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Na'Vi Course
Na'Vi Course
Introduction - Part 1
How to study Na’vi
Pronunciation
It’s perfectly fine to make mistakes with your pronunciation, as not
everyone has perfect pronunciation, or has a perfect accent and/or
knowledge of pronouncing na’vi words.
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The general idea is that you learn pronunciation before grammar, that
way, you won’t have to relearn the pronunciation for every word
you’ve learnt.
Speaking Listening
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Writing Reading
Speaking Practice
Practising speaking can be one of the more foreign and harder to
learn for most beginner na’vi learners. But to learn to speak in
na’vi, you cannot just write, or listen to other speakers. A key way to
practise speaking is to speak it yourself, even if it is to a pet, or a
plushie. It’s a beneficial way to practise speaking, and it’s perfectly
normal to speak to a plushie, many others do it too.
Speaking with others, especially those who are more advanced into
their na’vi learning journey, will correct your mistakes, which will help
out a lot.
Listening Practice
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Writing and Reading Practice
Don’t only read and listen, attempt writing and speaking too.
Learning is Work
Learning a language takes time and a lot of effort to learn a new
language, as it requires a lot of familiarising with many concepts. The
journey to learning a language can be fun, and beneficial, as you can
learn a lot of things and meet new people during your journey.
Consistency is key, and it’s vital. Cramming for 4 hours in one day
may leave you lost and confused, and unable to remember much,
compared to 10-20 minutes a day consistently learning. Spreading
those 4 said long hours of studying and taking it step by step will lead
to drastic improvement by the end of the day.
Use the language! Find a workbook, a na’vi diary or text, and go over
and practice using your contextual and new found knowledge. It’s an
enriching form of practice, if you use the language more naturally in
conversations.
Mistakes are your best friends, and branching off of your knowledge
and pushing out of your comfort zone will help you learn things you
didn’t know, and you’ll naturally correct yourself. Don’t be afraid of
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embarrassing yourself, as everyone has been there, and everyone
has made mistakes.
Help others to help yourself. If you know something, teach it, word it
out in your own words in an understandable way. You’ll teach others
and yourself, the more you need to use it, the more you learn. You
need to be able to prepare and understand yourself. It helps you the
most.
Common Mistakes
Word types, in English, you can have many types for many
situations. Good can be an adjective and a noun, and mean
many things. However, in Na’vi, the word types for words are
strict. Srung si, to give/do help, is a verb, but can be a noun, in
a sentence like “I thank you for your help.” However, it’s also a
verb in which it is a si verb, which is then a separate word., “I
help you.”
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Not enough interaction is also a bit of a problem. Interaction
offers help, and you can receive tips on your mistakes and
such, and you can receive an outside view when stuck to help
yourself progress.
You’ll warm up to the flexible word order of the Na’vi language, and
familiarise with basic Na’vi concepts.
Case Endings.
- Transitivity
- Subject
- Direct object
- Indirect object
- Genitive
Adjectives.
- Connecting with a verb
- Connecting with “a”
The fast dog vs, the dog is fast. These two types of sentences would
be learnt after studying Adjectives.
Clause Attribution.
- Subclauses with “a”
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- F-words (futa and friends)
- Other conjunctions
Infixes.
- Infix positions
- Tense, aspect, subjunctive
- Participles
- Positive and Negative mood
- Reflexive and causative
Na’vi Course
Part 2
-l and -t endings, subject and direct object
Simple Sentences
I run. Oe tul. / Tul oe.
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Which differences between English and Na’vi can
you spot?
The word order isn’t exactly free, as in na’vi, there are certain
rules with certain words. However, as long as there are no rules,
specifically about how you need to do it, then you can do it
however you want.
- No conjugation
Oe tul - I run. The verb is the same in Po tul - He/she runs. In
English, we would add an s here, as it’s a third person singular.
In other languages, such as Italian, there are a lot more
complicated conjugations for every person. However, in Na’vi,
the verb stays the same, according to the subject, in this case,
who is running. It can change, in some cases, but not this case.
- No articles
Palukantsyìp tul - The/A cat runs. Na’vi has no a, or the, or an,
or any similar article, which makes things very easy. Compared
to other languages, with genders for articles, it doesn’t exist in
Na’vi. A bit of meaning is lost, as the cat runs is different to a cat
runs. Context helps you, however. When there is no context
surrounding it, we can only guess what it means. In this
sentence, the or a cat would be fine.
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this in Na’vi. You can conjugate the verb according to tense, but
you can leave it out if context makes it clear.
Oe tul - I run.
Oe trram tul. - Yesterday, I ran.
Na’vi has changes for the verb according to tense, however, for
the beginning, it can be easy, as you can put a word into the
sentence which makes it clear which tense you’re referring to,
and you won’t need to bother with word changes. Later on,
however, you will want to learn verb tense infixes, but at the
beginning, it can be easy.
In English, only word order tells us who hears and who is heard.
However, Na’vi has a very flexible word order. If we change the
sentence to Ninat hears Neytiri, the meaning changes
completely, and who hears and who is heard is changed.
Case Endings
In the sentence Neytiri hears Ninat, there are two types of roles.
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In this case, Neytiri is the subject, and Ninat is the direct object.
Sounds easy? It does sound pretty simple, but it gets slightly more
complicated.
After Vowel -l
After Consonant/ll/rr -ìl
After Diphthong -ìl
The -T ending has slightly more, but -ti is always correct, you should
be default to this.
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After Diphthong -ti , -it , -ay-t , -ey-t
However, knowing that na’vi has flexible word order, we can also use
other word orders.
Neytiril Ninatit stawm. These sentences all mean the exact same
Ninatit stawm Neytiril. thing, and they are all correct, as we can
Ninatit Neytiril stawm. tell who is affected and who is doing the
Stawm Neytiril Ninatit. action. They are all correct.
Stawm Ninatit Neytiril.
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Mautiti yom oel.
Here, eating or to eat is yom. The fruit, (mautiti) is the thing being
eaten, so it becomes mautiti. Oe, I, is the one eating, so it becomes
oel.
Not all words here are translated, so here’s a small exercise. Look at
the case endings which word has case endings or no case endings,
and try to tell which Na’vi word corresponds to which English word.
Use a dictionary, like Reykunyu or Fwew.
Verb Transitivity
In dictionaries, each word is categorised as vin. or vtr.
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All the verbs here are categorised with vtr. or vin.
However…
But.. a counter-example.
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What is eaten? The fruit is eaten. Therefore, the sentence is
transitive, and due to the transitivity, -l and -t are required.
Si-verbs
Si-verbs are verbs that always end in si, such as irayo si, kaltxì si. All
of these verbs are intransitive, despite how you can give thanks/thank
someone, or greet someone. A lot of them look transitive, but they’re
all vin. You will have to use other endings to indicate who is the one
doing and who is affected. This will come in another part.
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Key points
- Na’vi has flexible word order, verbs don’t get conjugated and
there are no articles. These are the base differences between
Na’vi and English if we look back to the examples.
- -l marks the subject, -t the direct object. They have many forms
for different sounds/types of letters with (pseudo)vowels,
consonants, and diphthongs.
- Only transitive verbs can use these two case endings. If there
are intransitive verbs, you cannot use -l and -t endings. You will
need to use other case endings that will be learnt.
Na’vi Course
Part 3
Indirect Object -ru case ending
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To fully understand this lesson, it’d be better to learn -l and -t case
endings, and vin. and vtr. verbs. These topics will be mentioned.
What is -ru?
The -ru ending is a case ending. A case ending is something which
goes at the end of a noun which shows the role it has in a sentence.
It is the indirect object, or, also known as the dative. It is translated as
“to someone/something.” This is important, as it is used in a wide
variety of situations in na’vi.
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We will look at a variety of situations where you can use -ru, such as:
- -ru plus the verb lu. It sounds specific, yet you’ll see it make
sense, as -ru in function with lu serves a very important function.
- -ru with intransitive verbs in general.
- -ru with si-verbs, -ru works well with si-verbs, and this will help
you understand si-verbs better.
- -ru with transitive verbs. Other than -l and -t, -ru can be used
with both transitive and intransitive verbs.
- Double dative.
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Your first instinct may be to look into a dictionary and search for the
na’vi word have, as in English, possession has its own verb. This is
not the case in na’vi, there is no verb for this.
The same is for the second sentence, to you there is a or the book.
More Examples
To me, that is easy! Oeru, tsaw lu ftue!
Oeru, to me, tsaw, meaning that. Lu has the connection to show that
it is easy (ftue).
This may seem strange, why do we have to use dative for this?
However, this sentence actually translates as to me, you are beloved.
Or, you are beloved to me. There’s no verb for to love in Na’vi, but
there is the adjective yawne, beloved. In Na’vi, they say, you are
beloved to me. Again, we see how -ru is used to show to something
or someone.
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He/she misses you. Poru lom nga lu.
Poru, to him or her. Then, nga lu lom. You are missed, to him or her,
as there is no verb to miss, rather the adjective missed. They are
missed to someone else.
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Here’s another easy case, as something is important to her.
I pray to Eywa.
Eywaru aho oe.
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These sentences are equal and literal translations to each other.
Examples
Irayo thank/thanks (n./intj) → irayo si to thank
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Uvan game (n.) → uvan si to play
These are all in the dictionary, they are all possible to use. You cannot
just randomly get a noun or adjective and put si infront of it, it’s just
not allowed.
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So, literally, the child does thank to the mother.
He greets them. → Po foru kaltxì si.
He does a greet/hello to them.
I clean the house. → Laro si oe kelkuru.
I do clean to the house.
They make it clear. → Tsaru fo law si.
They do clear to that.
I experience Neteyam. → Li sie oe Neteyamur.
From the Songcord. I do experience to Neteyam.
I play Elden Ring. → Oe uvan alu Elden Ring si.
I do the game which’s name is Elden Ring. Alu.
The Elden Ring is placed before si along with alu.
The mother tells the story to you. → Ngaru peng vurti sa’nokìl.
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3 Case endings in a small sentence may be sort of
confusing, so here’s a deeper look.
Double Dative
Some verbs can have -ru two times!
These first two messages have the same meaning due to the flexible
word order, however, the solution to figuring out the meaning is very
boring. The case is that word order here matters, as lu needs to be in
the clause of who has the words.
Notice how frapor and lu are together in the second sentence to show
the possession of words to/for me.
So, there’s two times -ru due to the reciever of the message and
the message itself being written.
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This is not that ambigious or too hard to mix up, as the thing being
written is usually a message or a letter, etc, whilst the one
recieving it is a human or a living thing.
-ru vs. ne
ne (adp.) to(wards) Ne also means towards, and this may cause
confusion, as -ru also means to something or can mostly be translated
as this.
Looking at the following sentences with what you’ve learnt today, you
may think to use -ru, because it’s to something. But actually, you will
need ne.
Key points
- -ru is a case ending, jusy like -l/-t.
- after a vowel, it is r(u), after a conosant, -ur
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- it is the so called indirect object, and often marks the reciever of
something
- in English, it can almost always be translated as to
someone/somebody. of course it doesn’t always work, and very
often you may have to use english in a strange grammatical
sense, yet it works efficiently, you may need to think outside of
the box.
- looking at the literal translation of a verb can help you a lot.
translating it in beautiful, grammatical english may make it not
make sense, however the literal translation makes a lot of
sense.
- it is used with all kinds of verbs, but si-verbs use it a lot.
- if you can replace to by towards, very often you will need the
adposition ne, towards.
Na’vi Course
Part 4
Adjectives and Comparisons
These are two topics heavily connected to each other.
Adjectives
Adding an adjective to a noun
Adjectives are words that describe a noun, for example, the fast dog.
Fast is an adjective, describing the noun, the dog.
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The fast dog.
A smart learner.
What they all have in common is that the noun is directly infront of all
of the adjectives. Of course in English, we can say the flower is blue.
However, the difference here is that a verb connects the adjective, the
noun, is blue. Whilst the blue flower is just a noun phrase.
In English, the adjective is always before the noun. Yet in Na’vi, it’s
different, as it can be both, before and after the noun.
Ean - blue and green. We see here that ean changes, and becomes
eana. There is the small a which is always in the direction of a noun.
The small, blue flower. → Hì’ia syulang aean / Eana syulang ahì’i
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We can also have an adjective on both sides, which has the a to
connect the adjectives to the noun.
Why the a?
Consider this sentence:
Tse’a, to see, our subject, the ikran sees our direct object, the flower.
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Ean is just floating, and is dividing our two nouns, with the flexible
word order. In this case, you don’t know what noun the adjective
belongs to without our connecting a.
Adjectives starting with le- don’t need the a when after the noun.
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If something starts with le-, it’s useful to know that very likely it will be
an adjective. It basically creates adjectives out of other words.
lehrrap - dangerous
When putting lehrrap after the noun, we don’t need to put the a there,
as le is in the direction of the noun. You can put the a there, if you’d
wish.
It is common to leave out the a in this situation in Na’vi, as putting it in
is kind of strange. However, if you put lehrrap infront, with the
adjective a, then everything stays normal.
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The sky becomes dark. → Slu taw vawm.
Become, sky, dark. The word order is quite flexible.
Comparisons
Comparisons are sentences along the lines of:
→ He is faster.
In English, -er is added to show they are more of something, in this
case, he is “more fast.”
→ She is the fastest.
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Here, -est is added to show they are the most of something, is this
case, she is “the most fast.”
In English, we use endings on the adjective to indicate this.
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He runs faster. → Nìwin nì’ul tul poan.
Alone, nìwin tul poan means he runs fast, but adding nì’ul as more,
he runs more fast.
Which, could be translated as he runs faster.
There are more adverbs, they’re useful to use for the occassion, yet
they are not too important.
She runs less and less fast. → Tul nìwin nìnänän poe.
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Comparisons are sentences such as he is faster than you, the dog is
faster than the cat, the ikran is faster than the thanator, and so on.
We don’t say poan to nga win nì’ul. We just say poan ngato/to nga
lu win. Where we aim to say he in comparison to you is fast.
He runs faster than you. → Nìwin to nga tul poan. / Nìwin ngato tul
poan.
The same is for adverbs. No nì’ul needed. We just say nìwin to nga
tul poan. / nìwin ngato tul poan. (Both phrases mean the same.)
Where here, we translate, fast in comparison to you, he runs. (In
comparison to you, he runs fast.)
This leaves no use for nì’ul, as the comparison of him being faster is
already made with to.
So, you always have to infront of, or after the thing you are
comparing to. Someone compared to something is
adjective. So, someone is more adjective compared to
someone else.
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nìftxan na.
nìftxan (adv.) = so / to such an extent. na (adp.) = like.
With these two words, we can build sentences such as “I am as fast
as you.” Or describe two people or things being on the same level of
something.
Here’s an example:
1st structure:
Oe lu nìftxan win → I am fast to such an extent…
Na nga → Like you.
So, our literal translation of the sentence is Like you, I am fast to such
an extent. Or, I am fast to such an extent like you, which basically
means I am as fast as you.
Like to, na can also go at the end of something, so I can say ngana
or na nga.
2nd structure:
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This is another structure which uses ngari.
-ri is a topical case ending, we won’t go into detail for this lesson, but
remember is can be used for specifically this structure to compare
people and say they are the same level.
Again, we can also say ngana here too. Again, we can also use
topical.
Ngari poan tul nìwin nìftxan. → Regarding you, he runs fast to such
an extent.
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- Frato (adv.) = than all. Nga lu win frato. You are fast compared
to everyone. Fra comes from everything/one. To is the
comparitive marker.
- To (part.) = ‘than’, ‘compared to’ comparitive marker. We can
use this for comparisons between two things or people. For
example. Nga win oeto lu. You are faster than me. What is
literally being said, you are fast compared to me, becomes you
are faster. In English, we use faster. In Na’vi, we use the bare
adjective.
- You only just say you are fast compared to me, not you are
faster compared to me in Na’vi.
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