My poor understanding of english language tech' terms stops me dead

[kewnya txamew'itan]

The word order is free.

Wikipedia would be closer as wìkìpitia (at least going on my pronunciation of wiki which may well be odd).

As for the Na'vi phrase, what were you trying to say in English?

[archaic]

What I tried to say was,

Great and brave hunter, please can I have my bow back, as I value it.
May your arrows always fly true.

Sounded good in english, some of the translation went smoothly, but I had problems with
'please can I have my bow back, as I value it.'

Hmm, wìkìpidia I didn't know you could have a 'D' in Na'vi.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Oops, you can't have a d, that's the second time I've been caught out doing that today.

You're missing your attributives on the adjectives and the phrasiology's a bit odd.

It should read something like this:

rutxe  oe-r(u) oe-yä tsko l<iv>u   ma  nawm-a    taronyu a-tsteu.
please I-DAT  I-GEN  bow be-SBJ VOC great-ATT hunter  ATT-mighty
please may I have my bow, O great and noble hunter.


Tì- turns adjectives and verbs into abstract nouns so tìngay is truth.

Tut can't be used like that.

You might want a subjunctive in tswon to show that it's a wish.

ng-eyä   ay-swizaw nì-ngay   ts<iv>on frakrr
you-GEN PL-arrow   ADV-true fly-SBJ    forever
May your arrows always fly truly. (We're not sure if ngay can be used like this though)





I hope that helped.

[archaic]

My bad what I was trying to say was actually,

Great and brave hunter, and brother please can I have my bow back, as I value it.
May your arrows always fly true.

OK yes it gives me a good example to follow, but still struggling with the tech terms, even some of the very basic ones.

Earlier I finally understood what a verb was...

I slapped Parker Selfridge

I (noun* - and agent)
slapped (verb)
Parker Selfridge (proper noun*)

'Verb' being wot the agent does to whoever/whatever is on the receiving end.

I like this example because,
a) its on my level, and
2) there's something satisfying about Parker Selfridge getting slapped*

So, pretend I know nothing, what's an adjective? and
iii) what's an adverb?
D) what does 'be-SBJ' mean?


(*deliberate mistake inserted to add emphasis to just how low my level is.)

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Sorry, I find it difficult to keep track of threads sometimes.

First of all I'll correct my sentence then explain the terms.

rutxe  oe-r(u) oe-yä tsko l<iv>u   ma  nawm-a    taronyu sì    tsmukan a-tsteu.
please I-DAT  I-GEN  bow be-SBJ VOC great-ATT hunter  and brother   ATT-mighty
please may I have my bow, O great and noble hunter and brother.

ng-eyä   ay-swizaw nì-ngay   ts<iv>on frakrr
you-GEN PL-arrow   ADV-true fly-SBJ    forever
May your arrows always fly truly. (We're not sure if ngay can be used like this though)

OK.

-DAT means that I is in the dative case. Usually this means something is being give to the thing in the dative case but, when used with the verb lu, it means that it is the thing having and lu means have. So oe-r(u) oe-yä tsko lu would mean I have my bow.

-GEN means that it is owning something, it is almost identical to "-'s" or "of -"

-SBJ (which has uses <iv>) means that it is in the subjunctive which is a complete pain. The subjunctive is used for wishes (like this example) and after certain verbs like new, zene and tsun. So oe-r(u) oe-yä tsko l<iv>u means "may I have my bow" or, more nicely, "can I have my bow"

VOC (ma) means that the noun following it is being spoken to directly. If I say "ma archaic" that means that I am talking to you.

-ATT or ATT- mean that the adjective (describing word being used to describe a noun/thing) is describing the noun/thing that the -ATT- is pointing towards (tall-ATT man means that the tall is describing the man).

PL- means plural, there are more than three of it (in English, plural is for more than one, but Na'vi has dual forms for two of something and trial forms for three of something).

ADV- means that the thing has been turned into an adverb. These do a similar job to adjectives (the way I remember this is that they both start ad-) except they describe verbs not nouns. For example I have bad handwriting but I write badly, bad is an adjective (it describes the writing) and badly an adverb (it describes the way I perform the action of writing).

Again, the -SBJ here shows that it is a wish.





Examples:

Dative: He gave a disease to Parker Selfridge. As Parker Selfridge has a to before it (without it talking about direction), it needs to take the dative case.

Genitive: my dog bit Parker Selfridge. My is the genitive form of I so you'd use oeyä not oe here.

Subjunctive: If I had a gun I would shoot Selfridge. Had is in the subjunctive here as this is a subjunctive clause (it isn't actually true but could be).

Subjunctive: Can/may I punch him. English uses can and may in questions when really it should use the subjunctive. In na'vi a question starting can or may should probably be subjunctive.

Subjunctive: I wish I had more time. Had is in the subjunctive. In general, if you can rewrite a sentence using "that" then it should be subjunctive in na'vi.

Vocative: I want to slap my boss, doc. The doctor is being addressed directly and so needs a vocative particle before it.

Vocative: O brother, where art thou (as in the film). "O" is the old English vocative marker, it is used in exactly the same way as the na'vi "ma".

Attributive: strong man, hot fire.

Attributive: is not used in the following sentences: the man is strong, the fire is hot. In these sentences we say that the adjective is predicative not attributive.

Plural: cats, dogs, jokes.

Adverb: I slapped Selfridge forcefully (I know it sounds odd but it's difficult coming up with examples). He ran quickly. He spoke truly.





Did that make it any clearer?

[archaic]

Yes (guardedly) it does,
but I'm going to have to compile a crib sheet to help me, I'm not hoing to remember all this any too quickly, and I'm not writing it all on the back of my hand (not this time)

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Don't worry about making documents to help. The dictionary, pocket guide and certainly the inflections guide probably all started off as someone making a crib sheet.

Eywa ngahu. (Eywa be with you).

[archaic]

irayo ma tìkawngä mungeyu

Eywa ngahu.