How to build a sentence

Started by Antoine, October 23, 2017, 04:54:37 AM

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Kyttin13

Modal verbs??? Case endings??? Huh??? Let's pretend I'm *not*  a linguic professor...
Lol!!!

Wllìm

Quote from: Kyttin13 on September 07, 2019, 08:14:46 AM
Modal verbs??? Case endings??? Huh??? Let's pretend I'm *not*  a linguic professor...
Lol!!!

Okay, let me try simpler explanation ;)

The sentences you want to build (like "I want to learn") have, as you said, two verbs. One of them is the verb with actual meaning, in this case, "learn". This is the thing that is actually happening in this sentence. I'll call this the main verb The other verb, want, changes the meaning of the sentence by saying that you are not learning, no, you just want to learn. Such a verb is called a modal verb (no idea where that name comes from, but hey).

In Na'vi you have modal verbs as well. So the verb for want is new, and guess what, it is indeed a modal verb. In Na'vi, they work a little bit differently, however. Instead of connecting the verbs with to like in English, you change the form of the verb by putting <iv> inside the main verb.

Now, learn is nume. So want to learn is new nivume. Note that I added the <iv> into nume to indicate that nume is the main verb that is connected to the modal verb new.

So to say I want to learn you say oe new nivume.

Does this makes sense? Then we can move on to your more fancy sentence "I want to learn to speak Na'vi!" :)


Kyttin13


Kyttin13

Trying another sentence until we can get to "I want to learn to speak na'vi." How do you add the <iv> to 'em, as in "I need to cook." "oe kin iv'em." ???


Tirea Aean

It would be Oe zene 'ivem

apostrophe is a letter, and is a consonant. It's not a silent punctuation mark in the Na'vi transcript. If you could imagine ' being no different from a p or k it seems more apparent that it would be *pivem or *kivem not *ivpem or *ivkem

* fake example words

And kin is not a modal verb. We use kin to express needing things, not needing to do. For that, we just use zene (must) which is a modal verb.

If that makes sense

Vawmataw

Unfortunately kin doesn't belong to the same category of verbs as new, that is, modal verbs. It's different in English of course since you can say "I need to XYZ".

For kin, you need to use the following structure: oel/ngal/pol/ayfol/awngal/ayoel/etc. kin futa blablabla
It's not very complicated when you take time to break it down.

We all say, for example, "I need a spoon". It's basically the same thing in Na'vi: Oel kin sä'ot (I need a tool/utensil). That's the one and only way it works in Na'vi.
However, the needed thing in our case is an action, a verb, and this is not allowed in Na'vi. Fortunately, there's a hack: you can add FUTA. Futa means "the thing which is" (fì'ut a) and is followed by the verb you're trying to insert into the sentence. So:

Oel kin futa 'ivem
I need this thing which is to cook.

I hope it's clear enough
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Kyttin13

Quote from: Vawmataw on September 07, 2019, 06:34:26 PM
Unfortunately kin doesn't belong to the same category of verbs as new, that is, modal verbs. It's different in English of course since you can say "I need to XYZ".

For kin, you need to use the following structure: oel/ngal/pol/ayfol/awngal/ayoel/etc. kin futa blablabla
It's not very complicated when you take time to break it down.

We all say, for example, "I need a spoon". It's basically the same thing in Na'vi: Oel kin sä'ot (I need a tool/utensil). That's the one and only way it works in Na'vi.
However, the needed thing in our case is an action, a verb, and this is not allowed in Na'vi. Fortunately, there's a hack: you can add FUTA. Futa means "the thing which is" (fì'ut a) and is followed by the verb you're trying to insert into the sentence. So:

Oel kin futa 'ivem
I need this thing which is to cook.

I hope it's clear enough
Quote from: Tirea Aean on September 07, 2019, 06:21:28 PM
It would be Oe zene 'ivem

apostrophe is a letter, and is a consonant. It's not a silent punctuation mark in the Na'vi transcript. If you could imagine ' being no different from a p or k it seems more apparent that it would be *pivem or *kivem not *ivpem or *ivkem

* fake example words

And kin is not a modal verb. We use kin to express needing things, not needing to do. For that, we just use zene (must) which is a modal verb.

If that makes sense

I'm a bit confused...would it be zene? Or futa??

Tirea Aean

Oe zene 'ivem : I must cook.

Oel kin futa 'ivem: I need this thing which is to cook


Take your pick between these. My personal choice is with the shorter simpler one

Kyttin13

Me too, I think.
Irayo 'eylan Tirea!

Kyttin13

I'd still like to learn how to say "I want to learn to speak na'vi." But my current focal is on a noun vs verb question...
In
"I'm going for a walk."
1)Would "walk" be treated as a noun? Or a verb?
And
2)how would you say it??

Mech

Someone who knows better could correct me

oel new (i want) nivume (to learn) fyape pivlltxe li'fya leNa'vi (how to speak na'vi language)

the verb "nume" is not transitive as in english "learn". I mean we say "I learn something" and is understood as an action done on something like listening music or reading a book or eating a food). But in Na'vi the same verb has a different understanding as a process (like sleeping or walking) not an action done on something (eg. eating a food, or reading a book). So I thought that i can express what you want by joining the verbs with "how"

Eana Unil

Fya'ori a plltxe nìNa'vi oe new nivume.
Regarding the way which is speak like the Na'vi, I want to learn.

;)