-Lesson I.

Background InformationI 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. Tolkiens original Black Speech consists of only two phrases and several orc names. First, the famous Ring inscription: Ash nazg durbatulk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulk, 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: Uglk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob bb-hosh skai! which is translated as: "Uglk 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: "Uglk 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 didnt 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. Appleyards work, which appears in this site: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/articles/Appleyard.BlackSpeech

My dictionary also uses ideas from the Ardalambion site. I dont 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 Daniels work is controversial, and I dont 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 Tolkiens 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 dont 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 gothrz = 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 Uglk u bagronk. He should have said, Uglk 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 Scatha661701@yahoo.com. 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 PronunciationConsonants and clusters We know that the following consonants appear in J. R. R. Tolkiens 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.

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. SH is pronounced like the American sh. KH 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 Tolkiens examples. These include: dh (like the English the) and zh (as in pleasure), kh, (as in the German ach). 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 dmp, = doom.) Just remember that unlike in English, the L and R are always pronounced at the back of the throat.

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. 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 (also spelled uu) should be pronounced oo. There is also a difference between the short a and the long aa and the short a, al though its 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 Mauhr (pronounced ow as in flower). LOS has added oi, (pronounced as in toy.)

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 CAPS. 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 Nazgl would be pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, but with a long u sound.)

U-ruk (orc) uruk-HAI (orc-people) MORdor

Mordor-ISHi (in Mordor) NAZgl (Ring Wraith) Nazgl-OB (of the Ring Wraith)

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

throquat (to devour) guts)

Nazgl (Ring-wraith)

bb-hosh (pig-

bagronk (cess-pool) dr)

krimpatul (to bind them)

Lugburz (Barad-

matrz (mortal, adj.) Sauron)

Uglk (Proper Name)

Sauron-ob (of

prakhatulk (to lure them all) Lugbrz)

srinkhat (to gather)

Lugbrz-ishi (in

Mordor-ob (of Mordor)

throquub (will devour)

glob (fool)

Exercise
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. Verbs: Infinitives and Present TenseBecause 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.

Find several other verbs in the dictionary and give the infinitive form for each. 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.

In Black Speech, we assume that all verbs are regular and are conjugated in the following way: Gimbat, to find: gimb gimb gimbat I find you (sing) find he, she, it finds gimb gimb gimbut we find you (plural) find they find

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

Vocabulary Some new verbs: azat bugdat durbat dmpat fauthat srinkhat prakhat to kill to call to rule to doom to hide, to lie hidden to gather to lure

Exercise
Translate the following: he rules they bind I devour I find They hide I hide you (singular) doom I call we find it brings you (sing.) lure you (plural) gather she devours* it kills he calls they devour* she devours you (plural) 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 future tense: throqu, I devour, throquub, I will devour (pronounced "throwkwoob.") 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."

-Lesson IV. Noun pluralsThere are only three simple rules for pluralizing nouns. Names for races or people are never pluralized. For example, the word Nazgl 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 ). 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) shark (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.

-Lesson V. Verbs: Future tenseFuture 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, you will find gimbubat, he-she-it will find Vocabulary

gimbub, we will find gimbub, you (plural) will find gimbubut, they will find

dulgat, to point fulgat, to dwell gashnat, to speak, to command globat, to fool (someone) gund, to stand

Translation Exercise

Translate the following sentences into Black Speech:

The men will gather The warriors will stand

The beasts will find The Urk-people will lure

The troll will rule The Nazgl (sing.) will bring

I will call You (sing.) will devour You (pl.) will speak The trolls will speak I will speak Saruman will bring

You (sing.) will bind They will stand They will fool the elves will kill the elf will stand the trolls will find

The elves will rule I will dwell she will point the Nazgl (pl.) will point the beasts will dwell the Urk (plural) will devour

-Lesson VI. Adjectives and Word OrderNote: 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 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 nouns ending in a consonant, z for nouns 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, urk mokrz = the hateful urk. Urk mokrzu, the hateful urk (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 rz, especially if they are formed from nouns or verbs:

Adjective (singular) brz, dark, from burzum, darkness dushrz, magical globrz, foolish or filthy gorrz, tough gothrz, powerful hurrz, brave, from hr, courage

Plural brzu dushrzu globrzu gorrzu gothrzu hurrzu

matrz, mortal, from mat = to die mokrz, hateful, from mokum, hatred skrithrz, mean, cruel ulkrz, evil (adj.), from ulkum, evil (n.)

matrzu mokrzu skrithrzu ulkrzu

And many adjectives do not follow this rule:

Adjective (singular) k = old kraat = away kf = ugly lorz = stupid snork = worthless uf = scary -k = all kz

Plural

kraatu kfu lorzu snorku ufu k ("all" is already plural)

An adjective always follows the word it modifies: shara matrz, mortal man; Olog globrz, foolish (or filthy) troll; Uruk skrithurz, 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: shark, old man (shara + k). Notice that the a is dropped, probably for ease in pronunciation. 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 sharkk (shark + uk, all the old men) or nazgk (nazg + k) all the rings, you would drop one of the s. Similarly, if you wanted to say, "the scary old urk, you would say "urkf." (urk + k + uf). This sounds very similar to urkuf, "the scary urk" (urk + uf, an scary urk who isn't old), except that you don't have the long . This may seem a little confusing at first, but it is just a matter of practice. The difference between urkf (scary old orc) and urkuf is just a slight difference in pronunciation.

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 shark mokrzu. The elves bring the hateful old men

Urk bugdat nazgl skrithrz. The Urk calls the cruel Nazgl (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 Nazgl 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 Nazgl away.

I bring the worthless slaves.*

They will find the magical rings.

Sauron dooms the tough orc.

The Nazgl will gather the foolish trolls.

He will call the stupid elves.

I will hide the dark ring.

You (pl.) bind the old stupid Nazgl (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. PrepositionsIn Black Speech, prepositions (from, in, of, to, by, etc.) are suffixed to the noun they modify. However, this rule is often ignored in hasty speech, especially when orcs curse one another. 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.)

Preposition -dhog, near -ghaara, from -irzi, by -ishi, in -la, after -lata, under -lt, out -ob, of -ri __ agh __ -sha, with -shi, at (time) -shi, at (place) -tala over -r, for -u, to -zi, until

Examples Orodruin-dhog, near / next to Orodruin Lugbrz-ghaara, from Lugbrz grish-irzi, by blood Mordor-ishi, in Mordor zabrz-la, after tonight nt-lata, under the sky Orthanc-lt, out of Orthanc Nazgl-ob, of the Nazgl between __ and __ Saruman-sha, with Saruman** brz-shi (at night, at dark) Mordor-shi, at Mordor uzg-tala, over the land durub-r, for the lord Mordor-u, to Mordor** aarsh-zi, until today

Plural -dhogu -ghaaraz -irziz -ishiz -zaz -lataz -ltu -obu -riz __ agh __ -shaz -shiz -shiz -talaz -ru -uz -ziz

** 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."

Also note that in the Ring Verse, we have lata nt instead of nt -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).

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 "ru" (for), as well as "ishiz" (in).

Excerpts from the Ring Verse:

Gakh Nazgu Golug-durub-ru lata-nt. Three Rings for the Elven kings under the sky

[The word 'lords' is plural] ...

Udu Gazat-shakh-ru ulub ruz-ishiz gund-ob. Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone.

[The words 'lords' and 'halls' are both plural]

Exercise
Translate the following into grammatically correct Classical Black Speech.

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

The Nazgl bring all the cruel beasts from Gondor.* (*note that the preposition modifies Gondor, not beasts!)

The trolls find the warrior under the sky.

Sauron rules by evil.

Uglk 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 Nazgl (plural).

The stupid troll kills near Ashlk.

You will devour the beast with Uglk.

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. 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.

-Lesson VIII. Verbs: Past TenseIn 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 -ub. For example, he found would translate as gimbuzat. They called = bugduzut.

Thrakat, to bring thrakuz thrakuz thrakuzat I brought you brought he-she-it brought thrakuz thrakuz thrakuzut we brought you (pl) brought they brought

Vocabulary Here are a few more verbs to learn:

ghaashat gashnat ikhat lagat kulat shagat urkat

to burn to speak to force to break to be to demand to condemn, to damn

Exercise
Translate the following: They forced the tough orcs in Orthanc.

The Nazgl (sing.) called the old warriors of Saruman to Isengard. She ruled over the powerful beasts in Rhovanion. Saruman spoke to the old ugly trolls. (this one is very tricky, so here is the answer: Saruman gashnuzat olog-k-kfu.) I killed Shelob near Cirith Ungol. He found the evil orc in Mordor. I brought the cruel beast to Gondor. Ashlk called Uglk away to Moria. The troll-people demanded the ring from the Nazgl (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-Dr.

-Lesson IX: NumbersGenerally, 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. Ash, one Krul, two Gakh, three Zag, four Kraak, five Rut, six Udu, seven Ski, eight Krith, nine

Gal, ten Numbers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ash Krul Gakh Zag Kraak Rut Udu Skri Krith Gal

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Galash Galkrul Galgakh Galzag Galkraak Galrut Galudu Galskri Galkrith Krulgal

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1000 0

Gakhgal Zagal Kraakgal Rutgal Utgal Skragh Krithgal Br Tor Nar

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

Exercise:
Translate the following numbers into Black Speech: 34 __________________________ 62 __________________________ 22 __________________________ 58 ____________________________ 71 ____________________________ 87 ____________________________

103 _________________________ 245 ____________________________ 9068 ________________________ 4862 ____________________________

-Lesson X. Pronouns and commandsPronouns 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 e 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.)

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 dont need the he.)

He brings the orc to us = Thrakat urk-izish. Note the long 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 u. This would be correct Black Speech, but naturally orcs would probably not bother with this kind of fine distinction.

Personal and Possessive Pronouns

-izg -izish -izub lat lab ta ta

I me mine you (sing.) your (sing.) he, she, it him, it

-izgu -izishu -izubu latu latub ulu ul

we us ours you (plural) yours (plural) they them

tab to tob

his, its her hers

ulub

theirs

Exercise
Translate the following into Black Speech: I brought hers. Grishnaakh will find us. Morgoth will kill me. Saruman called his ugly orc. I brought mine to Morannon. They devoured theirs. (*note: if you do this correctly, you should end up with one long word.) Uglk will rule ours by blood (blood = "grish"). I am from Lugbrz. (*remember to attach the first person suffix to the verb 'to be'!) Ashlk bound me. Lagduf called them all from Lugbrz. (*attach the word for "all" to the pronoun "them"!) 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. (*Note* this one is tricky, so heres the answer: Prakh ishuzu-u, or Prakh ishuz).