In the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of the late 1940s, Tolkien described a “long perfect” that developed along the same lines as the Quenya pluperfect (past perfect):

A weak “pluperfect” was made in Quenya, by adding to the perfect participle the past-suffix -nḗ. So karnelyane “I was having made = I had made”; túlielyane “I had come”, lasselyane “I had heard”, etc.

The perfect tense in Quenya indicates an action that has been completed before the present time. In English, the perfect tense is usually expressed with an auxiliary verb “has” or “have”, as in (past) “ate” vs. (perfect) “has eaten” from the verb “to eat”. In Quenya, the perfect tense has its own verbal conjugation: past mante vs. perfect amátie from the verb mat- “to make, do” (PE17/13): i nér amátie, amátien “the man has eaten, I have eaten”.

And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field.

I tolquea, neterquea, ar yuquain minya ré Súlimeo *maisinwe nar mí Mayar *auronótie. Nante i ré Sándor (Alexander), József (Joseph), ar Benedek (Benedictus), ar Mayaron úme tensi istar i yára *lienolwea eques "Sándor, József, Benedek, zsákban hozzák a meleget": Sándor, József, Benedek kolir áre pokosse, ya tea i epe hríve koirea áre senyave entule i arinye auressen Súlimeo (*amnúra naite nése nó i ilúvea laukatáre).

The Quenya past tense is, like in most languages, used to refer to events occurring in the past: i nér mante, manten “the man ate, I ate”. Of all the Quenya tenses, the past is the most complex in its formation.

Origins of the Past Tense: The Quenya past tense originated from two competing ancient patterns: (1) nasal infixion (mat- → mantē) and (2) the past tense suffix -nē (kar- → karnē). Tolkien described these ancient past forms in numerous places:

*Lafastaite ná ké íre lutila i earesse uile fasta mo talu, mal kelvaron úmin *undunenye laimar anvalde nár. Tane *undunenye salquenóri antar kauma yo már lingwin, *nappoin, ar exe kuimain, ar imya lusse nutir *hyulma, potai ienta aþya mahtale ilúvea *laukatáreo. Ananta undunenye salquenori amna aqua vanwe i falassie nenillor Angaldóreo, rie quaista lemya, i lemba nankarinwa *vahtalénen, *kiryampainen, ar ampaniénen hopassion. *Minaþurindor sí merir envinyataitat - okómiente uileron ar eárine salqueron erdi yai reruvante i hópasse Dale ara i falas mi Wales.

Common Eldarin had another competing syntax for indicating continuous action, a “frequentative” form made by reduplicating the initial part of the verb stem; I use the term frequentative for this formation based on the gloss of the verb sisíla- “shine (frequentative)” (MC/223).

The present tense is used to describe ongoing actions occurring in the present moment: “the man is eating, I am eating”, i nér máta, mátan. Anything occurring in the present moment is generally an ongoing action, and the Quenya present tense can be more accurately labeled the present continuous or the present imperfect. As Tolkien described it Quendian & Common Eldarin Verbal Structure (EVS1) from the late 1940s and Common Eldarin: Verb Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s: