-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:

“Uglûk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob bûb-hosh skai!” which is translated as:

"Uglûk 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:

"Uglûk 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.BlackSpeech  

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 gothûrz =  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 “Uglûk u bagronk.”  He should have said, “Uglûk 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 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.  

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 Tolkien’s 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 “dûmp, = 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 û (also spelled uu) should be pronounced “oo.”  There is also a difference between the short a and the long aa and the short a, 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 Mauhûr (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 Nazgûl would be pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, but with a long “u” sound.)    

U’-ruk (orc)

uruk-HAI (orc-people)

MOR’dor

Mordor-ISH’i (in Mordor) NAZ’gûl  (Ring Wraith) Nazgûl-OB (of the Ring Wraith)  

Exercise

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

throquat (to devour)                            Nazgûl (Ring-wraith)                 bûb-hosh (pig-guts)    

bagronk (cess-pool)                             krimpatul (to bind them)            Lugburz (Barad-dûr)    

matûrz (mortal, adj.)                            Uglûk (Proper Name)                  Sauron-ob (of Sauron)

   

prakhatulûk (to lure them all)                 srinkhat (to gather)                   Lugbûrz-ishi (in Lugbûrz)    

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 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.  

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                 I find                                      gimb                 we find

gimb                 you (sing) find                         gimb                 you (plural) find

gimbat              he, she, it finds                        gimbut              they find

Thrakat, to bring:

thrak                I bring                          thrak                we bring

thrak                you (sing) bring            thrak                you (plural) bring

thrakat              he, she, it brings            thrakut              they bring

  Vocabulary Some new verbs:

azat                  to kill

bugdat              to call

durbat              to rule

dûmpat             to doom

fauthat              to hide, to lie hidden

srinkhat            to gather

prakhat             to lure  

Exercise

Translate the following:

he rules                                     we find                         she devours

they bind                                  it brings                        you (plural) bind

I devour                                   you (sing.) lure             they gather

I find                                        you (plural) gather            I lure

They hide                                 she devours*                      we bring

I hide                                        it kills                            they rule

you (singular) doom                 he calls                           it hides

I call                                     they devour*                        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 "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."

-Lesson IV.  Noun plurals-

There are only three simple rules for pluralizing nouns.

Names for races or people are never pluralized.  For example, the word Nazgûl 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)                       lug (tower)             golug people (elf)

             mau (warrior)**            hont (hand)              goth (lord)**

             mokum (hatred)            ronk (pit)                  horn (beast)

             sharkû (old man)         shara (human man)            olog (troll)

             duf (knife)                     krimp (rope)               ufum (fear)

   ** note that words for people, like warrior or goth, do not take a plural.

-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 will find                         gimbub, you (plural) will find

gimbubat, he-she-it will find               gimbubut, they will find

Vocabulary  

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 beasts will find              The troll will rule

The warriors will stand         The Urûk-people will lure     The Nazgûl (sing.) will bring

I will call                                   You (sing.) will bind             The elves will rule

You (sing.) will devour              They will stand                      I will dwell

You (pl.) will speak                  They will fool                          she will point

The trolls will speak                 the elves will kill                 the Nazgûl (pl.) will point

I will speak                               the elf will stand                      the beasts will dwell

Saruman will bring                    the trolls will find                the Urûk (plural) will devour

-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 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, urûk mokûrz =  the hateful urûk.  Urûk mokûrzu, the hateful urûk (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, magical                                               dushûrzu

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, hatred                      mokûrzu

skrithûrz, mean, cruel                                          skrithûrzu

ulkûrz, evil (adj.), from ulkum, evil (n.)                   ulkûrzu  

And many adjectives do not follow this rule:    

Adjective (singular)                                                Plural

kû = old                                                           kûz

kraat = away                                                    kraatu

kûf = ugly                                                         kûfu

lorz = stupid                                                     lorzu

snork = worthless                                              snorku

uf = scary                                                         ufu

-ûk = all                                                           ûk ("all" is already plural)    

An adjective always follows the word it modifies:  shara matûrz, mortal man; Olog globûrz, 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: sharkû, old man (shara + kû).  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 sharkûk (sharkû + uk, “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 urûk 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.  The difference between urûkûf (scary old orc) and urûkuf 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 sharkû mokûrzu.

The elves bring the hateful old men  

Urûk bugdat nazgûl skrithûrz.

The Urûk calls the cruel Nazgûl (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 Nazgûl 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 Nazgûl away.    

I bring the worthless slaves.*    

They will find the magical rings.    

Sauron dooms the tough orc.    

The Nazgûl will gather the foolish trolls.    

He will call the stupid elves.    

I will hide the dark ring.    

You (pl.) bind the old stupid Nazgûl (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.  Prepositions-

In 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                     Examples                                                                  Plural

-dhog, near                      Orodruin-dhog, near / next to Orodruin             -dhogu

-ghaara, from                   Lugbûrz-ghaara, from Lugbûrz                         -ghaaraz

-irzi, by                            grish-irzi, by blood                                        -irziz

-ishi, in                             Mordor-ishi, in Mordor                                   -ishiz

-la, after                           zabûrz-la, after tonight                                 -zaz

-lata, under                       nût-lata, under the sky                                 -lataz

-lût, out                            Orthanc-lût, out of Orthanc                           -lûtu

-ob, of                              Nazgûl-ob, of the Nazgûl                               -obu

-ri __ agh __                     between __ and __                                       -riz __ agh __

-sha, with                         Saruman-sha, with Saruman**                        -shaz

-shi, at  (time)                   bûrz-shi (at night, at dark)                             -shiz

-shi, at (place)                  Mordor-shi, at Mordor                                     -shiz

-tala over                          uzg-tala, over the land                                  -talaz

-ûr, for                             durub-ûr, for the lord                                     -ûru

-u, to                                Mordor-u, to Mordor**                                  -uz

-zi, until                            aarsh-zi, until today                                       -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 nût” instead of nût-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 "ûru" (for), as well as "ishiz" (in).  

Excerpts from the Ring Verse:    

Gakh Nazgu Golug-durub-ûru lata-nût.

Three Rings for the Elven kings under the sky  

[The word 'lords' is plural]

. . .  

Udu Gazat-shakh-ûru 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 Nazgûl 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.    

Uglûk 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 Nazgûl (plural).    

The stupid troll kills near Ashlûk.    

You will devour the beast with Uglûk.    

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 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 -ub.  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 (pl) brought

thrakuzat          he-she-it brought          thrakuzut          they brought

Vocabulary Here are a few more verbs to learn:  

ghaashat           to burn

gashnat             to speak

ikhat                 to force

lagat                 to break

kulat                 to be

shagat               to demand

urkat                to condemn, to 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.

(this one is very tricky, so here is the answer:  Saruman gashnuzat olog-kû-kûfu.)

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.

Ash, one

Krul, two

Gakh, three

Zag, four

Kraak, five

Rut, six

Udu, seven

Ski, eight

Krith, nine

Gal, ten

 Numbers

1 Ash 11 Galash 30 Gakhgal

2 Krul 12 Galkrul 40 Zagal

3 Gakh 13 Galgakh 50 Kraakgal

4 Zag 14 Galzag 60 Rutgal

5 Kraak 15 Galkraak 70 Utgal

6 Rut 16 Galrut 80 Skragh

7 Udu 17 Galudu 90 Krithgal

8 Skri 18 Galskri 100 Bûr

9 Krith 19 Galkrith 1000 Tor

10 Gal 20 Krulgal 0 Nar

 

*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 ____________________________  

-Lesson X.  Pronouns and commands-

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 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 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 “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       I                                               -izgu                 we

-izish    me                                            -izishu               us

-izub     mine                                         -izubu               ours

lat         you (sing.)                                latu                   you (plural)

lab        your (sing.)                               latub                 yours (plural)

ta         he, she, it                                  ulu                    they

ta         him, it                                       ul                      them

tab       his, its                                       ulub                  theirs

to         her

tob       hers  

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.)

Uglûk will rule ours by blood (blood = "grish").

I am from Lugbûrz.(*remember to attach the first person suffix to the verb 'to be'!)

Ashlûk bound me.

Lagduf called them all from Lugbûrz.(*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 here’s the answer:  Prakh ishuzu-u, or Prakh ishuzû).