[For Beginners] FAQ

[tsmukan ftu Eywa]

The phrase "I see you" in Na'vi. is it only a way to say "I love you" or douse it have another meaning?

[Robert Nantangä Tirea]

The phrase "I see you" in Na'vi. is it only a way to say "I love you" or douse it have another meaning?

We currently don't have a word that stands for the concept of "love" in the english form. "I see you" does not exactly stand for "I love you", but more an emotion of "I see and recognize and appreciate your presence and importance and sanctity as a living and breathing being." (what a mouthful!) though certainly under the right context and to the right person with the right emotion you could imply "I love you" with "Oel ngati kameie".

My prefered phrase is "[object] mì oeyä txe'lan leiu." such as "Na'vi mì oeyä txe'lan leiu." ("Na'vi is in my heart.")

hope that helps!

[tsmukan ftu Eywa]

Thanks it douse. My gf thinks that Na'vi is romantic so I wanted to be saying the right thing before I looked stupid lolz

[Robert Nantangä Tirea]

Thanks it douse. My gf thinks that Na'vi is romantic so I wanted to be saying the right thing before I looked stupid lolz

Hu leìtxura txe'lan kä, ma oeyä tsmukan. (Go with a strong heart, my brother.) Stupidity with confidence is true leadership 

Unless your name is Taronyu of course, then you're just CRAZY! 

[taw vrrtep]

How do you say to have? i'm sure i can figure the conjugations but i don't know and can't find the word lol

[Robert Nantangä Tirea]

How do you say to have? i'm sure i can figure the conjugations but i don't know and can't find the word lol

There is not currently a word for "have/own/possess", unless the guys over in the intermediate forum discover it in the new e-mail from Sempul Frommer. Maybe let us know what you were thinking of trying to say? Perhaps we can work out an equivalent concept.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

The phrase "I see you" in Na'vi. is it only a way to say "I love you" or douse it have another meaning?

Since Frommer's latest message we have learnt how to say love, it should be: we have a word for the noun love, and beloved but not the verb, there's an ongoing discussion about the correct way to "verbify" it.

oel ngati yawne si (I make you beloved).

That said, we're not sure about what cases it should take and whether there should be a dative in there as well or not (although you can probably drop it).

[pxan ronsem]

Is vocabulary or grammar the easiest to start on? And is there I work sheet or a lesson plan that would help me with either of those (Can I have the link. )

[Txontaw]

Is vocabulary or grammar the easiest to start on? And is there I work sheet or a lesson plan that would help me with either of those (Can I have the link. )

You should start with phonetics + vocab, until you get the phonetics down. Then you should do the grammar. After that, return to the vocab.

[Seze Tsawke]

Kaltxì! I'm pretty new to the whole Na'Vi language scene, and I have a few questions. I've looked, and looked, and so far haven't found anything.

1) LENITIONS. These confuse me. The guides show what letters change, but they don't tell you when. I would so appreciate it if some one could explain - I'm a total skxawng.  

2) REPEATS. I've noticed on the pocket guides that they have listed several Na'Vi words for one English word, and very little explanation. for example.... wait a minute. I just realized how stupid I am. *headslap* ok never mind. *SKXAWNG* I've got more *intelligent* questions. sorry, my fault.  

3) If you have a word, and you want to make it an object of an intransitive verb, and it ends in a consanant((can't spell, sorry.)) do you still use -tì? probably already answered, but I'm so confused. Also, how do you say "I am sorry - or I apologize"? Because I know tsap'alute is apology, but how do you make it a verb? "You" can be an ergative subject, right? I mean you can add -l to it, right? (I'm probably messing up all these long words)

4) CONTRADICTION. Well, I looked at the crash course for linguistic terminology, and then the pocket guide, and the verb infixes are different. The main ones are the same, but the pocket guide says that <ol> is for "has done" or "has hunted" and so on, and the crash course says that <ol> is for completed past action - "hunted, ate" If somebody could be so kind as to explain, I would love you dearly. ((not really, but you know what I mean))

I also would like to know if you need the accusative marker if you have a connector like that or what or with? Oh yeah, and you don't pluralize verbs, do you? Wow, every time I save this post I keep thinking of more questions. haha  

P.S. my first go at a simple sentence - Oe-yä menari-l ke k<ol>ame nga-tì.
                                                       I-GEN eyes-ERG not see<PFV> you-ACC
                                                         My eyes have not seen you. >>at least that's what it's supposed to say.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Kaltxì! I'm pretty new to the whole Na'Vi language scene, and I have a few questions. I've looked, and looked, and so far haven't found anything.

1) LENITIONS. These confuse me. The guides show what letters change, but they don't tell you when. I would so appreciate it if some one could explain - I'm a total skxawng.  

2) REPEATS. I've noticed on the pocket guides that they have listed several Na'Vi words for one English word, and very little explanation. for example.... wait a minute. I just realized how stupid I am. *headslap* ok never mind. *SKXAWNG* I've got more *intelligent* questions. sorry, my fault.  

3) If you have a word, and you want to make it an object of an intransitive verb, and it ends in a consanant((can't spell, sorry.)) do you still use -tì? probably already answered, but I'm so confused. Also, how do you say "I am sorry - or I apologize"? Because I know tsap'alute is apology, but how do you make it a verb?

4) CONTRADICTION. Well, I looked at the crash course for linguistic terminology, and then the pocket guide, and the verb infixes are different. The main ones are the same, but the pocket guide says that <ol> is for "has done" or "has hunted" and so on, and the crash course says that <ol> is for completed past action - "hunted, ate" If somebody could be so kind as to explain, I would love you dearly. ((not really, but you know what I mean))

P.S. my first go at a simple sentence - Oe-yä menari-l ke k<ol>ame nga-tì.
                                                       I-GEN eyes-ERG not see<PFV> you-ACC
                                                         My eyes have not seen you. >>at least that's what it's supposed to say.

• We don't know all the times that lenition occurs. All we know is that it is caused by me+, pxe=, ay+ and mì. Other than that, there are quite a few prepositions and prefixes that we haven't seen Frommer use in a way that would tell use whether they cause lenition.
• Ok.
• An intransitive can't have an object. Transitive verbs can. As far as we know, you'd use -it not -ti. Also, -tì isn't an accusative suffix, the correct one has an i not ì.
• It's very difficult to explain. <ol> doesn't confer any meaning about when the action happened/happens/will happen, just that it is the complete action being talked about. In the present tense this tends to translate similarly to either of the two examples you've been given. The problem is that Na'vi treats aspect (perfective/imperfective, <ol>/<er>) seperately from tense which English doesn't and so you can't translate it properly.

The sentence has an implied before if I understand it correctly (my eyes haven't seen you before) in which case <ol> is correct, otherwise, use a past <am>.

Again, -tì isn't the accusative suffix, that is -ti.

Lastly, if your eyes are doing the seeing, you're seeing physically not spiritually so it should be tse'a not kame.

The correct form would be oe-yä me-nari-l ke ts<ol>e'a nga-ti.

Pretty good for a first sentence.

[Hawnuyu atxen]

Kaltxì!

Sorry, but this is bothering me: the word "must" can be a verb??? Is it the english verion of the french word devoir???

[Seze Tsawke]

Irayo Kawngä Mungeyu!  I really appreciate that.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

As I understand the French devoir is basically the same as the Spanish deber (I did French a while ago, still go Spanish though) where it is used more like "should".

Must is weird in Na'vi, it can be thought of as a verb or as an adverb as it behaves a bit like both (I think the terminology is that it's a modal verb).

It doesn't really matter what we call it though, to use it you just take your normal sentence "A-l B-ti verb" add in zene and stick an <iv> infix in your verb to get "A-l B-ti zene v<iv>erb".





Seze tsawke, it's a pleasure.

[Hawnuyu atxen]

Irayo, ma tsmukan!

Let me ask another question: nearly the same, but this time with the adjective "turn"...

[kewnya txamew'itan]

The adjective turn?

Turn is a verb or noun, not an adjective. The Na'vi for it is mìn but, because we don't know whether it's a noun or verb, there's not much we can do.

[Hawnuyu atxen]

http://irongamer.net/navi/

See this... turn is in the vocabulary, and it says that it's an "adj"...

[Seze Tsawke]

Just one more thing. Is this correct for a compound sentence? I mean, can you use "irayo" as a verb?

Oe-l nga-ti kameie, ma smukan, ulte oe-l nga-ti irayo,
I-ERG you-ACC see<LAUD>, brother, and I-ERG you-ACC thank.
I see you, brother, and I thank you.

[Txontaw]

Just one more thing. Is this correct for a compound sentence? I mean, can you use "irayo" as a verb?

Oe-l nga-ti kameie, ma smukan, ulte oe-l nga-ti irayo,
I-ERG you-ACC see<LAUD>, brother, and I-ERG you-ACC thank.
I see you, brother, and I thank you.

Pretty close. If you're talking about just one brother, then it would be;

Oel ngati kameie ma tsmukan ulte oel irayo
Oe-l nga-ti kameie ma tsmukan ulte oe-l irayo
I-[ERG] you[ACC] see<LAUD>, brother, and I-[ERG] thank you.
I see you, brother, and I thank you.

tsmukan = singular
metsmukan = double
aytsmukan/smukan = plural

Also, you shouldn't need nga-ti in the last part because irayo literally means thank you, not thank.

[Seze Tsawke]

Irayo! I wasn't sure if it just meant "thank," or if it literally meant "thank you." OH yeah, and I meant to put "tsmukan," it must have been a typo.