Quenya Sounds

Quenya has a limited set of vowel and consonant clusters it allows in various positions in a word.

Notes

Tolkien: “The vowels may be pronounced as in Italian: é and ó (long) having the ‘close’ values as in nero, nome; e and o (short), when stressed have the open values as the first syllables of netto, notte; when unstressed the ‘close’ values as in the final syllables.”

The letter ‘c’ is always pronounced as ‘k’ and never as ‘s’. Initial ‘x’ (very rare) is pronounced as ‘s’; elsewehere always as ‘ks’.

In later Quenya, ‘þ’ and ‘ñ’ are pronounced as ‘s’ and ‘n’ respectively. The early pronunciation of ‘ñ’ is like the ‘ng’ in English long, not like n-tilde in Spanish; early ‘þ’ is like the ‘th’ in English thin.

The combination ‘pt’ is pronounced ‘ft’; inital ‘ps’ (very rare) is pronounced ‘ups’; ‘ht’ is pronounced like the ‘cht’ in German Licht.

Clusters

The table below lists all valid sound clusters in Quenya, ordered by how they are written. The various columns indicate, for each cluster:

Ini. — if it can start a word
Med. — if it can occur in the middle of a word
Fin. — if it can end a word
Len. — if it is a long/heavy cluster
Con. — if it is a consonant (not vowel) cluster
Int. — the internal spelling
Lat. — the latinized spelling
Ten. — the tengwar spelling

Ini	Med	Fin	Len	Con	Int	Lat	Ten
		*			'	'	
*	*	*			a	a	
*	*	*	*		aa	á	
*	*	*	*		ai	ai	
*	*	*	*		au	au	
*	*			*	c	c	
	*		*	*	cc	cc	
*	*		*	*	cs	x	
*	*			*	cw	qu	
*	*	*			e	e	
*	*	*	*		ee	é	
*	*	*	*		eu	eu	
*	*			*	f	f	
	*		*	*	ff	ff	
*	*			*	h	h	
*	*			*	hl	hl	
*	*			*	hr	hr	
	*		*	*	ht	ht	
	*		*	*	hty	hty	
*			*	*	hw	hw	
*	*		*	*	hy	hy	
*	*	*			i	i	
*	*	*	*		ii	í	
*	*	*	*		iu	iu	
*				*	j	ñ	
	*		*	*	jc	ñc	
	*		*	*	jcw	ñqu	
	*		*	*	jg	ñg	
	*		*	*	jgw	ñgw	
*				*	jw	ñw	
*	*	*		*	l	l	
	*		*	*	lb	lb	
	*		*	*	lc	lc	
	*		*	*	lcw	lqu	
	*		*	*	ld	ld	
	*		*	*	ll	ll	
	*		*	*	lm	lm	
	*		*	*	lp	lp	
	*		*	*	lt	lt	
	*		*	*	lty	lty	
	*		*	*	lv	lv	
	*		*	*	lw	lw	
*	*		*	*	ly	ly	
*	*			*	m	m	
	*		*	*	mb	mb	
	*		*	*	ml	ml	
	*		*	*	mm	mm	
	*		*	*	mn	mn	
	*		*	*	mp	mp	
	*		*	*	mt	mt	
	*		*	*	my	my	
*	*	*		*	n	n	
	*		*	*	nc	nc	
	*		*	*	ncw	nqu	
	*		*	*	nd	nd	
	*		*	*	ndy	ndy	
	*		*	*	ng	ng	
	*		*	*	ngw	ngw	
	*		*	*	nn	nn	
	*		*	*	ns	ns	
	*	*	*	*	nt	nt	
	*		*	*	nty	nty	
	*		*	*	nv	nv	
*	*		*	*	nw	nw	
*	*		*	*	ny	ny	
	*		*	*	nz	nþ	
*	*	*			o	o	
*	*	*	*		oi	oi	
*	*	*	*		oo	ó	
*	*			*	p	p	
	*		*	*	pp	pp	
*	*		*	*	ps	ps	
	*		*	*	pt	pt	
	*		*	*	py	py	
*	*	*		*	r	r	
	*		*	*	rc	rc	
	*		*	*	rcw	rqu	
	*		*	*	rd	rd	
	*		*	*	rm	rm	
	*		*	*	rn	rn	
	*		*	*	rp	rp	
	*		*	*	rr	rr	
	*		*	*	rs	rs	
	*		*	*	rt	rt	
	*		*	*	rty	rty	
	*		*	*	rv	rv	
	*		*	*	rw	rw	
*	*		*	*	ry	ry	
	*		*	*	rz	rþ	
*	*	*		*	s	s	
	*		*	*	sc	sc	
	*		*	*	scw	squ	
	*		*	*	sp	sp	
	*		*	*	ss	ss	
	*		*	*	st	st	
	*		*	*	sty	sty	
	*		*	*	sy	sy	
*	*	*		*	t	t	
	*		*	*	ts	ts	
	*		*	*	tt	tt	
	*		*	*	tw	tw	
*	*		*	*	ty	ty	
*	*	*			u	u	
*	*	*	*		ui	ui	
*	*	*	*		uu	ú	
*	*			*	v	v	
*	*			*	w	w	
*	*			*	y	y	
*	*			*	z	þ	
	*		*	*	zc	þc	
	*		*	*	zcw	þqu	
	*		*	*	zn	þn	
	*		*	*	zt	þt	
	*		*	*	zw	þw	
	*		*	*	zy	þy	
	*		*	*	zz	þþ	