Creating negative/opposite adjectives

[Blue Elf]

Today I was trying to translate this sentence:

Laren waved an impatient hand.

I ended with: Laren rikx fa tsyokx nìfya'o a *ke maweypey.

Here my question is raised: is there any official way how to create negative, or better said opposite adjective? For many of them we have pairs, like 'ewan - koak, ngim - pup, tsawl - hì'i. But what if we don't? What is opposite of maweypey? *Ke maweypey? *Kemaweypey? Or even *maweypeyluke (based on letxi - letxiluke).
Do we know this?

[Tìtstewan]

I did'nt see any possibility to create an opposite of a Na'vi word.

lefpomtokx - kelfpomtokx
healthy - unhealthy
Based in this example above, my first thought was to create an opposite with ke, but this is not productive.

[Tanri]

I feel the same. We already have lot of complement pairs, so there is no need to create negatives from these adjectives.

Yes, there are few adjectives we don't know yet the opposites of, but I think it's better to wait for appropriate new words, rather than attempting to increase productivity of ke.
For example: "childish" as opposite of fyeyn, "disharmonious" as opposite of me'em, "unimportant" as opposite of letsranten.

[Plumps]

Your solution, ma Blue Elf, seems the most (grammatically) secure for now.

No, we don't have a safe way to form opposites other than negate the sentence – which is fine for me albeit a bit wordy at times.

I wouldn't use *maweypeyluke ... letxiluke only works because txi is a noun. From a language genesis I'd assume that then came txiluke > letxiluke.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

I did'nt see any possibility to create an opposite of a Na'vi word.

lefpomtokx - kelfpomtokx
healthy - unhealthy
Based in this example above, my first thought was to create an opposite with ke, but this is not productive.

I wouldn't say it is not productive. It is just a different way of doing things.

I have to agree with Plumps that Blue Elf's solution works. The original phrase is challenging and quite idiomatic. Blue Elf's translation is not only understandable, but does a pretty decent job of capturing what was meant by the original idiom. It is also a very good example of 'adverbial' attribution.

The more I work with Na'vi (and other languages, for that matter), the more I realize that making something clear is at least as important as making it grammatical.

[Blue Elf]

Thanks for replies, ma smukan. I'm thinking about discussing this problem to our great karyu Paul, I'm interested in his opinion...

[Tirea Aean]

I did'nt see any possibility to create an opposite of a Na'vi word.

lefpomtokx - kelfpomtokx
healthy - unhealthy
Based in this example above, my first thought was to create an opposite with ke, but this is not productive.

I wouldn't say it is not productive. It is just a different way of doing things.

I have to agree with Plumps that Blue Elf's solution works. The original phrase is challenging and quite idiomatic. Blue Elf's translation is not only understandable, but does a pretty decent job of capturing what was meant by the original idiom. It is also a very good example of 'adverbial' attribution.

The more I work with Na'vi (and other languages, for that matter), the more I realize that making something clear is at least as important as making it grammatical.

Plopping ke onto an adj to make its negative counterpart is not productive. Making sense doesn't make it productive.

EDIT: Even if it's not productive, and it's clear to use it anyway, it may/may not have to be unlearned later like a bad habit.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

This is news to me, then. Where is ke productive?

[Blue Elf]

This is news to me, then. Where is ke productive?

for sure we are always allowed put ke before verb. I've sent my question to Paul, so I hope we get more information early.

[Blue Elf]

Plopping ke onto an adj to make its negative counterpart is not productive. Making sense doesn't make it productive.

Now I can disagree, as we got some confirmations.
However, ke- can't be used always. Read what Paul says.

[Tirea Aean]

Woou! Awesome! I if course then also retract my earlier statement; it is now declared productive.

Nice work, Blue Elf! This should have been raised LONG AGO!

[Tìtstewan]

We have to be careful with some words like tsawl <-> hì'i.
Tìkangkem asìltsan ma Blue Elf!

[Blue Elf]

We have to be careful with some words like tsawl <-> hì'i.
Tìkangkem asìltsan ma Blue Elf!

Ke pxan, I only asked question I needed answer for.