Speech
The two sounds R and L give Black Speech its distinctive sound, so please

be careful to pronounce them correctly. Both should be pronounced at the

back of the throat, as though you were “gargling”. Tolkien made a special

point of this; apparently the elves hated both pronunciations and found

them ugly.

R is pronounced like the French R, not the Italian R. The L should be a

“dark” L, the way it is pronounced in American English, except that it

remains “dark” even at the beginning of words and syllables (unlike

American English).

**The only exception to this rule is MORDOR. J. R. R. Tolkien himself

pronounced this word with the rolling (Italian or Spanish) R.

Pronouncing Consonant Clusters

GH should be pronounced in the back of the throat, similar to the Italian

GH. (As I know this cluster appears in Italian before e and i only, and

pronounced as usual “g”. It's used for distinction from ge and gi where

“g” is pronounced as “j” in “Jeffry” and “Jimmy” respectively). So I

assume that it sounds like softened, devoiced “g” at the end of the words
(something like modern Greek, Russian, Spanish) or voiced “h”, but

closer sound I think is Turkish “ğ” (however disappearing in modern

language). SH is pronounced like the American “sh”. KH and

Svartiska's CH is pronounced like the German “ch” in “ach” or “buch”.

The clusters thr, kr, gl, sk usually occur at the beginnings of words,

and zg, mb, mp, rz, nk at the ends of words, at least according to the

examples by JRRT. They are pronounced as written; just be careful to use

the “dark” L and the “French” R.

The Ardalambion author has also assumed that the following sounds

occur in BS, although they do not appear in Tolkien's examples. These

include: dh (like the English “the”) and zh (as in “pleasure”). Some other

sounds he has suggested are dhl, zg, ls, rs, lz, ng, and sk (ng would be

like that of the English word “ring”). I assume BS also contains the sound

“mp” (as in “dump” = doom). Just remember that unlike in English, the L

and R are always pronounced at the back of the throat.

It seems Scatha forgot to mention “th” which should be pronounced as in

English “think” or “both” and appears both at the beginnings and

endings of words as in English examples.

Few words borrowed from Mugbûrz and Horngoth dialects use “bh”

which can be tricky to pronounce. It is like aspirated “b” (similar to

English aspirated “p” but voiced). Another way to pronounce it is “b”

with glottal stop after it (often transcribed as apostrophe in latinization

of Middle-Eastern languages), so “bhog” could be read as “b og”. The

problem is that it appears at the end of some words too, where aspirated

“b” is easier to pronounce. Please notice that in “bûbhosh” it is two

separate sounds.

Pronouncing Vowels and Diphthongs

The Black Speech vowels are a, i, o, u, although according to Tolkien the

vowel o is rare in CBS. The Black Speech does not seem to

use e (although it appears in other dialects). I am assuming that vowels

are pronounced as in Italian or Spanish, although the short “u” should

probably be pronounced like the u in “put”. The long û (also spelled uu)

should be pronounced “oo”. There is also a difference between the

short a and the long aa, although it's only one of length, not

pronunciation. Please note that very few computers/printers seem to

support the a+^ symbol, so I have decided not to use it in the dictionary

or the lessons.

There is at least one diphthong, ai, (pronounced “eye”) and au occurs in

the name Mauhur (pronounced “ow” as in “flower”). LOS has

added oi (pronounced as in “toy”).

Once again, Scatha forgot about some other sounds. Probably words with

long vowels “î” (as in “cheese”) and “ô” (English “more”) were added in

dictionary later. All long vowels with ^ often spelled as double: aa, ii, oo,

uu.

In two words I've also found a semi-vowel “y” which is pronounced like

very short i (as in “yoga”). Many words of Svartiska use “j” which sounds

the same as “y”.

Stress
Because this is an invented language, rules for stress are simple and
regular; in fact, most Black Speech words consist of only one syllable. In
words of more than one syllable, the syllables should be stressed rather
evenly. You do stress the first syllable, but the stress should not be
exaggerated. When you add a suffix (like -hai or -ishi), then stress the
suffix. The stressed syllable in the examples below is in bold. Again,
remember: the accent marks over the long u and long a are only indicative
of the length of the vowel, not of stress. (So Nazgûl would be pronounced
with the stress on the first syllable, but with a long “u” sound).
Uruk (orc)
uruk-hai (orc-people)
Mordor
Mordor-ishi (in Mordor)
Nazgûl (Ring Wraith)
Nazgul-ob (of the Ring Wraith)

Exercise
Pronounce the following words. Check your pronunciation against the rules
above.

throquat (to devour)

bagronk (cess-pool)
matûrz (mortal, adj.)
prakhatulûk (to lure them all)
Mordor-ob (of Mordor)
Nazgûl (ring-wraith)
krimpatul (to bind them)
Uglûk (proper orc name)
srinkhat (to gather)
throquub (will devour)
bûb-hosh (pig-guts)
Lugbûrz (Barad-Dûr)
Sauron-ob (of Sauron)
Lugbûrz-ishi (in Lugbûrz)
glob (fool)
Now work your way through the dictionary and try pronouncing words at
random, checking your pronunciation against the rules given above. Try to
sound as scary as possible.
Lesson III – Nouns

Plural nouns
There are only three simple rules for pluralizing nouns.

Names for races or people are never pluralized. For example, the
word Nazgul is both singular and plural. The word Uruk is both singular
and plural. If you wanted to say “bring the three uruk”, you would simply
say, “Thrak Uruk gakh”. If you are talking about an entire race of people,
use the suffix -hai, which means peoples or folk. So uruk-hai means “the
uruk-people”, olog-hai means “the troll-people”, and so on.

**Please note: Because words like snaga (slave), durub (ruler),

and sharlob (human female) refer to people, you would not pluralize them.
So snaga is singular and plural.

Nouns ending in consonants become plural by adding “u” (note that this is
the short u, not û). Nazg, (ring) = singular, nazgu = plural.

Nouns ending in vowels become plural by adding “z”. (goi = city, goiz =
cities). There are very few Black Speech nouns that end in a vowel.

Exercise
Pluralize the following nouns:

goi (city)
mau (warrior)**
mokum (hatred)
sharkû (old man)
duf (knife)
lug (tower)
hont (hand)
ronk (pit)
shara (human man)
krimp (rope)
golug people (elf)
goth (lord)**
horn (beast)
olog (troll)
ufum (fear)
** note that words for people, like warrior or goth, do not take a plural.

Declension
Basing on different plural suffices I suppose that Black Speech nouns have
two declensions. 1st for consonant-ending nouns and 2nd for vowel-
ending.

Cases
English has only two noun cases: the common and the possessive.
Shadowlandian Blackspeech had only the first. So if you want to say “orc's
axe”, you should say “pilik uruk-ob” = “axe of orc”. Svartiska dialect has
seven cases! It's too hard for the most students and confronts with idea
about simplicity and regularity of Black Speech. But I think that Black
Speech case system resembles to Finnish, where there are a lot of
postpositions which take role of both prepositions and nouns' cases (like if
every preposition was used with it's unique noun case). I also propose
Oblique (or Objective) case for nouns, similar to English pronouns (“me”,
“us” etc.). It is formed by suffix -ish if the noun is ended with consonant
and by suffix -sh if it's ended with vowel. More on cases in Lesson VII.

Articles
Shadowlandian Black Speech has no articles. However some other dialects
have them. Some people use words “agh” (one) as indefinite article and
“za” (this) as definite article. They are placed before nouns in examples I
saw, but if Black Speech had articles, they should go after noun as a suffix.
Remember, confusing the articles is one the most common error of non-
English speaking people, also articles in Black Speech would not carry any
grammatical information as opposed to German or French, and Black
Speech shall be pretty simple. So don't use them.

Gender
Black Speech nouns don't have gender, as in English. But in example, for
German or Russian students it's strange. There are gender modifiers in
English (she- and -ess), but in Shadowlandian BS there is only one gender
modifier, the “-lob” suffix. It's used only with words referring to person or
sometimes animal. Example: durub – durublob (ruler – femine ruler),
sharkû – sharkûlob (old man – old woman), naur – naurlob (wolf – she-
wolf). Because “-lob” is a bad interpretation of the name “Shelob”, I offer
an alternative “-niz” taken from Quenya.

Collective Plural
The most of Black Speech linguists think that it has special Collective
Plural nouns. But some of them call -hai (people) suffix so, others are for -
ûk (all) suffix. But look, both variants are correct! In case of races (orc, elf,
human) all of them become the whole nation (-hai), and for objects,
animals or other individuals all of them are -ûk. Example: nazg – nazgu –
nazgûk (one ring – several rings – all rings).

Plural nouns again?

Remember that -u suffix for pluralizing isn't invented by Tolkien. First
Neo-Blackspeech authors (in 80s) used -i for that purpose. Also u has
meaning of preposition “to”, which is Tolkienish. Therefore some authors
recommend not to use plural suffix not only with nouns meaning living
creatures or persons but with inanimate objects too. Of course, you should
clarify what is meant in this case by specifying exact quantity or using
words “few”, “many”, “some” etc. However I will stick to dual meaning of
this suffix because it's already widely used. If had purpose to invent new
dialect I would borrow -û from Svartiska.
Lesson IV – Verbs: Infinitive and Present
Tense
Because this is an invented language, we will assume that all verbs are
regular. Therefore, all infinitives end in -at: for example, durbat = to
rule, gimbat = to find, krimpat = to bind, and thrakat = to bring. The BS
dictionary gives only the verb stem (for example, durb-, gimb-, krimp- etc)
to which you will add the various endings, like -at, -ut, -ub, -uz, etc.

English word “to” means also a purpose of action. As the Ring inscription
says, BS also use “-at” for indicating a purpose (“ash nazg durbatulûk” =
one ring to rule them all).
Find several other verbs in the dictionary and give the infinitive
form for each.

In Black Speech, we assume that all verbs are regular and are
conjugated in the following way:

Gimbat, to find:
gimb I find gimb we find
gimb you find (sing.) gimb you find (pl.)
gimbat he/she/it finds gimbut they find

Thrakat, to bring:
thrak I bring thrak we bring
thrak you bring (sing.) thrak you bring (pl.)
thrakat he/she/it brings thrakut they bring

Please note: According to some of the contributors to Tolklang, third

person plural takes the ending “ut”. I have added the ending “at” to the
third person singular, even though I realize this may be a little confusing. I
have done this for two reasons: first, because some of the posters on the
LOS board were already using the infinitive form as the third person
singular, and second, it made sense to be able to indicate the difference
between a command (gimb! = you find, and gimbat = he finds). Using the -
at ending for the third person singular and for the infinitive should not be
too problematic. After all, the English language uses the same ending for
almost all verb endings.

Vocabulary
Some new words:

azat to kill
bugdat to call
durbat to rule
dûmpa
to doom
t
to hide / to lie
fauthat
hidden
srinkh
to gather
at
prakha
to lure
t

Exercise
Translate the following (verbs only, don't translate pronouns):

he rules
they bind
I devour
I find
they hide
I hide
you (sing.) doom
I call
we find
it brings
you (sing.) lure
you (pl.) gather
she devours*
it kills
he calls
they devour*
he devours*
you (pl.) bind
they gather
I lure
we bring
they rule
it hides
we kill
*note that the verb stem “throqu-” ends in a “u”, so you will have to add
another “u” to form the present 3rd plural or future tense: throqu, I
devour, throquub, I will devour (pronounced “throw-kwoob”). In many
European languages, it is customary to add a “u” after the “q” to indicate
the “kw” sound. In Middle Earth, of course, Black Speech would be written
in tengwar or runes, not in English letters, so the extra “u” would not be an
issue. In other words, the fact that you happen to have two “u's” together
here doesn't mean you should pronounce them as a long “uu”.

You might notice that all verb forms in this lesson are Present Simple. And
what about Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous forms? Black
Speech doesn't have them! It's very hard to understand for English
students, but evident for slavic students. I suppose you should use Past
Tense in Black Speech instead of Present Perfect, use Present Tense in
other cases. So phrases “I eat”, “I am eating” and “I have been eating (for
10 minutes)” will be all translated as “throqu”. And “I have (just) eaten”
may be translated as “throquuz”.

Infinitive/purpose/present tense ambiguity

It seems the folk on web is hardly annoyed with overusing of -at suffix. But
it's not so frustrating like it seems! Usually exact meaning is clean from
context and word order. Also remember pronounciation rule: when adding
preposition, postposition or particle (“to” is this case), the stress moves to
its first syllabe. Compare gimbat = to find, gimbat = he finds. When using
both 3rd person and infinitive in one sentence in writings you can mark the
stress with accent mark ´ (i.e.: Uglakh goes to the forest to kill
Elves = Uglakh úkhat u tau azát golug-hai. Compare with Uglakh
goes to the forest and kills all Elves there = Uglakh ukhat u tau
agh azat golugûk atîg).

To be or not to be?
Most of developers of Black Speech agree with that verb “to be” should be
used much less frequent than in English or even not used at all. So
sentences like “The sky is blue” should be translated like “Nût ulb” (lit. “sky
blue”). There is no problem with omiting “is” or “are”, but what to do in
other tenses, when first word in such sentences is a pronoun, or when both
words are nouns? Author of Zhâburi dialect offers special grammatic
constructions for such cases, but I will stick with simplicity. While there is
no solution for this, many examples will contain “kulat” (to be) in required
tense but will be changed in the future.
Lesson V – Verbs: Future Tense
Future tenses are formed by adding the suffix “ub” to the verb stem. In
third person singular and plural, add the verb ending after “ub”. For
example:

gimbub I will find gimbub we will find

gimbub you (sing.) will find gimbub you (pl.) will find
gimbubat he/she/it will find gimbubut they will find

Vocabulary
dulgat to point
fulgat to dwell
gashna to speak, to
t command
globat to fool (someone)
gundat to stand

Translation Exercise
Translate the following sentences into Black Speech:

The men will gather

The warriors will stand
I will call
You (sing.) will devour
You (pl.) will speak
The trolls will speak
I will speak
Saruman will bring
The beasts will find
The Urûk-people will lure
You (sing.) will bind
They will stand
They will fool
The elves will kill
The elf will stand
The trolls will find
The troll will rule
The Nazgûl (sing.) will bring
The elves will rule
I will dwell
She will point
The Nazgûl (pl.) will point
The beasts will dwell
The Urûk (pl.) will devour

A Little Tip
I noticed that Black Speech tenses are similar to Russian. And Russian
non-perfect future verbs are formed similar to English Future Continuous.
Therefore I've decided to copy this rule to Black Speech. So, translate
Future Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous following way: kulat (to
be) in required tense and person plus infinitive (instead of English V-ing).
Future Indefinite and Future Perfect are translated with -ub suffix as
described above. I'll give you some examples:

Orcs will kill Uruk azubut

Orcs will be killing Uruk kulubut azat
Orcs will have killed Uruk azubut
Lesson VI – Adjectives and Word Order
Note: these lessons are a little more challenging than the previous ones. I
have tried to include hints for some of the trickier translations. Try not to
be too intimidated. Orcs pay no attention to grammar, as you know.

Adjectives are fairly simple: they do not take the gender (nor case) of the
noun they modify; they are the same for male, female, or neutral nouns.
They do agree with the noun in number, however. Plural nouns take plural
adjectives.

If the noun is plural, add the correct ending to the adjective (u for
adjectives ending in a consonant, z for adjectives ending in a vowel).
Caution: Here's a rule that might confuse you, so be careful – even though
you know that words for people or races don't take a plural, the adjectives
modifying them do take a plural. For example, uruk mokurz = the hateful
uruk. Uruk mokurzu, the hateful uruk (plural). This is done for clarity – it
is easier to understand that someone is talking about more than one orc or
more than one elf if he/she uses a plural adjective to describe that
individual.

In Black Speech, many adjectives take the ending -ûrz, especially

if they are formed from nouns or verbs:

Adjective (singular) Plural

bûrz, dark, from burzum, darkness bûrzu
dushûrz
dushûrz, magical
u
globûrz, foolish or filthy globûrzu
gorûrz, tough gorûrzu
gothûrz, powerful gothûrzu
hurûrz, brave, from hûr, courage hurûrzu
matûrz, mortal, from mat = to die matûrzu
mokûrz, hateful, from mokum,
mokûrzu
hatred
skrithûr
skrithûrz, mean, cruel
zu
ulkûrz, evil (adj.), from ulkum, evil ulkûrzu
(n.)

And many adjectives do not follow this rule:

Adjective Plur
(singular) al
kû = old kûz
kûf = ugly kûfu
lorz = stupid lorzu
snork
snork = worthless
u
uf = scary ufu

An adjective always follows the word it modifies: shara matûrz, mortal

man; Olog globûrz, foolish (or filthy) troll; Urûk skrithûrz, cruel orc. (This
is a good general rule to remember in Black Speech: words that modify or
describe other words always follow).

If the adjective is only one syllable long, it is suffixed to the word it

modifies: sharkû, old man (shara + kû). Notice that the “a” is dropped,
probably for ease in pronounciation. Globufu, the scary fools. (Again, both
men and fools are people, so you don't pluralize them, but you do pluralize
the adjectives.)

Please notice that in cases such as sharkûk (sharkû + ûk, “all the old men”)
or nazgûk (nazgû + ûk) “all the rings”, you would drop one of the û's.
Similarly, if you wanted to say, “the scary old urûk”, you would say
“urûkûf” (urûk + kû + uf). This sounds very similar to urûkuf, “the scary
urûk” (urûk + uf, an scary uruk who isn't old), except that you don't have
the long û. This may seem a little confusing at first, but it is just a matter of
practice (and absence of misspellings). The difference
between urûkûf (scary old orc) and urûkuf is just a slight difference in
pronunciation. (The best way to say “the scary old urûk” without
ambiguity is “urûkufkû”, because you can confuse original variant also
with just “ugly urûk”.)
A good rule of thumb to remember is that in Black Speech, whenever two
similar consonants or vowels meet in this way, they are usually slurred
together. This is especially true of Debased Black Speech. Later on you'll
encounter a lesson in dropping sounds, so if this frightens you now, don't
worry about it.

*Remember that this is not true of words that end in the “qu” sound.

Subject and Object Word Order

In Black Speech, most sentences follow a subject – verb – object order,
with adjectives following the nouns they modify:

Golug thrakut sharku mokurzu

The elves bring the hateful old men.
Uruk bugdat nazgul skrithurz
The Uruk calls the cruel Nazgul (singular).
Caution: Please note that this rule seems to be difficult for English-
speakers, who generally want to place the adjective before the noun. I have
noticed that this is one of the most common errors beginners make.
Offenders will be severely punished :)

Translation Exercise
Translate the following sentences into Black Speech:

The cruel trolls will devour the tough beasts.

The Nazgul will kill the ugly orcs.*
All the elves will find dark rings.
I will bring the brave man.
She will lure all the old orcs.*
They will gather the evil mortal men.**
You (sing.) call the all the brave Nazgul away.
I bring the worthless slaves.*
They will find the magical rings.
Sauron dooms the tough orc.
The Nazgul will gather the foolish trolls.
He will call the stupid elves.
I will hide the dark ring.
You (pl.) bind the old stupid Nazgul (sing.)
*Remember that words for people or races are not pluralized, but the
adjectives modifying them are!

**When you have two adjectives, use the more important one first. In this
case, it's more important to identify the men as mortal than to describe
them as evil.
Lesson VII – Pre- and Postpositions, Noun
Cases, Phrase Verbs
In Black Speech, prepositions (from, in, of, to, by, etc.) are suffixed to the
noun they modify (thus becoming postpositions). However, this rule is
often ignored in hasty speech, especially when orcs curse one another (and
for preposition “to”). The following examples are grammatically correct,
although orcs sometimes incorrectly place the prepositions before the word
when they are speaking to one another (another example of Debased Black
Speech).

Below is the table of all prepositions attested in Black Speech. It was

heavily modified, expanded and complicated comparing to original
Scatha's lesson. I and II are declensions of nouns (ending with consonant
and vowel respectively).

Postposition Examples
I si II si II p Meaning Black Translati Remarks on usage
I pl.
ng. ng. l. Speech on
- across the
-as -zas -asu across dot-as *
zasu sea
In English it's mostly
used with phrasal verbs,
it's better to invent
off the
-bo -boz off thop-bo special translations for
rock
them. When it's not it
could be replaced with “-
ghâra” (= from).
against,
against
-bug -bugu opposite durub-bug *
the ruler
to
near,
Orodruin- next to
-dhog -dhogu next to,
dhog Orodruin
(near)by
from
-ghâra -ghâraz from Lugbûrz-ghâra
Lugbûrz
-gus -gusu about Morgoth-gus about Tell regarding, mention
Morgoth somebody or something
For approximate time of
ending an action or
interval use “-kurn” (=
around) instead. For
 Postposition Examples
I si II si II p Meaning Black Translati Remarks on usage
I pl.
ng. ng. l. Speech on
approximate place use
also “-dhog” (= near).
Can be used to indicate
place (“kneel before your
lord”). When used to
indicate time, it is
supposed that action will
be definitely finished
(Perfect tenses). When
used with dependent
clauses (i.e. “before it
before, by explodes”, “before the
- (some before first beam of sun will
-ik -zik -iku agon-ik
ziku time), in dusk show up”) it's written
front of separately and
preceeding them. Because
such examples are more
often, this word has
tendency of being used as
real preposition with
nouns too, which are
placed in Instrumental
case (-irzi = by): “ik agon-
irzi” (lit.: before dusk-by).
Also marks regular time
intervals (on Mondays,
on the
-ir -r -iru -ru on anar on holidays etc.), but if
edge
you want say “on (next)
Monday” use “-shi” (= at).
Use it in passive
constructions, to indicate
usage of instrument,
means, etc. Also means
by, via,
moving or transporting
by
via some environment or
mean(s)
media: “Skâtubut dot-
of, by use
irzi” (= They will come by
of, with
sea), “hîst Internet-irzi”
- use of
-irzi -rzi -rziz grish-irzi by blood (= send via Internet, if it
irziz
existed in Middle-Earth).
(Instrume
If you mean “(near)by”
ntal or
(i.e.: by the lake) then use
Ergative
“-dhog” (= near, next to)
case
or “-or” (= at) instead. If
suffix)
you mean ending an
action by some time, then
use “-ik” (= before) or “-
zi” (= until) instead.
 Postposition Examples
I si II si II p Meaning Black Translati Remarks on usage
I pl.
ng. ng. l. Speech on
Actually not a
preposition, but a marker
of direct object, which
corresponds to Accusative
case in many languages.
With nouns it is used only
to avoid ambiguity
(Accusativ
because in most
e or
- Uruk honat Orc sees sentences where is
-ish -sh -shu Objective
ishu golug-ish an elf subject and where is
case
object is clear from
suffix)
context and word order
(and Nominative case is
used then). It's more
often used with
pronouns. It can be
employed in poetry with
fluent word order.
While canonical
translation by Tolkien
himself is “in”, it's better
to use next meanings in
the list clarifying the
meaning better. If you
want to answer the
question like “where is
in, within,
- - in(to) it?” better use “-or” (= at).
-ishi -shi inside, Mordor-ishi
ishiz shiz Mordor You can notice that
into
form -shi for Declension
II is the same as
preposition meaning “at”
which has similar
meaning but without a
tone of belonging or
moving to interior part of
smth.
behind
-it -ht -itu -htu behind druht *
tree
around
-kurn -kurnu around masl-kurn *
the neck
often written separately
after
-la -laz after zabûrz-la (see comments to -
tonight
ik suffix)
under,
under the
-lata -lataz beneath, nût-lata *
sky
below
-lût -lûtu out of, Orthanc-lût out of Indicates motion outside,
 Postposition Examples
I si II si II p Meaning Black Translati Remarks on usage
I pl.
ng. ng. l. Speech on
leaving a place,
outside Orthanc transformation of
material.
amongst
-nâdar -nâdaru among glob-nâdar *
the filth
You may think that if
noun is ending
with au adding -b could
make confusion with
of (Geniti some verb ending
ve or with a in future tense
of the
-ob -b -obu -bu Possessiv Nazgûl-ob (suffix -ub), but actually
Nazgûl
e case there are no such verbs in
suffix) Shadowlandian. If verb
stem is ending with u it
will become long û in
future tense, so no
confusion also.
Preferable over “-ishi” at
-or -r -oru -ru at (place) Orthanc-or at Orthanc answering questions like
“where is it?”
There were no examples
by Scatha, so I've decided
that if it's used with two
between different nouns, it should
-ri -riz between lug-riz
towers be added to both of them:
“drâgh-ri agh ânghâsh-ri”
(= between hammer and
anvil).
-sha -shaz (together) Saruman-sha with * Means collectivity,
with ** Saruman action shared with some
person. If you want to
express usage of tool, say
“-irzi” (= by) instead.
Example: “Kill with axe”
is translated as “az pilik-
irzi”, “Kill elf with that
orc” = “az golug uruk-
zasha” (this is also and
example of bad order, it's
not clear whether he
should kill an elf with the
help of that orc, or kill
both elf and orc).
However, if you want to
say “Careful with that
axe, Uglûk!” you can do it
as “gakhumû pilik-zasha,
 Postposition Examples
I si II si II p Meaning Black Translati Remarks on usage
I pl.
ng. ng. l. Speech on
Uglûk!”.
* Do not use it, because it
could be confused with
“shara” (man) and
amongst “sharat” (to be quiet), and
-shar -sharu among glob-shar
the filth it seems to appear in LOS
dictionary by mistake.
There is an alternative “-
nâdar”.
at night,
-shi -shiz at (time) bûrz-shi
at dark
-shi -shiz at (place) Mordor-shi at Mordor
* Can indicate not only
over, over the position but also
-tala -talaz uzg-tala
above land exceeding time or
quantity limit.
beyond
-thu -thuz beyond gothum-thu *
power
through
-tuk -tuku through tau-tuk *
the forest
* Denotes motion
towards something,
changing ownership of an
to (place), object. In BS it's often
- towards ( used with indirect
-u -zu uz** -zuz Dative Mordor-u** to Mordor objects, when transitive
* case verb requires two objects,
suffix) specially with names and
pronouns. Example:
“thrak nazg urukuz” =
bring the ring to orcs.
before
-ugil -ugilu before ânash-ugil * “-ik” is more preferrable
dawn
along the
-ulmakh -ulmakhu along mûl-ulmakh *
road
- Also used to specify
for the
-ûr -zûr -ûru zûr for durub-ûr duration of action, the
lord
u same as in English.
like,
-zash -zashu glob-zash like fool
same as
until * Refers to time of ending
-zi -ziz until ârsh-zi
today continuous action.

* these words are often used as real prepositions placed before nouns, not
postpositions as usual.
** note that the Tolkien orc curse, “sha Saruman” and “u Mordor” are both
grammatically incorrect. Technically, the orc should have said, “Saruman-
sha” and “Mordor-u”.

*** it could be confused with Past Tense suffix -uz (next lesson), see my
comments about it at the end of the lesson.

Also note that in the Ring Verse, we have “lata nut” instead of “nut-lata”. It
has been suggested that this was done to make the verse scan as poetry. By
now you will have noticed that there are many examples in Black Speech
where the speaker has placed the preposition before the noun. Therefore,
this is probably a fairly flexible rule, especially in Debased Black Speech.
However, for the purpose of learning Black Speech, try to observe the rule
as much as possible when translating the lessons (at least for now). When
you write preposition before the noun, preposition is always used in form
of Declension I singular, and noun takes Objective/Accusative case (if not
stated other; in most cases omitted in favor of Nominative) and required
number suffix.

Strictly speaking, the prepositions should also become plural when they
modify a plural noun, but I have only seen one example of that. It occurs in
the Ring Verse, which is in Classical Black Speech, not Debased Black
Speech. (Please remember that the full Ring Verse was translated by a
Tolkien fan on the Tolklang board, not by Tolkien himself). The ring verse
uses the plural “ûru” (for), as well as “ishiz” (in).

Excerpts from the Ring Verse:

Gakh Nazgu Golug-durub-uru lata-nut.

Three Rings for the Elven kings under the sky
[The word 'lords' is plural]
Udu Gazat-shakh-uru ulub ruz-ishiz gund-ob.
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone.
[The words 'lords' and 'halls' are both plural]
I think theese examples show that plural noun suffices should be placed
after prepositions, not the fact of pluralizing prepositions.

It will be more correct to call these words postpositions, but I'll stick with
more familiar term.

Exercise
Translate the following into grammatically correct Classical Black Speech.

You (sing.) will call the evil elves to Mordor.

The Nazgul bring all the cruel beasts from Gondor.*
The trolls find the warrior under the sky.
Sauron rules by evil.
Ugluk will gather the old men in Udun.
He stands in Mordor.
She will fool the trolls under the sky.
Saruman calls from Orthanc.
I stand by the Nazgul (plural).
The stupid troll kills near Ashluk.
You will devour the beast with Ugluk.
She brings the orc of Mordor to Moria.
Saruman rules over all the orcs.
The warrior kills for Sauron.
He brings the ring for the elves.
He brings the troll between Mordor and Orthanc.
(*note that the preposition modifies Gondor, not beasts!)

Joining two prepositions together

Whenever you have to use two prepositions together, you should join them
with hyphens, although most orcs would never do this in Debased Black
Speech. For example, if you want to say, “into Mordor” (Mordor + in + to)
you would connect the prepositions this way: “Mordor-u-ishi”. But because
this combination would be somewhat difficult to prounounce, most Orcs
would simply say, “u Mordor-ishi”.

Uu-u – overusing “-u” suffix

If noun is ended with u (i.e. “mau” = warrior, “tau” = forest), place the
preposition “to” before noun for clearance (u mau = to warrior). For
plural nouns it's supposed to use -uz suffix (urbhuz = to the mountains),
but again it may be confused with past tense suffix -uz (what “ghâshuz”
means: “burned” or “to the fires”?) So my advice is to place preposition “to”
before noun in this case too. If noun ending with u shall be put in plural
form and combined with preposition “to”, you shall say “u tauz” (to the
woods) for example instead of “tauzuz” for clarity.

Noun cases
Because some prepositions take the role of cases and all of them are
suffixed to the nouns and pronouns, becoming postpositions, I suppose
that Classical Black Speech have 30+ cases similar to Finno-Ugric
languages. But because every of such suffixes took the meaning of both
case and preposition, it's easier to learn them than if it were 4 – 8 cases
used differently with several verbs and prepositions (like in
Russian). Debased Black Speech and Orkish dialects however have a
tendency to abandon cases and spell them separately before nouns like
English prepositions.

Phrase verbs
Adding some prepositions after a verb modifies it's meaning in English.
Such expressions are called “phrase verbs”. Black Speech doesn't have such
constructions. Phrase verbs should have separate translation in one word.
Unfortunately, majority of phrase verbs do not have such in dictionary, so
try to find synonyms.
Lesson VIII – Verbs: Past Tense
In Black Speech, the past tense is formed by adding -uz to the verb stem. As
in the future tense verb formation, you add the third person singular or
plural ending to -uz. For example, “he found” would translate as
“gimbuzat”. “They called” = “bugduzut”.

Thrakat, to bring

thrakuz I brought thrakuz we brought

thrakuz you brought thrakuz you brought
thrakuzat he/she/it brought thrakuzut they brought

Please note, that Present Perfect and sometimes Present Perfect Continious
tenses are translated to Black Speech as Past Tense.

Vocabulary
Here are a few more verbs to learn:

ghâsha
to burn
t
gashna
to speak
t
ikhat to force
lagat to break
kulat to be
shagat to demand
to condemn, to
urkat
damn

Exercise
Translate the following:

They forced the tough orcs in Orthanc.

The Nazgûl (sing.) called the old warriors of Saruman to
Isengard.
She ruled over the powerful beasts in Rhovanion.
Saruman spoke to the old ugly trolls.
I killed Shelob near Cirith Ungol.
He found the evil orc in Mordor.
I brought the cruel beast to Gondor.
Ashlûk called Uglûk away to Moria.
The troll-people demanded the ring from the Nazgûl (plural) in
Orthanc.
I was in Gondor to condemn the troll.
You (plural) bound the evil ring in Orodruin.
They broke the rings in Barad-Dûr.
Lesson IX – Numbers
Generally, numbers are treated like adjectives. They usually go after the
word they modify (again, most orcs would probably ignore this rule). You
will also notice that the Ring Verse places them before the word they
modify (ash nazg... ). This may have been done for poetic reasons.

Numbers
gakhg
1 ash 11 galash 30
al
galkru
2 krul 12 40 zagal
l
gak galgak krâkga
3 13 50
h h l
4 zag 14 galzag 60 rutgal
krâ galkrâ
5 15 70 utgal
k k
6 rut 16 galrut 80 skragh
galud krithg
7 udu 17 90
u al
galskr
8 skri 18 100 bûr
i
krit galkrit 100
9 19 tor
h h 0
2 krulga
10 gal 0 nar
0 l

Note that 21 would be krulgalash, 24 = krulgalzag, and so on.

Exercise
Translate the following numbers into Black Speech: 34, 58, 62, 71, 22,
87, 103, 245, 9068, 4862.

Ordinal Numerals
Ordinal numerals are formed the same way as adjectives. You should
suffix -ûrz to a number to get ordinal. So first = âshûrz (the only
exception), second = krulûrz, 5th = krâkûrz, 27th = krulgaludûrz and so
on.

Word order and measures

Numerals always go after words they modify/count, and this rule is simple.
But how to translate more complex expressions like “40 years old”, “six feet
tall” etc.? Numbers here modify measures (which are nouns years, feet),
which modify adjectives (old, tall). Therefore word order should be
Adjective/Adverb, measure, quantity. But it's frustating, so you can use
english word order (or choose which way is sounding better). I'll give you
examples:

I am 40 years old.
Kul-izg kû ânrothu zagal
Kul-izg zagal ânrothu kû
My devil is six feet tall.
Pauzûl-izub kulat târ fraz rut
Pauzûl-izub kulat rutfraztâr – i really like this!
The way here was two weeks long.
Mûl tul kuluzat sigûrz udârsh krul
Mûl tul kuluzat krul udârsh sigûrz
Gondor is five leagues away from here
Gondor kulat krât fraumu krâk krul-ghâra
Gondor kulat krâk fraumu krât krul-ghâra
Lesson X – Pronouns and Commands
(Imperatives)
Pronouns are rarely used in Black Speech. The most common uses for
pronouns are for giving an order, boasting about oneself, or administering
an insult. Generally, apart from those three purposes, you would only use a
pronoun when absolutely necessary to avoid confusion. Sauron would not
have wanted to encourage the use of the first person singular or plural
among his servants or slaves, so "I" or "we" are only used as modifiers.
(This probably also explains the placement of adjectives, adverbs, etc., after
the words they modify since descriptive words can be said to indicate a
kind of creative thought process).

In most cases, then, pronouns are attached to the verb:

Shelob calls them = Shelob bugdat-taz. (An orc might slur all this together
and say “Shelob bugdataz”). “Bugdatul” is more correct and canonical
way.
The elves kill him = Golug azut-ta (in spoken orcish, “Golug azuta”). To
put this into the past tense, “the elves killed him”, you would say “Golug
azuzuta”. In future tense, you would say, “Golug azubuta” (The elves will
kill him).

**The first person singular (-izg) and plural (-izgu) are always suffixed to
the verb. For example, kul-izg = I am; “kul-izgu” = we are; “thrak-izg”, I
bring; “prakh-izgu”, we lure.

Normally, you can skip pronouns unless they are required to make sense of
the sentence. For example:

Saruman rules us = Saruman durbat-izishu. But if you wanted to say, “He

rules us”: Durbat-izishu. (You don't need the “he”.)
He brings the orc to us = Thrakat urûk-izishû. Note the long “û” at the end.
This is a little tricky, because you would have to add the preposition “u” to
“izishu” in order to say, “to us”. That means that the final “u” has to
become a long “û”. This would be correct Black Speech, but naturally orcs
would probably not bother with this kind of fine distinction. “-izishuz” is
more correct. Also I recommend attaching pronouns only to the verbs.

Personal and Possessive Pronouns

-izg I -izgu we
-izish me -izishu us
-izub mine, my -izubu ours

lat you (sing.), thou latu you (pl.), ye

lat / latish* thee latu / latush* you (pl.)
lab your (sing.), thy latub yours (pl.)

ta he/she/it ulu they

ta / tash* him, it ul them
tab his, its ulub theirs
to her
tob hers

* I've added these pronouns for clearance, but please notice that a lot of
examples already use old equivocal variants

Exercise
Translate the following into Black Speech:

I brought hers.
Grishnâkh will find us.
Morgoth will kill me.
Saruman called his ugly orc.
I brought mine to Morannon.
They devoured theirs.
Uglûk will rule ours by blood.
I am from Lugbûrz.
Ashlûk bound me.
Lagduf called them all from Lugbûrz.

Commands
Commands are quite simple: they consist of the verb stem. So, to tell
someone to bring something, you simply say: Thrak! To say, “Find him
theirs”: Gimb ta ulub. Bring them! = Thrakul!

Exercise
Translate the following into Black Speech:

Bring me the ring.

Find the three stupid trolls.
Give her the worthless orc.
Find my twenty-eight orcs.
Call me.
Kill them.
Devour the forty-two elves.
Lure him to Mordor.
Gather my old orcs in Isengard.
Lure them to us.

Confusion
What to do if both subject and object are pronouns? I advise you to spell
pronouns separately in this case (at least object). I will kill you = Izg azub
lat. But you can add subject to the verb as a suffix (azub-izg lat). If subject
is 3rd person pronoun, you can skip it (like in some examples above) but
shall write object still separately (azubat ta = he will kill him). If the verb is
complex (consist of two words) add subject suffix to main predicate and
object suffix to dependent word (He can kill me = pâshat-ta azat-izish). But
the question how to translate “she calls him?” remains open.

Adding prepositions to pronouns

In pure agglutinative language prepositions and case suffixes should be
added to Nominative case of pronouns. But examples attach them to
Objective case form of pronouns. This behaviour was copied from English.
While this is not right, I will leave this as a feature because of it's popularity
and for simplier translation from English. However adding prepositions to
Nominative case of pronouns should be preferrable in future translations.

Another feature of English language is omitting preposition “to” before

pronouns in objective case if they are an indirect object placed before direct
object. Compare “bring it to orcs” with “bring me this” and “bring this to
me”. This feature is not recommended to copy into Black Speech. You
should always put -u suffix (meaning preposition “to”) to pronouns despite
their position.

Reflexive Pronouns
Black Speech has only one reflexive pronoun îm for all persons and
genders, much like Icelandic, Latin or Quenya (from which it was
borrowed). But it could be plural (“îmu”). Reflexive pronoun has several
cases and usually written as separate word.

Nominative
Nominative case is used when we're going to lay emphasis on doing an
action without someone's else help. Use îm in this case. You may attach it
as suffix only if subject is a personal pronoun also attached to the verb.

I will do it myself Krampub-izg ta îm / Krampub-izgîm ta

Kill him yourself! Az ta îm
Elves shamed themselves in the last battle Golug bâkuzut îmu maukumtîl-ishi
Possessive
Some languages have distinct possessive reflexive pronoun. But Black
Speech has only personal possessive pronouns like English. When
translating phrases like “he loves his wife” to escape ambiguity (is the wife
his own or someone's who was mentioned before?) you can use equivalent
to word “own” (= tabz) but without a pronoun.

We lost our (own) ring Fuluz-izgu nazg tabz*

He loves his (own) wife Brogbat-ta gru tabz
Nazgûls lost their (own) rings. Nazgûl fuluzut nazgu tabzu

* “Fuluz-izgu nazg-izubu” is also correct because there is no ambiguity.

“Tabz” is used because there was only one ring (in contrast to Nominative
case where reflexive pronoun has plural form).

Other cases
For all other cases use îmish or its plural form.

I'm proud of myself mîb-izg îmish-ob

Prepare yourselves! Gathrok îmishu
He will write a tale about himself Ta znakubat ghashanuz îmish-gus
Oldman speaks to himself Sharkû gashnat îmish-u
* Lesson XI – Adverbs, Gerund
This and following lessons marked with asterisk * are written by me. They
are based on suffix table, some comments from The Land Of
Shadow's forum or were made from scratch.

Adverbs
LOS dictionary has a lack of adverbs. But you can create them easily by
adding suffix -arz to any word stem. If the source word is an adjective
with -ûrz suffix, then this suffix shall be changed to -arz. For example,
adverb made from skrithûrz (cruel) is “skritharz” = cruelly.

I haven't seen any rules about word order in sentences with adverbs. But,
as general rule says, they shall be placed after the words they modify, i.e.
after the verbs, or in the end of sentence as in English. Here is an example:

Orcs will quickly kill the stupid elves

Urûk azubut hîsarz golug globûrzu*
or
Urûk azubut golug globûrzu hîsarz*
Notice: these sentences are the very good example of translating from
context. The words “orc” and “elf” have no plural number form in Black
Speech. But the suffix -ut in azubut tells us about large quantity of orcs,
and the plural form of adjective “globûrzu” hints that there is more than
one elf to be killed.

Gerund
Gerund in Black Speech is like a noun meaning process. It's formed by
adding suffix -ugum. Despite similarity to nouns Gerund doesn't have
plural form. I'll give you a lot of examples but my advice is to use
infinitive instead. Gerund in Black Speech doesn't have perfect or
passive forms, so they must be replaced with dependent clauses.

Examples
Glûgum narkulat lâthuga tul*
Pissing is not allowed here!
Îst-izg galgakh oghumu râz zaûgum-ob golug-hai**
I know 13 different ways of cooking elves
Gor-tab kulat azugum
His job is killing
Za shapat bolkat dûthugum
This sword needs cleaning
Uruk gashnuzut hoitugum-gus akashuga-hai
Orcs spoke about hunting hobbits
Gathrok duluglab ukhugum-ik u tauz golugûrz
Prepare your weapon before going to Elven forests
Brogbat-ta kulat thupuga pulum-kusn***
He likes being whipped during sex
* Word glu- plus -ugum suffix made one long û. See Lesson XV for more
information on Passive Voice.

** I have to invent new words. The word “way” was already in dictionary
but it was the same as conjuction “or”, so I've decided to add suffix -
um to ogh for clearance. The word râz (“different”) is from Svartiska and
Horngoth.

*** This is an example of translating passive gerund of English sentence as

infinitive in Black Speech (literally “He likes to be whipped...”).
* Lesson XII – Comparisons
This lesson will be easier than previous ones.

Adjectives
Sometimes, as in the first statement of this lesson, we need to compare
some properties. Using LOS equivalent to english word 'more' makes
statements too complex. There is more laconical way to compare
something by using suffix -ar. The superative degree is formed by suffix -
az.

Examples
hîs (quick) hîsar snû (quickier than) hîsaz (the quickiest)
bûrz* (dark) bûrzar snû (darker than) bûrzaz (the darkest)
gothûrz** (powerful) gothûrzar snû (more powerful than) gothûrzaz (the most powerful)

* Note that -ûrz here isn't an adjective's suffix but a part of word's stem.

** It is a suffix here but -ar and -az are accumulated to -ûrz. Note that
despite the syllabe count degrees of comparsions always form the same
way.

Adverbs
Adverbs are compared identically to adjectives, but they don't have a
superative degree of comparsion. Here is an example:

hîsarz (quickly) hîsarzar snû (more quickly than)

Exercise
Try to translate the first sentence of this lesson using the dictionary.
Other degrees of comparison
There are some adverbs used with adjectives for better description: very,
greatly, slightly etc. Also English has negative degree of comparison
expressed with words “less” and “least”. When translating such
construction always write adjective (even if it's short) separately from the
noun, and these descriptive words should follow them. Vocabulary
contains some special forms for degree of comparison (like mentioned
little–less–least, good–better–best, bad–worse–worst, etc.), which are the
copy of English grammar. I insist on avoiding them in Black Speech and
using regular forms with suffixes -ar and -az.

Examples
Red machines are the best
Glatu karnu kulut bhogazu
The road was quite long
Mûl kuluz sigûrz gûkh
I'm going slightly mad
Grat-izg trîn âzh
* Lesson XIII – Suffix Order and Indirect
Objects
This lesson was completely rewritten in August 2017 (with correction in
March 2018) because old version was inconsistent.

In previous lessons adjectives, prepositions, etc. were spelled as separate

words or as suffixes separated by hyphen. But experienced language users
usually write them in one long word. Why? Alphabets of Middle-Earth have
no hyphens, so prepositons really shall be written without it. Tolkien
himself wrote “sharkû” instead of “shara kû”, so joining short adjectives to
nouns shall be a common practice.

This lesson is partially based on information by The Second Nazgul, Witch-

Queen Of Angmar, maybe the only member of Black Speech Community
who knew Scatha.

Suffix order
Below lies a table of suffix chains for most common and complex parts of
speech. Given examples were chosen to contain as many suffixes as
possible.

Part of
Suffix chain order Example Translation
speech
Adjectives 1. Forming (-ûrz)
2. Degree of comparison
(– / -ar / -az) the most
golug gothûrzazu
powerful elves
3. Number
(– / -u / -z)

Verbs 1. Infinitive (-at) ghâshaguzatûk (he) was

ufubulâzh completely
2. Active/Passive
azubulûk-izg burned
(– / -ag) will frighten
them slightly
3. Tense
I will kill them
(– / -uz / -ub) all
 4. Person
(– / -at / -ut)
5. Object pronoun
(optionally with case
suffix)
6. Completeness
(– / -ûk / -âzh)
7. Subject pronoun

Nouns 1. Forming
(– / -um / -al etc.)
2. Gender modifier
(– / -lob / -niz)
3. Short adjective
(one syllable long)
4. Article = Demonstrative
pronoun
(– / -za) about that ugly
dûshatârnizkûfzag
sorceress
5. Possessive pronoun us
from beneath his
ronktablataghâraz
6. Case postposition pits
(– / -ob / -u / -ish / -irzi
or their equivalents for
2nd declension)
7. Other postpositions in
reverse order
8. Number
(– / -u / -z / -ûk / -hai)

I leave you with this little gem:

Latu ghashn narsrinkhshârzusharzrad

Translate that sentence and you are a master at suffixes. :D
Attaching pronouns to the verbs
While Scatha recommends to attach pronouns to the verb, even if it's
subject of sentence, it could be very frustrating if the object is also a
pronoun. See my remarks on Lesson X about pronouns and examples for
verbs in suffix chain table above.

Indirect objects
Many people were confused with referring to two separate people in third
person specially with many word modifiers (adjectives, pronouns,
prepositions, etc.) in one sentence even without attaching them all into one
word.

“I know what you mean about referring to two different people in third
person. I also found that frustrating at first, but thing is, it's often clear
from context which person you are talking about – here black speech
differs from English, as you can leave the subject understood with no
pronoun – or you can simply repeat the noun, which is the simplest and
easiest solution. Though the latter does get repetitive after a while, it's not
such bad form.” – says The Second Nazgul. She proposed using suffix -
u with indirect objects but actually it is supposed by most verbs requiring
two objects. I also recommend to add objective (~ accusative) case suffix -
ish to direct object which was absent for nouns in Shadowlandian, but such
novelty conflicts with old examples and the most of already translated
texts. Let's see 4 possible variants of objects' combination:

1.If neither the direct nor the indirect object are pronouns, the
indirect object comes after the direct object. Both are separate from
the verb. Adding objective case suffix to direct object is optional,
because everything is clear from word order. However, if subject is a
pronoun attached to the verb, then adding objective case suffix to
direct object is recommended.
Thrak nazg(ish)u Scathazu = bring Scatha rings (lit.:
bring rings to Scatha)
Thrak golugish urûku flîzûr = give an elf to orc(s) for
sacrifice = give orc(s) an elf for sacrifice*
(*) Without additional suffixes it was almost impossible to
understand, what and for whom should we give. But better solution is
to modify this phrase into “give an elf for sacrificing by the orc(s)” =
“thrak golug flîugumûr urûkirzi”

2.If the direct object is a pronoun, and the indirect object is not a
pronoun, the direct object is attached to the verb and the indirect
object is separate and follows. Adding suffix -u (or other case suffix)
to indirect object is strongly recommended in this case.

Thrakul Scathazu = bring them to Scatha.

Azul goth(latub)ûr = kill them for (your) master.
3.If the direct object is not a pronoun and the indirect object is a
pronoun, the indirect object is attached to the verb and the direct
object is separate and follows. Using additional case suffixes to both
objects is almost obligatory in this case.
Thrakul(u) nazg(ish)u = bring (to) them rings
Azulûr golug(ish) = kill elves for them
4.If both the direct and the indirect object are pronouns, the direct
object is attached to the verb and the indirect object follows. Add case
suffix to indirect object. If direct object is personal pronoun then
additional suffix is not needed, because personal pronouns already
have special form of objective case.
Thrakul izishu = bring them to us
Azul izishûr = kill them for us
* Lesson XIV – Questions
This lesson uses the information by Lugrekh:

Special Questions
“The way I see it would be that a question word should go at the start of a
sentence.”

Where is Lugrekh?
Mal Lugrekh?

Why did Lugrekh kill the elves?

Mat Lugrekh azat golog?*

How did the elves escape?

Mol golog âdhnat?*
* He used infinitive in BS. It would be OK, if there were an auxilary verb
like “did”. But Black Speech doesn't have them. We just don't need them
and even the question mark as these special words (mal, mat, mol) indicate
that the sentence is question. So it's better to use the same tense as in
English. Therefore, we shall ask “Mal Lugrekh azuzat golog” and “Mal
golog âdhnuzut?”

“The only wierd acting question word is what. I also feel like
the what question word should go in the place of the noun that is the
answer... The who question word can also function like what. It goes into
the place in the sentence that the proper noun would go.”

English Black Speech

Q: What is Lugrekh? Lugrekh kulat mash? (lit. Lugrekh is what?)
A: Lugrekh is an orc Lugrekh kulat urûk
Q: What hit you? Mash grushat lat?
A: A rock hit me Shakamûb grushat-izish
Q: What do orcs kill? Urûk azat* mash?
A: The orcs kill elves! Urûk azat* golog
Q: Who killed the elves? Mirz azat** golog?
A: Lugrekh killed the elves! Lugrekh azat** golog!

Q: Who did the elves kill? Golog azat*** mirz? (lit. The elves killed
A: The elves killed the who?)
slaves! Golog azat*** snaga

* There are many orcs, so the right word is azut!

** There is past tense, so azuzat will be more accurate!
*** And here we have many elves killed the slaves in the past,
therefore azuzut is the right word!
In these examples mash, what, goes in the place where the unknown noun
goes. Obviously the answer can also be shorterned down to one word. The
third answer would normally be said: “golog” (just “elves!”)

Vocabulary – list of question words

what? mash
when? mukh
where
mal
?
which
mut
?
who? mirz
whose mirzob /
? mob
why? mat
how? mol

In declarative sentenses these words have the affix a- so you will never
confuse them with questions. Examples:

What did you steal?

Mash orskuzlat?

You stole what you had firstly seen

Orskuzlat amash lat honuz asharz
General Questions
The other kind of questions don't use a particular word, they are normally
the kind of question answered with a yes or a no. Examples:
Will you sit down?
Do you have the sword?
Did you kill the eleves?

As far as I know there is not a way to do this in Black Speech. So I'm going
to propose a way and see what people think.

According to my dictionary m- is the root of all the interrogative words

(questions). So, I would suggest using creating a new word based on the
way nar- is used.

I'm going to add a new word to the dictionary, the word is mar- (I don't
have that as a word currently). mar- works like nar- does, attaching to the
front of a word. On it's own it means something like “huh? what you say?”.
Examples:

You are an orc

Lat kul urûk

You are not an orc

Lat narkul urûk

Are you an orc?

Lat markul urûk?

Do you kill the elves?

Lat mar az golog?
As you see, the word order differs from english rules. In Black Speech
general questions have the same word order as in declarative sentences but
can be distinguished by mentioned special word mar.
Alternative Questions
I think alternative questions should work the same way as general
questions. If you have two verbs in alternative you have to add mar- to
both of them. The Black Speech word for “or” is “ogh”. And I fully accept
Lugrekh's opinion on general questions, so here is my examples:

To be or not to be?
Kulat ogh narkulat?*

Is he dead or still alive?

Markulat matûrz ogh slaiûrz dâl?

Shall we go for the hunt or (shall we) stay at home?

Marukhub-izgu hoit-ûr ogh marshakropub mokhor?
* No auxilary verb in English – no mar in BS

Disjunctive Questions
It is doubtful to say if the orcs use these questions, but I will propose my
point of view. The first part of question is the usual statement, and the
second one is the verb with affix mar- or the word mar itself. Examples:

He is an orc, isn't he?

Ta kulat urûk, markulat?

You can eat the whole bull, can't you?

Lat pâsh throqu domûk, marpâsh?

You killed a dragon, didn't you?

Azuzlat gothbork, mar?
* Lesson XV – Participles and Passive Voice

Participles
Initially there were only two forms of participles. The first one is the active
indefinite participle I (the -ug suffix), and the second is the participle II (-
uga suffix). Example:
to
gashnat
speak
speakin
gashnug
g
gashnug
spoken
a

I think it isn't enough to translate complex phrases, some languages have

much more types of participles than English. Black Speech uses auxilary
verbs like be or have definitely very seldom, so borrowing English
grammar isn't a good practice. I've decided to keep participles somehow
similar to English but with distinct suffixes for each form instead of
using to have and to be. Unlike English all participles have plural form
like adjectives. However there is always a way to say the same thing
without participles, which is still recommended for better compatibility (b).
Here is final table, explaining Participles.

Suffi Plura
Type Examples Translation
x l
Participle I -ug -ugu uruk akrugu shum orcs drinking too much
Participle I -aga -agaz a) pau akraga gilrolarz a) potion usually being drunk
Passive maukum-ugil before battle
b) pau amut akragat* b) potion which is usually
maukum-ugil gilrolarz drunk before battle
Perfect Participle I-ugz -ugzu a) uruk lûmpuzat akrugz a) orc fell having drunk a
pau potion
b) uruk lûmpuzat dhurz b) orc fell because he had
akruzat pau drunk a potion
Perfect Participle I -ufa -ufaz a) pau thrakuzat hûr akrufa a) potion brought courage
Passive having been drunk
b) pau akraguzat* agh b) potion was drunk and
thrakuzat hûr urzkû brought courage after (this)
Participle II -uga -ugaz honuz-izg uruk azuga I saw an orc killed by elves
 golug-irzi

* This is translated as Passive Voice which is discussed few paragraphs below.

Be careful to distinguish participles from continuous and perfect tenses:

I will kill any slave speaking too much

Azub-izg snaga hin gashnug shum*

You're speaking too loud!

Gashn-lat zânarz shum**

These words spoken at midnight will unleash the mighty spell

(Zaz) ghashanu gashnugaz mosbûrz-shi mâdrubut dushum
durbûrz***

He have just spoken the truth

Gashnuzatta dhûzud narfûr
* There is no word for “too” in Black Speech dictionary, but I've found
“very much”. So I use “shum” instead of “too”

** “Too” modifies the word “loud”, so it cames after this word!

*** Once again, the dictionary doesn't have the word “these”, but it has
“this” and “those”. I just added plural suffix to ther first one, but it's better
to skip it. “Word” and “speak” have the same stem “ghashn” in Black
Speech, so the translation doesn't look good enough.

Passive Voice

Initially I supposed that passive voice is formed similar to English: the

verb to be in required tense + participle II. But it seems, Black Speech
doesn't have a tendency of using the verb kulat (to be). The only dialect
with special suffix for Passive Verbs is Horngoth, but there is no any
example. So I took the liberty of proposing a new rules:
Passive Voice is formed by adding -ag suffix before any person or tense
verb suffix. It has nothing to do with passive participle II. This is evident
for some languages but could be hard for English-speakers, so I kept kulat
+ Participle II as valid (and preferrable) variant.

Examples
Black Speech Black Speech
English
(my proposal) (old manner)
Present
The ring is stolen every Nazg kulat orskuga kûm
Nazg orskagat kûm rûgh
Age rûgh
The ring is being stolen
Nazg orskagat rad Nazg kulat orskuga rad
now
The ring have been just 1)
Nazg orskaguzat 1) dhûzud Nazg kuluzat orskuga
stolen dhûzud
Past
The ring was stolen Nazg kuluzat orskuga
Nazg orskaguzat ârshlut
yesterday ârshlut
The ring was being Nazg kuluzat orskuga bûrz
Nazg orskaguzat bûrz tîl
stolen last night tîl
The ring had been
Nazg orskaguzat ugil Nazg kuluzat orskuga ugil
stolen before I knew
îstuz-izg gothumtab-gus îstuz-izg gothumtab-gus
about it's power
Future
The ring will be stolen Nazg kulubat orskuga
Nazg orskagubat ârshu
tomorrow ârshu
The ring will have been Nazg orskagubat nau-irzi
Nazg kulubat orskuga nau-
stolen by the end of this 2)
ânrothzaob irzi ânrothzaob
year

1) I remind you of translating English Present Perfect Tense as Past Tense

of Black Speech
2) I have to invent word “ânroth” for “year” (literally something like “sun
cycle”, yes the Sun is turning around the Earth, you heretic!). But more
important thing here is suffix order.
My proposal can be used to distinguish continuous forms; for perfect
always use traditional way (Participle II). For Indefinte forms you can use
both variants.

When both subject and object of sentence with passive voice are pronouns,
then word order is:
 when passive is expressed by verb with -ag suffix, then verb takes
person suffix according to subject (patient of action), pronouns are
added to the verb as usual;
when passive is expressed by verb kulat with participle, then subject
pronoun is added to the verb, which also takes person suffix
according to subject, and object is written separately after the
participle.

On Ergative Alignment
Ergative alignment is roughly speaking a way of forming the majority of
sentences similar to passive voice of usual languages (called Nominative-
Accusative). A. Nemirovsky's proposes that Black Speech is based on
ancient Hurrian language, which was agglutinative ergative language with
sentence structure Subject–Object–Verb. His hypothesis is quite strong. In
that case Passive voice is not needed. Here's example:

Accusative Ergative
Uruk throquat Uruk-irzi âps
âps throquat
lit.: By orc meat is
Orc eats meat
eaten

Tolkien's examples cannot prove or deny ergative structure of language.

Despite some obvious similarity to Hurrian, Black Speech does not copy all
the features of this language (i.e. in Hurrian adjectives are placed before
nouns). So, while new Zhâburi dialect is ergative, Shadowlandian described
here is not.
* Lesson XVI – Conditional and Subjunctive
Moods
Conditional sentences
The Second Nazgul, Witch-Queen Of Angmar, maybe the only member of
Black Speech Community who knew Scatha said “Conditional tense works
the same way as in English, except for one thing: you use the subjunctive
tense. Subjunctive tense is simply the stem of the verb, just like the
imperative.”

She didn't give any example, and I think one tense for all types of
conditions isn't enough. It will be hard to translate back from Black Speech
because just verb stem already means Present Tense and Imperative. Both
in English and Russian the most of Subjunctive Mood forms are closer to
Past Tenses (as opposing to Present like The Second Nazgul supposed).
Therefore I've made my own rules.

I think Subjunctive can be in Present and Past (Perfect) forms, but they
have no person suffix (-at or -ut).

Almost real event

If we are sure that both condition and specially the result are real we don't
use Subjunctive Tense. We use Present Tense for condition and Future
Tense for main clause, the same as in English. Main clause could be
Imperative (the second example).

If he steals our food we will kill him

Ghung orskat-ta throqûm izubu izgu azub ta

Kill anything that moves if you want to eat

Az kilûk za rûmat ghung nargzab throquat
Unsure but still quite possible (Suppositional
Mood)
If the event is unlikely to happen but still possible, and the result is
intended, then main sentence is in Future Tense and condition is
unnecessary word trosh (lit. “suddenly”) + Subjunctive Tense. The same
structure is used for hinting or hidden offer (the second example).

If he should get the money he will buy a horse

Ghung trosh nânt-ta draugum tûzubat rûk

Should you come, I'll drink with you

Trosh skât-lat akrub-izg lat-sha

Supposing almost unreal things

If we're just supposing what could be happen, if we're dreaming without
any prediction, or we're quite unsure about possibility, we use Past
Subjunctive (-uz without person suffixes) in condition and shulg (=
would) + Present Subjunctive in main clause. Compare the first example
here with the first example of previous case. Instead of “would” words
“could” (pâshuz) and “might” (gâkhuz) can be used. Expressions like “If I
were smb./smth.” are translated as “ghung kuluz-izg …” (not plural as
opposed to English).

If he got the money he would buy a horse1)

Ghung nântuz-ta draugum shulg tûz rûk

If I had a dragon, I would fight against Balrog

Ghung brusuz-izg gothbork, shulg-izg mauk Balrog-bug

Goblin would run away, if Balrog attacked him

Kâpul shulg irzkrât2) ghung Balrog dîsuz-ta

If I were Goblin, I would run away

Ghung kuluz-izg kâpul, shulg-izg irzkrât

Shagrath might kill an elf tonight if he saw any

Shagrath gâkhuz az golug zabûrz ghung honuz hin

If I could buy this magical sword, I could kill a dragon3)

Ghung pâshuz-izg tûz za shapar dushûrz pâshuz-izg az gothbork
1) The condition isn't real, but in comparsion to previous case, we're
unsure about consequences too (may be he will buy something else).
2) “at” here is the part of word “krât” (away), not 3rd person ending. In
overall sentence Goblins will definitely run away (close to the first case),
but probability of meeting Balrog is very low.
3) Both main clause and condition are could + infinitive in English as well
as in Black Speech.

Absolutely impossible, already missed

Some event can be totally unreal only if it already didn't happen. These
sentences have some shade of regret or missed opportunity. Condition is
Past Subjunctive like previous case, but main sentence
is would/could/might + Past Subjunctive. It wouldn't be a big mistake to
mutually mix it with previous type of Subjunctive Mood.

If he had got the money he would have bought a horse1)

Ghung nântuz-ta draugum shulg tûzuz rûk

If he had thought less about girls he wouldn't had been caught

Ghung ûsuz-ta yûlarz fând-gus narshulg-ta kuluz atsuga2)

Had I seen a trap, I would had alerted you3

Honuz-izg grak shulg-izg golbuz-lat
1) We think he will never get money.
2) Yûl (= less) is an adjective. Suffix -arz added to make an adverb.
See Lesson XV for more information on passive voice (“kuluz atsuga”,
another variant was “atsaguz”).
3) It's a reduced form, fortunately reverse word order in English sentence
doesn't change anything in Black Speech.

The main difference between variants above is certainty of consequences in

main sentence. In hasty speech last three cases could be mixed.

Even though
Condition may be also expressed in phrases started with words like “even
though” (= yal, from Horngoth), “even if” (= yal ghung), “although” (=
nân), “however” (= molkû), “whenever” (= muhkû), “whoever” (= mirzkû),
“whatever” (= mashkû) etc., then we use modal verbs “may” (= gâkh),
“might” (= gâkhuz), “would” (= shulg), “should” (= zauguz) with Present
Subjunctive or just Past Subjunctive without modal verb. Some examples:

He won't come although he would like to go very much

(Ta) narskâtubat nân ta shulg brogb ukhat shum

You should give him your axe whenever he may come*

Lat zauguz thrak ta pilik-lab muhkû ta gâkh skât

He wouldn't help you even if he were there*

Ta narshulg ghûlb lat yal ghung ta kuluz atîg

He was always glad whatever I might bring him to drink

Ta kulat kraibhog ûkil mashkû gâkhuz-izg thrak-ta akrat
* Both main sentence and dependent clause are in subjunctive mood here
Subjunctive without condition
All examples above were complex conditional sentences, where word “if ”
(ghung) was indicating subjunctive mood (or was meant but skipped). But
simple sentences and complex sentences without condition are more
tricky!

Simple sentences
Both Sunbjuntive tenses (present and past/perfect) are used in simple
sentences with modal verbs could (pâshuz), might (gâkhuz), should
(zauguz), would (shulg), would/should like (shulg brogb), would rather
(shulg ashbazg), had rather/better (zauguz mâz) without condition. Last
three expressions also met in complex sentences. Compound sentences
consist of two simple sentences are made the same way. Subjunctive tenses
also used in questions expressing polite ask or demand after words
mentioned just now.

Dragon could devour you

Gothbork pâshuz throqu lat

Could you help me?

Lat marpâshuz ghûlb-izish?

You shouldn't have come to this forest

Lat narzauguz skâtuz u za tau1)

Oh Morgoth! You might have been killed!

Morgoth skai! Lat gâkhuz kuluz azuga!

He might kill an elf

Ta gâkhuz az golug

He would be glad to drink with you

Ta shulg kul kraibhog akrat lat-sha
Would you shut up?
Lat marshulg shar?

I'd like to eat a hobbit

Shulg-izg brogb throquat akashuga

I'd like a drink of blood

Shulg-izg brogb akr grish-ob

My master would like you to die

Goth-izub shulg brogb lat matat

I would rather go
Shulg-izg ashbazg ukh

I would rather you did it instead of me

Shulg-izg ashbazg lat krampuz ta izish-stazgishi

I had better stay at home than go to that cave

Zauguz-izg mâz shakrop mokh-shi snût ukh u za fil

Shagrath might kill an elf tonight, but (he) didn't saw any
Shagrath gâkhuz az golug zabûrz nân (ta) narhonuzat hin2)

Be it so he would be glad
Kultazash ta shulg kul kraibhog
1) “tau-zau” would sound like island somewhere in Polynesia, also there is
noun “zau” (soup, stew) in dictionary
2) Compare with similar example for conditional sentences.

Just a condition or wish

A condition without consequence is mostly used in exclamations of regret.
Use Past Subjunctive or modal verb (in Past Subjunctive) with Present
Subjunctive verb in such expressions:
If only my sword were here!
Ghung tug shapat-izub kuluz tul!

If he hadn't lost his magical power!

Ghung narfuluz-ta gothum-tab dûshûrz!

If only I could kill a dragon!

Ghung tug pâshuz-izub az gothbork!
We can express our unrealized wish in complex declarative sentence
instead of exclamation. The rule is the same as above.

I wish my rings were here now

Nargzab(-izg) nazg-izubu kuluz tul rad

He dreamed they hadn't found their rings

Taurzuzat-ta nargimbuz-ulu nazg-ulubu

Balrog hopes the rain would stop

Balrog fauzabat za batar shulg puzg

Wish somebody something

Use simple Present Subjunctive in exclamation sentences like:

May the force be with you!

Gâkh ikhum kul lat-sha!

Morgoth bless you!

Morgoth bhogh lat!

As if / Like
Translation of sentences with “as if” or “like” conjugation depends on tense
used in clause of manner. Past and all Perfect tenses are translated as Past
Subjunctive, Present tense as Present Subjunctive appropriately. Tense in
main clause isn't changed. The whole phrase “as if” could be translated as
one word “zash”.

You speak so as if I do something wrong

Ghashn-lat zash (ghung) kramp-izg kilûk fikarz

Men looked at him as if he had said scary things

Shara honuzut ta-shi zash gashnuz-ta kûlu uf

Dragon looked at hobbit like (as if) he would eat him

Gothbork honuzat akashuga-shi zash shulg throqu-ta

So that
Subjunctive tenses are used in dependent clauses of purpose started with
“so that” (= zash zamal, or just zash) or just simply “that” (= zamal).
Usually an action of such clauses is expressed with modal verbs may,
might, should with Present Subjunctive. Instead of expression “in order
that” with subjunctive you may use just infinitive (with -at ending), which
is better, laconical way.

Always sleep with your weapon nearby so (that) enemies may

not kill you by surprise
Ûkil flogr duluglab-sha musharz zash ish nargâkh az lat trosharz

He weared a helm shut so that nobody should recognize him

Ta koluzat kazn gûkrûrz zash zamal narmirz zaug gimthak ta

Morgoth granted me a magical sword so that I might kill a

dragon in the arena
Morgoth thrakuzat-izish shapat dûshûrz zash zamal gâkhuz-
izg az gothbork lam-ishi

I'll take some beer, that I may not be tired of long road
Norkub-izg rau mupsh zamal nargâkh-izg kul frâtûrz mûl-ob
sigûrz
After impersonal constructions
After expressions like it's important that, it was possible that etc. infinitive
without “to” (sometimes preceeded by “should”) is used in English.
Translation of such constructions into Black Speech would be long and
ugly, and most of these words were absent in dictionary, therefore I've
made my own shorter translations presented in following table:

Translatio Expressio Translati

Expression
n n on
it's
it's important hormarza bolkarza
necessary
it's (nar)falgash it's
nargza
(im)possible az desirable
it's
narghugarza it's likely ghugza
unbelievable
it's natural gilrolarza it's strange razarza

Please note “is” might be in past or future tense (was, will be) in English,
but translation to Black Speech would be the same.

If action in dependent clause is simultaneous to the action in main clause

or will be in the future then use Present Subjunctive, if it was preceeding
main clause use Past Subjunctive. Finally, some examples:

It's impossible that he have flown away.

Narfalgashaz zamal ta skoiuz-krât

It's necessary that you be at the gates of Gondor tomorrow at

dusk
Bolkarza zamal lat kul doraz-shi Gondor-ob ârshu agon-shi

Is it important that we (should) kill him?

Mar hormarza zamal izgu az ta

It will be desirable (that) you be present at our next meeting

Nargza lat kulrad traf-izubushi nûkhud
Demand/Request
Present Subjunctive is used in complex sentences when someone
asks another person to do something after words like urdanogat,
ghashnat (= to command, to order), shagat (= to demand), gundat-ir (= to
insist), lûpat (= to request), thrâgat (= to suggest, to propose), lubhat (= to
recommend) and so on.

Morgoth demands that you bring him hobbits alive

Morgoth shagat zamal lat thrak-ta akashuga slaiûrz

I ordered that he steal the ring

Urdanoguz-izg zamal ta orsk nazg

Frodo insisted that Sam (should) leave him

Frodo gunduz-ir zamal Sam (zauguz) âdhn ta
Most of dependent clauses in these examples can be replaced with
infinitive (i.e. “I ordered him to steal the ring” = “Urdanoguz-izg ta orskat
nazg”), which is easier and more elegant way.
Appendix A: Prefixes and Suffixes
This is not full list of suffixes. Some prepositions are missed here.
Examples will be found in square brackets [ ]

Prefixes
1. prefixed to an interrogative makes it into a relative (EL) [mal = where?, amal =
where (as in, where the shadows lie)]
a-
2. third person pronoun prefix (RE) [azagh = he of the mountain pass; agondor = he
of Gondor]
im- self- (UNF) [imskûtum = self-defense]
mar
prefixed to verbs in questions (LUG)
-
nar- negation, non-, un-
nâr- anti-, un- (ULK)

Suffixes
-ag passive verb suffix UNF < HORN “âk” [uruk azaguzat = orc was killed]
-aga indefinite passive participle UNF < AA [akraga = being drunk]
occupation(like English -er) [hoitat = to hunt, hoital = hunter; zâgîrat = to joke,
-al
zâgîral = joker, jester] SV
-ar
more (comparative ending) [gothûrzar snû = more powerful than]
snû
-arz common Black Speech adverb ending LOS
-as across (prep) LOS
1. verb infinitive TK [gimbat = to find]
-at
2. third person singular verb ending
able, knowing; similar to -al suffix [dûshatâr = wizard, mage; from dush –
-atâr
magic] SV
-az most (comparative ending) [gothûrzaz = most powerful] LOS
-âzh partially, incompletely UNF
-bo off (preposition) [kulat-bo = to be off]
-dhog near, next to [Orodruin-dhog, = near Orodruin.]
-dur arch- (lit. “big/head of”) [dûshatârdur = archimage] ULK
-ghâra from (case suffix) LOS [Mordor-ghâra = from Mordor]
-hai people of TK (BS and AO) [urûk-hai = the urûk-people]
-irzi by (case suffix) LOS
-ishi in (preposition) TK [Mordor-ishi = in Mordor]
-izg I or me (used as a suffix, not as a 1st person singular pronoun) [kul-izg = I am]
-lob feminine word ending [Shelob] – deprecated
-ob of (preposition/case suffix) EL [Mordor-ob = of Mordor]
-og profession or occupation as -al but with superative meaning ULK (< TK Azog =
 Killer) [gashnog = linguist, compare with gashnal = talker]
-or at (preposition) LOS [Orthanc-or = at Orthanc]
between (preposition) LOS [Rohan-ri agh Gondor-ri = between Rohan and
-ri agh
Gondor]
-shi at (time) case suffix LOS [bûrz-shi = at night]
-thu beyond (preposition) LOS [Minas Morgul-thu = beyond Minas Morgul]
-tuk through (preposition) LOS [Ru-tuk, through the hall]
1. Noun plural after consonant LL [Nazgu = rings] **note that the words for
peoples, like uruk, ilid, Nazgul, gazat, etc., do not have plurals.
-u 2. to (preposition) [Mordor-u = “to Mordor”; but note that “u bagronk”, meaning
“to the cesspool” is poor orkish grammar in DBS.
3. Dative case suffix (The Second Nazgul)
-ub verb future tense suffix AN [gimbub = will find, gimbubut = they will find]
-ufa perfect passive participle UNF < HORN [akrufa = having been drunk]
-ug present active participle EL [azug = killing]
-uga past participle (participle II) EL [azuga = killed]
gerund, forming noun from verbs, process UNF [Brogb-izg akugum = I like
-ugum
cutting]
-ugz perfect active participle UNF [uruk azugz golug = orc having killed an elf]
-ûk all, completely, collective plural TK [thrakatulûk = to bring them all]
-ul them TK [gimbatul = to find them]
common noun forming suffix (mostly abstract) TK, LL [burzum = darkness,
-um
nâkhum = greediness]
-ûr for (case suffix) EL [durub-ûr = for the ruler.]
-ûrz a common BS adjective-forming suffix EL [matûrz = mortal]
- forming abstract noun meaning characteristic, attribute or
ûrzum property UNF [ufûrzum = fearfulness]
-ut third person plural verb ending [gimbut = they find, gimbubut = they will find] EL
-uz verb past tense suffix LOS [gimbuz = found, gimbuzat = he found]
-z noun plural after vowel. EL [goi = city, goiz = cities]
-zan in the name of [Morgoth-zan = in the name of Morgoth]
Appendix B: Grammar quick overview
There are tables with basic grammar rules for Shadowlandian dialect.
Svartiska and Horngoth use a little different ones, which can be found
in English-Orkish dictionary.

Nouns
Pluralizing
Singular Plural suffix Collective Plural
–
person shara turu (many -ûk, -hai
shara (a human), humans), mau krâk (five shara-hai (humans),
mau (warrior) warriors) maûk (all warriors)
consonant
ending -u
duf (knife), hont dufu (knives), hontu (eyes) -ûk
(eye) dufûk (all knives)
goiûk (all cities)
vowel ending -z
goi (city) goiz (cities)
Suffix order
1 2 3 4 5
postpositio numbe
gender article case
n r

Adjectives
Pluralizing
Plural
Singular Examples
suffix
consonant ûsumu bûrzu (dark
-u
ending thoughts)
vowel ending -z urûk kûz (old orcs)

Comparison
Degree Suff Examples
 ix
Regular gothûrz (powerful), kû (old)
Comparati gothûrzar snû (more powerful than),
-ar
ve kûar (elder)
gothûrzaz (the most powerful), kûaz (the
Superative -az
eldest)

Verbs
1st, 2nd 3rd person 3rd
Tense
person sing. person pl.
Infiniti
-at -at -at
ve
Present – -at -ut
Future -ub -ubat -ubut
Past -uz -uzat -uzut

Participles
Suffix
Tense acti passi
ve ve
Participle I -ug -aga
Perfect
-ugz -ufa
Participle I
Participle II -uga

Word Order
2. 3. 4. Direct 5. Indirect 6.
1. Subject
Attribute Predicate object object Adjunct
n n (+ prep) adv
n adj v
pron pron (+ prep) n + prep

Notice: if the subject is a pronoun then it is suffixed to the verb.

Example
Yesterd the great war Uglak broug the magical to his lo
ay rior h ht ring rd
6 2 1 3 4 5
⇓
mau bûbhos thraku nazg dushûr gothtab ârshlû
Uglakh
h z z u t
Appendix C: Measures, Directions, Army
Ranks

Weights and Measures

Measur
Unit Approx. equivalent
e
~ 0.198 m (1 foot ~ 0.65 British feet, orcs were smaller than humans
distance fra
according to Tolkien)
distance glâd ~ 0.396 m (2 orcish feet, ~ 1.3 British feet)
distance frak ~ 0.594 m (lit. 1 step = 3 orcish feet)
frau ~ 5940 m (10000 orcish steps, ~ 3.2 sea miles, ~ 1.07 sea lieue (sea
distance
m leagues), ~ 1.23 leagues)
weight bur ~ 0.907 kg (2 pounds)
volume parz ~ 0.426 l (1 ½ cups)

Directions
By Rob Eaglestone

Nort
talân
h
Sout
latân
h
ghâns
East
h
West ânud

Orc Army Ranks

Original table, which can be found here, is awful for anybody who knows
the army ranks despite his country. So there's mine below. Note: It's hard
to give equivalents because modern army consists of approximately 100
000 soldiers but ancient and especially European middle-ages armies were
much lesser (may be the only exception is The Roman Empire). In
example, in Middle-Earth total orc population was about 100 000 soldiers,
Rohan's army consisted of about 10 000 riders (after the battle at Helm's
Deep). Aragorn tried to attack Mordor Gates with 6000 soldiers.

Comman Number of soldiers

Rank Equivalent
ds in command
pizurk Private – –
pizgal Corporal Squad 10
piztur Sergeant/Lieutenant Platoon 30 – 50
pizbûr Captain Company 100 – 200
Major/Lieutenant
pizdur Battalion 500
Colonel
mautor Colonel Regiment 1000
maugot
General Army 10,000
h
Appendix D: List Of Abbreviations
Tolkien Sources
1st Age Angband
AO
Orkish
BOLT Book Of Lost Tales
BS Black Speech
CBS Classical Black Speech
DBS Debased Black Speech
LOTR Lord Of The Rings
PN Personal name
SD Sauron Defeated
TH The Hobbit
TK J. R. R. Tolkien
Other Inventors
7N Seventh Nazgul
AA A. Appleyard
AN Andrew
BA Björn Axén, author of Zhâburi dialect
depr deprecated word (usually taken from real world languages)
David Salo, a linguist who worked on the languages of J.R.R. Tolkien for the
DS
Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and The Hobbit
Unnamed compilative dialect by unknown linguist from
EH
page http://elhath.tripod.com/powl.htm
EL Elerrina, probably the author of full Ring Verse translation into Black Speech
HG Horngoth Orkish
HORN Horngoth Orkish
LL Lalaith (aka The List Goddess), author of Olympic Verse translation
LOS Mordor, Land Of Shadow Message Board
LUG Lugrekh
MB Mugbûrz Orkish
MERP Middle-Earth Role Play
MK Matilda Koren, contributor to Zhâburi dialects
ON Orcish Nations site. The host of MERP dialect
RE Rob Eaglestone, author of Horngoth Orkish
SN The Second Nazgul
Summoning Summoning – Mirdautas Vras song
SV Svartiska Orkish
TAD TwoAxesDwarf
ULK Ulkgashnog
UNF Un4givenOrc
UTL Utumno LARP. See SV
ZA Dialect “Zhâburi A”
ZB Dialect “Zhâburi B”
ZF Za Frûmi music band
About (the site and the author)

This site is dedicated to Black Speech, the language of Orcs, Nazgûl and all
other inhabitants of Mordor. I am not a graduated linguist, nor most of
used works' authors are, but just a fan of Tolkien's works and languages.
Therefore you can encounter some inaccurate wordings and terms on these
pages, nevertheless my approach was as deep as possible. I haven't tried to
invent a 'bicycle' (read as 'my own dialect'), only to revise and translate
existing dictionaries. Consider the dialect here a derivative of
Shadowlandian (LOS).
This site wouldn't exist without Scatha, Lugrekh, The Second Nazgul,
TwoAxesDwarf. I had never spoken to you, but I appreciate your work. Hail
to thee!

Un4givenOrc

(This e-book was compiled by Ya'qûb 'Abd al-Jabbâr Ghîmârâish on 2020-04-12.)