Terìranyä trial sentences

[Terìran Tawka]

Finally, I felt that I know enough to try say something in Na`Vi. Here are my sentences. Please, comment them.

nga nerume plltxe niNa'Vi nìteng srak?
you learn<IMFV> speak ADV-Na`Vi too question
Are you learning Na`Vi language too?

ngal oeyäru tukruti tìng srak?
you-ERG I-GEN-DAT spear-ACC give question
Could you give me my spear?

Torukìl tamaron oeyä tsmukanit
Toruk-ERG hunt<PST> I-GEN brother-ACC
Toruk hunted my brother

kawtu ngaru kekar lu kusame
No.one you-DAT not.teach(?*) be see<PART>
No one can teach you to see

Oeng kelkune kä, tompa ziva`u
You+me home.to go, rain come<SUBJ>
Let's go home, the rain is coming (possibility?)

*Well, I guessed the word kar from karyu – teacher, so it may be wrong.

[omängum fra'uti]

nga nerume plltxe niNa'Vi nìteng srak?
you learn<IMFV> speak ADV-Na`Vi too question
Are you learning Na`Vi language too?

The first one is a little bit more complex of a sentence than just the basics.  That said, what you said MAY be correct, it's close to the correct form for "modal" verbs such as zene, tsun and such.  That said I'm not sure that form works for other verbs, or if that's a special case for those verbs.

But that can be worded in a simpler sentence by changing "to speak Na'vi" into "The Na'vi language" (lì'fya leNa'vi) in the accusitive, with nga in the ergative.

That said, you could do the "long form" of that sentence and I believe it would work...
ngal nerume futa pivlltxe niNa'Vi nìteng srak?
So really close to what you wrote.  I just made nga ergative, added "futa" and the subjunctive into plltxe which, in this use, I believe would work as the infinitive form (to speak).

ngal oeyäru tukruti tìng srak?
you-ERG I-GEN-DAT spear-ACC give question
Could you give me my spear?

Unfortunately you can't stack case endings like that (Genitive + dative).  You have to say me twice there just like in English.  Fine other than that.

kawtu ngaru kekar lu kusame
No.one you-DAT not.teach(?*) be see<PART>
No one can teach you to see

This is an interesting one because of the negative.  Frommer actually used a double negative in his letter...  You have a double negative there as well but it's not quite the same sense, he had a negative accusitive & verb, vs an ergative and verb.  Not sure the exact rules on that TBH.
I'm not sure why lu is in there.  Without it, the literal translation (Assuming the participle is as assumed, since we don't know for sure at this point) would be something like "Nobody not teach seeing to you"...  However as the participle is an adjective I'm not sure how that would quite come across.  (And I agree with you on "kar" for teach - that is it seems to be the word for teach, and at this point I use it that way as well, but it could be wrong.)

The other two looks fine to my eyes.

[Hawnuyu atxen]

For the last sentence wouldn't Kawtul ngaru tsun kar tìkameti be right? (noone for you can teach seeing)

[omängum fra'uti]

Nope, you can't just throw verbs next to each other and expect them to play together nicely in subordination like you can in English.  For verbs like tsun, you CAN throw it at the start of the sentence with the ergative (Minus ergative marker) and adding the subjunctive to the following verb.

Kawtu tsun ngaru kivar
Nobody can teach you

However you've actually got three verbs in there with "see" which is why I didn't offer a suggestion for this.  You're trying to get the gerund form of a verb, but you can't just throw tì on it to do that.  (Actually not even sure if Na'vi has a gerund.  Perhaps intransitive verbs tì may produce something like that but it's unclear, but transitive verbs, it doesn't seem to be the case; ex tìkenong = example, tìkin = need not needing, etc.)

That said, it MIGHT work something like this...

Kawtu tsun ngaru kivar futa nga kivame
Nobody can teach you to see
(Good point about kame vs tse'a - the line from Avatar is probably closer to kame vs tse'a.)

Edit: Fixed missed subjunctive in second sentence.

[Terìran Tawka]

But that can be worded in a simpler sentence by changing "to speak Na'vi" into "The Na'vi language" (lì'fya leNa'vi) in the accusitive, with nga in the ergative.

So lì'fya leNa`Vi means Na`Vi language? Is it somehow made from lì`u (I didn't find the word 'language')?

kawtu ngaru kekar lu kusame
No.one you-DAT not.teach(?*) be see<PART>
No one can teach you to see

(...)
I'm not sure why lu is in there.  Without it, the literal translation (Assuming the participle is as assumed, since we don't know for sure at this point) would be something like "Nobody not teach seeing to you"...  However as the participle is an adjective I'm not sure how that would quite come across. 

Well, I wanted to say to be the seeing one, not seeing, and as there are no clear rules for participles, I just used them in the way my native language do, because participles in English are a bit weird:) I had the same problem while making my name, so... Do we know anything more about participles then it is written in pocket guide?

[omängum fra'uti]

So lì'fya leNa`Vi means Na`Vi language? Is it somehow made from lì`u (I didn't find the word 'language')?

I believe the term "lì'fya" (Literally word-way) was coined by Prrton, and adopted by Frommer.  (Perhaps the first case of a community created word becoming "official"ish?  Or perhaps it was actually Frommer's word first.)

kawtu ngaru kekar lu kusame
No.one you-DAT not.teach(?*) be see<PART>
No one can teach you to see
(...)
Well, I wanted to say to be the seeing one, not seeing, and as there are no clear rules for participles, I just used them in the way my native language do, because participles in English are a bit weird:) I had the same problem while making my name, so... Do we know anything more about participles then it is written in pocket guide?

Not sure what your native language is, but it looks like you're using it about the same as in English, including the copula helper in there.  That doesn't work in Na'vi though, only a couple exception cases can you just throw a verb in without an attribution (One of which is what I did with tsun above.)

Truth is we don't know a whole lot about participles in Na'vi.  We only have two examples of them in actions, from the compound words "kerusey" (Lit. not-live-PART) and "txantslusam" (Lit. much-understand-PART).  Both function as adjectives.  From that we can infer that it's quite simple and just turns the verbs into an adjective.  But with just two examples that example is shaky at best.

If I were to literally translate your "No one can teach you to be the seeing one" it would probably be something like this (Not 100% sure on the grammar, still getting my head around subordinate clauses in Na'vi)

Kawtu tsun ngaru kivar futa livu fko kusame
In the end, it uses almost the exact same words as my example, it just makes "see" into the participle instead of the infinitive (Maybe) and adds lu into the final clause.  Of course this is still based on the assumptions about kar, the participle, and subordinate clauses.

Nobody can teach you to be one that sees.
Vs
Nobody can teach you to see.

[Terìran Tawka]

Well, I think that in that case I'll give up with participle for now. Here are new sentences, I'm not quite sure if I understand subjunctive... As always, all comments are welcomed

Oel kunsìpit tsole`a fitxon
I-ERG gunship-ACC see-PFV this.night
I have seen a gunship this night

*Ngari Ikranyä metsyalil livu txurit
You-TOP Ikran-GEN Pl(Dl?)-wing-ERG be<SJV> txur-ACC
Your Ikran's wings are strong (They seem to be strong)

**Oeri sìlpey aytawtutel txìvyìng Eywa'evengä kifkeyit
I-TOP hope Pl-Skypeople-ERG abandon<IMM><SJV> Pandora-ACC
I hope Skypeople will abandon Pandora soon.


Ah, it seems that I can't construct an easy sentence with subjunctive...

*There should be two genitives, but it would be confusing. Is topic marker used properly? And one more thing – is it necessary to use transitivity here?

**This sentence seems to be very tricky. There are two verbs, so I think that using topical marker is a must. I was wondering where should I use subjunctive, and at last I decided to put it in 'txìng', because this is the verb that subjunctive refers to. Finally, stacking of aspect and tense markers – is it all right? It's similar to one in pocket guide, but... It's strange.

[omängum fra'uti]

Fìtxon in your first sentence is sort of hanging out there not actively participating in the sentence as far as I know...  It's a third noun with no case in a transitive verb.  I'm not 100% confident in how to express the concept of "This nide" without resorting to a complex clause.

Second one, you say two genitives could be confusing, but do you find it confusing in "Your ikran's wings"?  Because that English sentence has two genitives too.  The topic would work there, but so would another genitive.

For the third, you never "must" use the topic marker.  You don't combine the subjunctive with others, it's not <ìvy>, that completely violates Na'vi phonology.  (-ìv-yì - can't have v in the syllable final consonant position, and -ì-vyì- - can't have v as the leading consonant of a syllable initial consonant cluster.)  However you are using the subjunctive in the correct verb.  (You ARE hoping, you're not sure if they sky people are leaving.)  Also tawtute gets lenited in the plural.

For "I hope the sky people leave Pandora" it would be "Oe sìlpey (ay)sawtutel txivìng Eywa'evengä kifkeyit" - I'm not 100% sure if tense can be specified with tense or not, or if you'd need something else to convey the concept of soonness.

[nevare]

nga nerume plltxe niNa'Vi nìteng srak?
you learn<IMFV> speak ADV-Na`Vi too question
Are you learning Na`Vi language too?

The first one is a little bit more complex of a sentence than just the basics.  That said, what you said MAY be correct, it's close to the correct form for "modal" verbs such as zene, tsun and such.  That said I'm not sure that form works for other verbs, or if that's a special case for those verbs.

But that can be worded in a simpler sentence by changing "to speak Na'vi" into "The Na'vi language" (lì'fya leNa'vi) in the accusitive, with nga in the ergative.

That said, you could do the "long form" of that sentence and I believe it would work...
ngal nerume futa pivlltxe niNa'Vi nìteng srak?
So really close to what you wrote.  I just made nga ergative, added "futa" and the subjunctive into plltxe which, in this use, I believe would work as the infinitive form (to speak).

ngal oeyäru tukruti tìng srak?
you-ERG I-GEN-DAT spear-ACC give question
Could you give me my spear?

Unfortunately you can't stack case endings like that (Genitive + dative).  You have to say me twice there just like in English.  Fine other than that.

kawtu ngaru kekar lu kusame
No.one you-DAT not.teach(?*) be see<PART>
No one can teach you to see

This is an interesting one because of the negative.  Frommer actually used a double negative in his letter...  You have a double negative there as well but it's not quite the same sense, he had a negative accusitive & verb, vs an ergative and verb.  Not sure the exact rules on that TBH.
I'm not sure why lu is in there.  Without it, the literal translation (Assuming the participle is as assumed, since we don't know for sure at this point) would be something like "Nobody not teach seeing to you"...  However as the participle is an adjective I'm not sure how that would quite come across.  (And I agree with you on "kar" for teach - that is it seems to be the word for teach, and at this point I use it that way as well, but it could be wrong.)

The other two looks fine to my eyes.