Easy Guide to Na'vi Prefixes, Infixes, and Suffixes II

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[Tirea Aean]

Wiya it never ends.

Pronouns ARE nouns... kefyak? Isnt Pronoun a subclass of Noun?

[Blue Elf]

Wiya it never ends.

Work is never done

Never heard something like this, but I'm not linguist. But I expect they are different word classes. If not, why would they have different names?

[Tirea Aean]

Never heard something like this, but I'm not linguist. But I expect they are different word classes. If not, why would they have different names?

Because a pronoun is like a variable which contains a noun or noun phrase.

Pronoun nga = new Noun(new Tute("Blue Elf"));

I think of things in terms of code these days HrH

any member of a small class of words found in many languages that are
used as replacements or substitutes for nouns and noun phrases, and that
have very general reference, as I, you, he, this, who, what.  Pronouns are
sometimes formally distinguished from nouns, as in English by the
existence of special objective forms, as him  for he  or me  for I,  and by
nonoccurrence with an article or adjective.

[Blue Elf]

Never heard something like this, but I'm not linguist. But I expect they are different word classes. If not, why would they have different names?

Because a pronoun is like a variable which contains a noun or noun phrase.

Pronoun nga = new Noun(new Tute("Blue Elf"));

Maybe good question for wm.annis? But

3.2.2. The Basic Pronouns. The pronouns take the same case endings as nouns.

he distinguished them.

[Tirea Aean]

Oh what the heck, I'll add to OP for clarity then.
Please oh God let me be done editing OP...hrh

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Wm Annis separated out the pronouns because they are an important class of nouns that have numerous forms and functions. But pronouns are fully nouns in every respect. They are just another class of nouns, two others being common nouns and proper nouns.

Prenouns are simply prefixes for nouns. They are not words in and of themselves.

I can now see TA writing the prenoun explanation in pseudocode.... 

[Neyn'ite Te Tsahìk Txeptsyìp'ite]

txantsan, ma Tirea! irayo ngaru si fìtxan fpi fì'u! it is gonna take a LOT of long study sessions to memorize all this!!

one question. I hear people use 'seiyi' after 'irayo' or 'lrrtok' or any other word- I understand the 'ei', but where does the 'y' come from?

[wm.annis]

one question. I hear people use 'seiyi' after 'irayo' or 'lrrtok' or any other word- I understand the 'ei', but where does the 'y' come from?

The infix is ‹ei›, which in si would result in *seii.  Since the double /i/ is illegal, a euphonic epenthesis ("placed in/upon") is used, the /y/.

[Neyn'ite Te Tsahìk Txeptsyìp'ite]

irayo :]

also, when/when not are they used? by that I mean are certain -fixes used all the time, some of the time? as in, if I want to say 'untouchable', can I say 'kea tsun 'ampi' (forgive any mistakes, I still suck at Na'vi ) or do I use 'ketsampiuk'? basically, must infixes/suffixes/prefixes must always be used?

[Blue Elf]

irayo :]

also, when/when not are they used? by that I mean are certain -fixes used all the time, some of the time? as in, if I want to say 'untouchable', can I say 'kea tsun 'ampi' (forgive any mistakes, I still suck at Na'vi ) or do I use 'ketsampiuk'? basically, must infixes/suffixes/prefixes must always be used?

I'd say it is just ketsuk'ampi. Tsuk-/ketsuk- is prefix for verbs, which express ability/inability to receive action of the verb. So 'ampi = to touch, ketsuk'ampi = untouchable.
Whether you must to use prefix/infix/suffix or not depends on grammar. You must know rules how to use them and when. Na'vi in a nutshell can be good starting point.

[Tanri]

Well, all of those afixes have a purpose, a meaning we use them for.

Some of them are mandatory, we must use them in certain grammatical situations, for example:
- agentive/patientive case endings on subject/object of transitive verb
- modal verb pairs require sunbjunctive infix <iv> in controlled verb
- attributive -a-, connecting the adjective to the noun

, others are used just when we need then, for alter the behavior of verb or place the event to specific point on timeline, to express affect/mood of the speaker, or to modify the meaning and change word species, like:
- <am>, <ìm>, <ìy>, <ay> time infixes
- <us>, <awn> participle creation infixes
- <ei>, <äng> affect/mood infixes
- -fkeyk, -tu, -tsyìp suffixes that changes the meaning of nouns

In you example, "untouchable", this is surely an adjective that has something to do with feasibility of some action, and prefixes tsuk-/ketsuk- fits perfectly to this:
to touch = ’ampi, being able to be touched (touchable) = tsuk’ampi, and a negative variant (untouchable) is ketsuk’ampi.
As an adjective, this must be connected to the noun with attributive -a-, or with verb lu (to be):
ioang aketsuk’ampi - "untouchable animal" (he bites you every time before you get close enough to touch him)
aysanhì lu ketsuk’ampi - "stars are untouchable" (you cannot touch them)

As Blue Elf said, know them before using them, is the best approach.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

irayo :]

also, when/when not are they used? by that I mean are certain -fixes used all the time, some of the time? as in, if I want to say 'untouchable', can I say 'kea tsun 'ampi' (forgive any mistakes, I still suck at Na'vi ) or do I use 'ketsampiuk'? basically, must infixes/suffixes/prefixes must always be used?

To answer the other 'half' of your question, there are times when you do not need any affixes (prefixes/suffixes/infixes) on verbs at all, and these are moderately common. A good simple example: Oel taron yerikit Although you need case markers on the nouns here, there are no affixes at all on the verb.

Someone once mentioned (maybe it was even K. Pawl) that a lot of new learners tend to overuse infixes, perhaps because they are novel. So, be careful not to over-infix verbs!

[Neyn'ite Te Tsahìk Txeptsyìp'ite]

but how do I know when not to use infixes?

[Blue Elf]

Some very basic and simple rules:
- infixes go only into verbs (but infixed verb can change into different word class, like: us/awm creates adjective, tì- prefix + us creates noun)
- no infix means often present tense (but even more often tense is inferred from the context)
- if tense/aspect infix is used and then no infixed verbs follow, tense/aspect for these non infixed verbs usually stay the same until next infix used

[Tanri]

I can give you one simple advice: Use infixes only when you need them.

While creating or translating text in Na’vi, regardless if you do this on your head or on the paper, think about which verbs to use, and how they can be adapted to express exactly what you want. In this moment you should think about infixes that heavily alter meaning and grammatical behavior of the verbs, like <äp>,<eyk>, <us>, <awn>.
After this, get together the sentence and place subjunctive <iv> infix as required by grammar rules (modal constructions, after fte/fteke, wishes, conditional clauses etc...).
Now you have grammatically correct and meaningful sentence, and only missing infixes are those placing actions to the specific point at timeline (tense/aspect) , and expressing speaker's attitude (<ei>, <äng>, <uy>, <ats>).
There is one rule that actually forbids infixes in a particular place: The controlled verb in modal construction takes only subjunctive and pre-first position infixes. All others must go to the modal verb.

Of course, more experienced speakers are not following this "step by step" procedure, but create sentences "on the fly", because they already know the required combination of infixes. However, the principle remains the same - use unly minimal amount of infixes to achieve the meaning, do not place all possible infixes and then think about what ones to remove for make things simple.