Na’vi for Dummies

Written and translated by MIPP

v 1.2
0. Index

Alphabet p. 2
Lenition p. 3
Names p. 3
Pronouns p. 4
Verbs p. 5 & 6
Cases p. 6 & 7
Adjectives p. 7
Questions p. 7
Negative p. 7
Word order p. 8
1. Alphabet
Na’vi IPA Example Notes
a a father
ä æ cat, pack
aw aw now
ay aj eye, fly
e ɛ then
ew ɛw
ey ɛj say
f f fool
h h ham
i i machine
ì ɪ thin, bit
k k skill unaspirated
kx k‟
l l left
ll əl people Always front and
light, never
ɫ
m m man, ham
n n no, tin
ng ŋ sing
o o mow
p p spin unaspirated
px p‟
r ɾ bottle (AmE)
rr r strongly trilled
s s see, city
t t stop unaspirated
ts ts cats
tx t‟
u u; ʊ do, foot
v v voice, have
w w we
y j yes
z z zoo
„ ʔ The middle of
uh-oh

Tip 1: Although they‟re two letters, think about ay, aw, ey, ew, ts, kx, px, tx, ll, rr, ng as
single entities.
Tip 2: Ay, aw, ey, ew and ll, rr are considered as vowels.
2. Lenition

What is lenition?
It‟s the changing of a consonant to make the pronunciation easier. It happens when
some prefixes are added to the word or certain adpositions are placed before them.

Consonant It becomes:
px; tx; kx p; t; k respectively
p f
t; ts s
k h
„ vanishes

3. Names

3.1. Genders

As in English, Na‟vi has two genders: male and female. Usually, genders are only used
when what we want to say might become ambiguous without them. Thus we usually
use the normal word, with no gender.

Male Female
Word Word+an Word+e
Example: tsmuk (sibling) Tsmukan (brother) Tsmuke (sister)

3.2. Plural

There are three types of plural in Na‟vi. The plural for two, three or more things.

Word Prefix Plural

Tute (person) Me+ Me-sute (two people)
Swirä (creature) Pxe+ Pxe-swirä (three creatures)
Mokri (voice) Ay+ Ay-mokri (voices)

Tip 1: As the plural prefixes cause lenition, tute (person) became (me)sute.
Tip 2: The plurals always must match. Other way, don‟t use them. An example:
Moe mesmukan lu (We two are two brothers) or Moe tsmukan lu (We two are brother).
NEVER: Moe aysmukan lu (We two are many brothers).
Tip 3: When the prefix ay+ is added is occurs lenition, ay may be removed. So aysute
and sute mean the same thing: people.
4. Pronouns

In Na‟vi pronouns show excluding and including. What I means is that there are
different forms depending if the listener/reader is or isn‟t in the action. Pronoun‟s plural
is formed as the name‟s plural.

Singular Dual Trial Plural

1st exclusive Oe Moe (me+oe) Pxoe (pxe+oe) Ayoe (ay+oe)
1st inclusive ----------- Oeng (oe+nga) Pxoeng Ayoeng
(pxe+nga) (ay+oe+nga)
2nd person Nga Menga Pxenga Aynga
(me+nga) (pxe+nga) (ay+nga)
3rd person Po Mefo (me+po) Pxefo (pxe+po) Ayfo/fo (ay+fo)

Then, based on the English pronouns table, I can create the following one:

Singular Dual Trial Plural

I Oe
You Nga
He/she Po
We (excl.) Moe Pxoe Ayoe
We (incl.) Oeng Pxoeng Ayoeng
You Menga Pxenga Aynga
They Mefo Pxefo Ayfo/fo

Explanation of the inclusive and exclusive forms

This subject usually creates a lot of confusion, so I decided to explain it again here.
The inclusive is used when, in the sentence, the “we” pronoun includes the person who
is listening or reading what I said/wrote:

Ayoeng sevin lu We (me, you and other people) are beautiful.

The exclusive is almost the same thing, but the person that listens or reads is not
included:

Ayoe sevin lu We (but not you) are beautiful.

The inclusive is basically formed adding ng to the plural in the exclusive. Why, you ask?
Because ng comes from nga (you).
5. Verbs

The verbs in Na‟vi are conjugated for tense and not for person. To do it, you only have
to add infixes to the word (they are placed inside the word, in certain positions).

5.1. Infix positions

There are three positions to put infixes. Pre-first, first and second. In the pre-first, we
put infixes like the reflexive, causative, active participle and passive participle infix. In
the first one, we put essentially the verbal tense infixes. Finally, in the second position,
we put the mood infixes.
The positions are: t<pre-first><first>ar<second>on. To easily recognize the positions, I
recommend the method that I use: count from the end of the word and search the first
vowel. The second position will be placed before it. Then search for the second vowel.
The first position will be placed before it. And immediately before the first position, is
the pre-first position. When the verb has only one vowel, the following happens: l<pre-
first><first><second>u. The verb used in the example is the verb lu (to be), and the
positions are all placed before the single vowel. The order is the same that would
appear in a two or more vowels word.

Tense Infix Example (with the Meaning

verbe taron)
Perfective <ol> tolaron have hunted
Past <am> tamaron hunted
Recent past <ìm> tìmaron just hunted
Progressive <er> teraron be hunting
Immediate future <ìy> tìyraron about to hunt/will
hunt soon
Future <ay> tayaron will hunt

There is no infix for the present. Thus, if you want to say “I hunt” it would be “Oe taron”.

5.2. Subjunctive

It is not easy for beginners, so I won‟t say very much about it.
The infixe <iv> forms the subjunctive and is used to form de conditional (e.g. I would
hunt) as well as the conjunctive (e.g. May God be with you). It is also used when you
find two verbs, one close to the other, in the sentence. In that case, you put it in the
second verb (e.g. I want to hunt Oe new tivaron). It is put in the first infix position.

5.3. Affect

The mood infix is placed in the second infix position and they show how you are feeling
about the action.
There are two:
<ei> is used to show joy or wish that the action happens.
<äng> is used to show disdain for the action.
Examples:

Oe t<ol>ar<ei>on I have hunted (I liked)

Oe t<ay>ar<äng>on I will hunt (ugh... disgusting)

6. Cases

In Na‟vi the order of the words is relatively free, because there are cases that tell us
what is the function of a certain element in the sentence.

Case Marker (for words that Marker (for words that

finish in vowel) finish in consonant)
Agentive (subject) l ìl
Patientive (direct object) t/ti it
Dative (indirect object) r/ru ur

Cases are added in the end of the word.

Examples:

Oe-l nga-t kame I see you

Nga yawne lu oe-r You are beloved to me

The subject of intransitive verbs is not marked.

There are exceptions when the word finishes in aw, ay, ew, ey, ll or rr.

Case Words finished in aw, ay, Words finished in ll or rr

ew or ey
Agentive ìl ìl
Patientive ti/it it
Dative ru/ur ur

6.1. Genitive

It‟s what, in English, we call of possessive.

Words finished in vowel Words finished in

consonant
Genitive yä ä

Once more, there are exceptions when the word finishes in aw, ay, ew or ey.

Words finished in aw, ay, ew or ey

Genitive ä

Examples:
Oeyä kelku My house
Tuteyä rum Person‟s ball

6. Adjectives

So that we can identify the noun which is described by the adjective, we put -a- (which
works as a prefix or suffix) in the closest side to the noun of the adjective.

Examples:

Sevina tute Beautiful person

Tute asevin Beautiful person

The adjective also may describe the noun using the verb “to be”. When it happens, the
-a- is not used.

Example:

Tute sevin lu Person is beautiful

7. Questions

In questions which answer will be yes/no, we add in the end the word “srak”.

Example:

Ngaru lu fpom srak? Are you well yes or no?

There are also some interrogative pronouns:

Na’vi Português
Peu/‟upe („u thing + pe) What? (what thing?)
Pesu/tupe (tute person + pe) Who?
Pefnel/fnepe (fnel kind + pe) Which kind?
Pefya/fyape (fya way + pe) How?
Pehem/kempe (kem thing [action] + pe) What? (what action?)
Pehrr/krrpe (krr time + pe) When?
Pelun/lumpe (lun reason + pe) Why?
Peseng/tsengpe (tseng place + pe) Where?
Polpxay/holpxaype (holpxay number + pe) How many?/What number?
Pìmtxan/hìmtxanpe (hìmtxanpe amount+ pe) How much?/What amount?

8. Negative

To negate something, we put the word ke before the verb.

9. Word order

First, read this thread by wm.annis: http://forum.learnnavi.org/syntax-grammar/navi-

linguistics-free-word-order/
Ok, now, about the “free” word order:
 Possessions words must appear on either side of what they possess.
 Adjectives and adverbs must appear on either side of what they describe.
 To negate something, ke is put before the verb.

Also, Paul Frommer usually uses the following word order:

 modal verb - subject - (stuff) - verb - (stuff)

 adjective – lu – adverb

Of course you don‟t need to do as him, but most of the people do.

Final translation note:

All the information here may be found on Na‟vi in a Nutshell (from NeotrekkerZ) and on
the Pocket Guide (from MidnightLightining) as well as from discussion in the forums.
Please note that this document will only help you in the beginning.
In the future, you‟ll need to read the Na‟vi in a Nutshell, as well ask your doubts or
discuss many themes in the forums.