The subjective case is very simple in terms of its function: it is used with the subject of a sentence (SD/429). In terms of formation, though, it is very complex. The proper subjective formation depends on whether you are declining strong-nouns or weak-nouns, a neuter-noun or a gendered-noun, with further variations in the singular for masculine-nouns, feminine-nouns and common-nouns. There also are variations for dual nouns and plural nouns, which in the case of plurals again depends again on whether you are declining a neuter or a gendered noun.

A summary of these inflection rules is given here, with further details in the sections below. Discussion of any irregular subjective forms is deferred until the last section.

Singular Subjective (Neuter Strong Nouns)	Change the last short vowel via a-fortification: a ⇒ â, i ⇒ ê, u ⇒ ô.
Singular Subjective (Neuter Weak Nouns)	Add the suffix -a to the noun, merging with any final vowel (-â).
Singular Subjective (Gendered Nouns Ending in a Consonant)	Add the appropriate gendered subjective suffix, -an (common), -in (feminine), -un (masculine). Apply the Adûnaic syncope if possible.
Singular Subjective (Gendered Nouns Ending in a Vowel)	Add the reduced suffix gendered subjective suffix -n.
Dual Subjective	Take the dual form and lengthen any short a in the final syllable. If there is no such short a, the subjective dual is the same form as the normal dual.
Plural Subjective (Neuter Nouns)	Add the suffix -a to the plural form. If the plural inflection î appears at the end of the noun, it is separated from the suffix via the usual glide-consonant y.
Plural Subjective (Gendered Nouns)	Add the gendered plural subjective suffix -im to the plural form, merging it with any final vowels according to the standard Adûnaic rules for vowel-combinations.
Plural Subjective (Gendered Strong I Nouns)	If the Adûnaic syncope is possible, first apply the syncope before adding the suffix -im so that the last short vowel is lost instead of becoming the plural inflection î. If the syncope is not possible, add the suffix -im directly to the plural, as above.

Subjective Usage

For the most part, the subjective form is used for the subject of a phrase:

• Zigûrun zabathân unakkha “Sauron (subjective) humbled he-came” (SD/247)
• Ar-Pharazônun azaggara Avalôiyada “Ar-Pharazôn (subjective) waged-war against-the-Powers” (SD/247)

The subjective inflection is optional if the verb is inflected with the appropriate pronominal prefix:

• Anadûnê zîrân hikalba “Númenor (normal) beloved she-fell-down” (SD/247)
• urîd yakalubim “mountains (normal) they-lean-over” (SD/251)

If both the subjective inflection and the pronominal prefix is used, the result is emphatic. Compare the following, in increasing degrees of emphasis (SD/429):

• bâr ukallaba “the lord fell” (normal plus pronoun)
• bârun kallaba “the lord fell” (subjective)
• bârun ukallaba “it was the lord who fell” (subjective plus pronoun)

The subjective inflection is also used in place of the English verb “to be” when joining a subject and predicate in a copula (SD/429). Such phrases have no explicit verb:

• Ar-Pharazônun kathuphazgân “Ar-Pharazôn (is) a conqueror” (SD/429)
• bawîba dulgî “winds (were) black” (SD/247)
• agannâlô burôda nênud “death-shadow (is) heavy on-us” (SD/247)

If the subject is a noun phrase consisting of several adjacent nouns, only the final noun is declined into the subjective (see the entry for the participle for possible exceptions to this rule):

• Ar-Pharazôn kathuphazgânun azaggara “Ar-Pharazôn the conqueror (subjective) waged-war” (SD/429)

If the subject noun is modified by an adjective or a prepositional phrase, only the subject-noun is declined into the subjective:

• Bârim an-Adûn yurahtam dâira “Lords (subjective) of-West broke the-Earth” (SD/247)
• Zigûrun zabathân unakkha “Sauron (subjective) humbled he-came” (SD/247)

Weak and Strong Subjective Inflections

The basic subjective inflection is -a-, which is applied in different ways depending on whether you are making a weak or a strong inflection (SD/430). If the form being declined has a long vowel or diphthong in its last syllable, you use the weak inflection, adding the subjective inflection as a suffix -a. If the form being declined has a short vowel in its last syllable, you use the strong inflection, which modifies this short vowel via a-fortification:

Strong Inflections
a	⇒	â
i	⇒	ê
o	⇒	ô

The most common situation where this basic rule applies are with strong nouns versus weak nouns, but there are other cases as well. The dual form of a noun almost always has a short a in its last syllable, so it uses the strong inflection when declined into the subjective. The plural form of a noun almost always has a diphthong or a long vowel in its last syllable (typically the plural inflection -î-), so it uses the weak inflection when declined into the subjective (but only for neuter nouns).

There are numerous special cases and exceptions, but it is worth remembering this basic rule when you consider the different forms of the subjective.

Subjective for Neuter Nouns

The neuter singular subjective form depends entirely on whether you are declining a strong-noun (with a short vowel in its last syllable) or weak-noun (with a long vowel or diphthong in its last syllable). If a strong noun, it uses the strong inflection, changing its last short vowel as above. If a weak noun, it adds the subjective inflection as a suffix.

• huzun “ear” → (strong subjective) huzôn (SD/430).
• azra “sea” → (strong subjective) azrâ (SD/431).
• batân “road” → (weak subjective) batâna (SD/431).

There are no attested subjective inflections for Weak II neuter nouns (which end in a long vowel). The only possibly final vowel for nouns in this class is a long -â, as discussed in the entry on neuter-nouns. Presumably this final vowel would absorb the subjective inflection, according to the standard Adûnaic rules of vowel-combinations.

• pâ “hand” → (weak subjective) *pâ

This means the normal and subjective singular forms are the same for such nouns.

Subjective for Gendered Nouns

In addition to neuter nouns, Adûnaic has three more genders: masculine, feminine and common, the last of which applies to creatures for which the male or female sex is unspecified. These gendered nouns do not use the subjective inflection -a- in the singular. Rather, they use one of three distinct subjective suffixes (SD/430): -an (common), -in (feminine) and -un (masculine). The application of these suffixes depends on whether the noun ends in a consonant (Strong I and Weak I) or a vowel (Strong II and Weak II).

Nouns ending in a consonant simply add the suffix to the noun. Any short vowel in its last syllable is lost via the Adûnaic syncope, unless the form of the noun prevents the syncope:

• nûph “fool” → (common subjective) nûphan (SD/438).
• banâth “wife” → (feminine subjective) banâthin (SD/437).
• tamar “smith” → (masculine subjective with syncope) tamrun (SD/436).
• #Êruhin “Child of God” → (common subjective, syncope prevented) *Êruhinan.

For common nouns, the masculine and feminine suffixes can be used when the subject is known to be male or female (SD/438):

• nûph “fool”.
• nûphan (subjective) “fool (sex unspecificed)”.
• nûphin (subjective) “female fool”.
• nûphun (subjective) “male fool”.

For gendered nouns ending in a vowel, the subjective suffix is reduced to -n (SD/437-8). Most likely this reduction was originally because the vowels of the common, feminine or masculine suffixes replaced the short final vowel of the noun (the typical declension of strong-nouns ending in a short vowel) or were themselves absorbed by the long final vowel of the noun according to the standard Adûnaic rules for vowel-combinations (in the case of weak-nouns ending in a long vowel). In practice, the end results are the same:

• raba “dog” + -an (common subjective) → raban (SD/437).
• izrê “sweetheart” + -in (feminine subjective) → izrên (SD/438).
• nardû “soldier” + -un (masculine subjective) → nardûn (SD/438).

Subjective Duals

The formation for the subjective dual is quite simple. It is independent of both noun class (strong or weak) and gender. First take the normal dual, whose formation is discussed under dual nouns. If there is a short a in the last syllable of the dual form, lengthen it to accomodate the subjective inflection. If there is no short a in the dual form, the subjective dual is the same as the normal dual (SD/430).

Tolkien gave no explicit examples of the case where normal and subjective duals are identical. In such cases, he simply listed the same dual form which served for both. Instances of such identical dual forms include:

• azra “sea” → (normal and subjective dual) azrât (SD/431).
• izrê “sweetheart” → (normal and subjective dual) izrêt (SD/438).
• anâ “human being” → (normal and subjective dual) anât (SD/437).

For the cases where the normal and subjective duals are distinct, the attested examples include:

• khibil “spring” → (dual) khiblat → (subjective dual) khiblāt (SD/430).
• pûh “breath” → (dual) pūhat → (subjective dual) pūhāt (SD/431).
• zadan “house” → (dual) zadnat → (subjective dual) zadnāt (SD/430).

For many words with differing normal and subjective duals, Tolkien used the suffix -ā̆t to indicate both cases:

• bâr “lord” → (normal and subjective dual) bārā̆t (SD/438).
• nithil “girl” → (normal and subjective dual) nithlā̆t (SD/436).

In later (Exilic?) Adûnaic, the process became even simpler, since the dual inflection became -ât in all cases, both normal and subjective (SD/431). See the discussion under dual nouns for more details.

Neuter Subjective Plurals

The plural form of the subjective depends on whether the noun is neuter or gendered. For neuter nouns, the formation is straightforward. First, take the plural form, which in all cases will have a long vowel or diphthong in its final syllable, then add the subjective inflection -a as a suffix (SD/430-2). If the plural ends in a long or short i, insert the usual glide-consonant y between the end of the plural and the suffix:

• huzun “ear” → (plural) huzîn → (subjective plural) huzîna (SD/430).
• batân “road” → (plural) batânî → (subjective plural with glide) batânîya (SD/432).
• batân “road” → (poetic plural) †batîn → (poetic subjective plural) †batîna (SD/247, 435).

There are no attested subjective plurals for neuter Weak II nouns (those ending in a long vowel), but presumably they follow the same pattern.

• pâ “hand” → (plural) pâi → (subjective plural) *pâiya.

Gendered Subjective Plurals

The subjective plural of gendered nouns uses a special gendered subjective plural suffix -im (SD/430), which is usually added to the plural form (SD/437-8). If there is a final vowel in the plural form, it invariably absorbs the i according to the standard Adûnaic rules for vowel-combinations:

• raba “dog” → (plural) rabî → (subjective plural) rabîm (SD/437).
• Avalô “Power, God” → (plural) Avalôi → (subjective plural) Avalôim (SD/241).
• nardû “soldier” → (plural with glide) nardûwî → (subjective plural) nardûwîm (SD/438).
• banâth “wife” → (archaic strong plural) †banîth → (subjective plural) †banîthim (SD/437).

This inflectional rule applies to all gendered weak nouns (Weak I and II) and Strong II nouns.

Gendered Strong I Subjective Plurals: Gendered nouns that end in a consonant preceded by a short vowel (Strong I nouns) are an exception to the rule given above. If possible, such a noun undergoes the Adûnaic syncope before adding the suffix -im, so that the short vowel in its last syllable is lost before becoming the plural form î:

• Nimir “Elf” → (subjective plural) Nimrim instead of **Nimîrim (SD/436).
• tamar “smith” → (subjective plural) tamrim instead of **tamîrim (SD/436).

If the syncope is prevented (because the two vowels are different, the second-to-last vowel is long or the vowel loss would result in a cluster of more than two consonant), the suffix -im is added directly to the plural form, as above:

• #Êruhin “Child of God” → (plural) Êruhîn (SD/311) → (subjective plural) Êruhînim (SD/247).

Irregular Subjectives

There are a few peculiar Adûnaic subjective forms that deserve additional discussion.

Archaic Strong Subjectives (SD/437): A number of nouns that are weak in form (with long vowels in their final syllable) used to undergo strong inflections in archaic (or poetic) Adûnaic. These archaic forms follow the regular rules for strong subjective inflections rather than weak subjective inflections.

Narîka (SD/251): Attested in the phrase narîka ’nBâri ’nAdûn yanâkhim “The Eagles of the Lords of the West are at hand”, this is apparently the subjective plural of an otherwise unattested word #narak “eagle”. It is declined as if it were a neuter noun, but animals and people are generally declined as gendered nouns, so that the expected form should be *narkim.

Bârim (SD/247): Attested in the phrase Bârim an-Adûn yurahtam dâira sâibêth-mâ Êruvô “Lords of the West, they broke the Earth with assent from Eru”, this is apparently the subjective plural of bâr “lord”. Its regular subjective plural should have a long î, bârîm, as attested on SD/438. Perhaps this was a holdover from Tolkien’s draft of Adûnaic, which often had a short i in its plural forms, as discussed in the entry on the draft-plural.

Khâu, Khâwî(m) (SD/247): It is highly speculative whether these forms are even subjective to begin with. See the entry on the word khô “crow” for further details.

Full List of Examples

For reference, here is the full list of attested Adûnaic subjective forms.