Original: Since, however, in commonly used modes, an individual tengwa was equivalent to a consonant, the term tengwar in popular use became equivalent to "consonant sign", and the vowel signs were known as ómatehtar.
Simplified: In some modes the tengwar are used for vowels and consonants; and in other modes the tengwar are only used for the consonants, and the vowels are marked by signs above or below the tengwa.