HGJMN

Na'vi as a Second Language
EARLY EDITION
A COMPLETE GUIDE TO LEARNING NA’VI
TA PAMÌRÌK ALU NICK PAAVO
Latest Update: Jan 21 2019
This document is a work in progress.
It is not yet comprehensive, however it is functional.

Phrasings and presentation will change often. Many pages are blank or have
placeholders, which I will try to make as obvious as possible.
Print at your own cost.
Comment/Suggest corrections and/or @Pamìrìk on LN discord.
Video Pronunciation Lesson: LEARN THIS FIRST!

Don’t waste time learning words the wrong way!
▶ Learn the Na'vi Alphabet! Pronunciation Lesson (19:13) [youtube.com]

The old NaSL preface, for posterity™
Table of Contents
THESE ARE CLICKABLE FOR EASY BROWSING
Table of Contents 1
Dear Reader 2
PART 1: CORE GRAMMAR 3

Na’vi Word Order 4
Other Types of Verbs and Objects 14
Adjectives 19
Lu - the most misunderstood word 22
Commands and Negation 25
Pronouns, Plurality and Possession 29
Infixes, Part 1 - When 36
Infixes, Part 2 - That’s just like, your opinion, man 42
Infixes, Part 3 - Are We Done Yet? 45
We Can Try to Begin to Understand Modals 50
*Prefixes and Suffixes 54
*Asking Questions 57
*Clause Attribution and F-Words 59
*Adverbs and Conjunctions 61
*The Topical Case 62
PART 2: NEXT STEPS 65

*Adpositions 67
*Infixes - Pre-first Position 68
*Describing With Verbs 70
*More Affixes 72
PART 3: NA’VI LIKE A NATIVE 73

Error 404: English Not Found 74
*Na’vi Phonetics 75
Anatomy of a Na’vi Syllable 77
TL;DR: a Na’vi Grammar Quick Reference 78
*: chapters that are either WIP or being updated
NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

EARLY EDITION
1
Dear Reader,
I had made several attempts to acquire a second language prior to learning
Na’vi. Like many Americans, I took obligatory Spanish and French classes in my early
education. I even took three years of Japanese in high school, and while I was able to
pronounce it fairly well and always passed my Japanese classes with flying colors, I
was never able to hold a prolonged conversation with the language. Post-college, I
attempted Russian, Arabic, and even ancient Egyptian briefly, but never longer than
a few weeks. I had, like many, surrendered to the idea that language learning was
not for me. But, Na’vi piqued my curiosity one evening after my annual rewatching
of Avatar, and I dived into the Na’vi community. But this time, something was very
different.
While studying Na'vi I began to understand the language like a system, rather
than a collection of words or phrases. In my language classes in school, we spent
weeks drilling vocabulary and stock phrases without ever really getting into why the
words were arranged that way. The lessons were focused on recognizing set
patterns of words, not how to arrange my own sentences to express myself. It was
like learning how to make a chair by sitting in ones other people made- at best I
knew vaguely what correct Spanish or Japanese sounded like, but knew none of the
steps to get there on my own. It was because I lacked agency in the language- the
ability to be in control.
Agency is important because it allows you to get meaningful practice in.

Nobody wants to learn a language to parrot stock phrases- you want to be able to
express yourself and understand others! Additionally, it should come as no surprise
that expressing yourself with regular practice is the fastest way to get good, see clear
progress, and motivate yourself to continue. You will not learn Na’vi overnight- or
even in a month or two or three. But, if you enjoy it along the way and stick with it,
you will find success.
This guidebook has undergone countless revisions to get to its current state,
but I’ve always had a singular goal in mind: to make the resource I would have
wanted when I started- one that cultivates agency. If all you want to learn how to
say is “hello, my name is ___, how are you, goodbye”, this is not for you. Likewise, if
you already know what the subjunctive is and are looking to learn how to conjugate
nouns for number, this guidebook may come off as slow. NaSL is, as the title
suggests, for English speakers who want to learn Na’vi as their second language. My
hope is that you may be as inspired by the Na’vi language as I am.
ta Nick “Pamìrìk” Paavo

EARLY EDITION
2
PART 1: CORE GRAMMAR
These are the fundamental ideas of Na'vi grammar. Once you

understand all of the Core lessons, the rest of the book can be
browsed in whatever order you choose.
Each chapter builds off of the last, and assumes you have
completed the previous ones. It is recommended you do not skip
chapters in this part.
tslolam srak? txantsan! nume ko!

understood? great! let’s learn!

EARLY EDITION
3
Na’vi Word Order
One of the first thing that many new learners want to understand (and rightfully so)
is how to make sentences. Knowing how to put words together is the key difference
between someone who just read a vocabulary list, and someone who can actually
use it to communicate effectively. So, let’s become communicators!
In this chapter, you will learn the answers to these questions:
1. What order do words go in the Na’vi language?

2. How do I tell who is doing what?
3. Why would I choose one word order over another?
1. “What order do words go in the Na’vi Language?”
It often surprises people who come from an English background to learn that Na’vi
has no concrete word order. In most situations, you are free to have your information
be ordered any way you want! Linguists call this limited free word order. (we’ll get
to those limitations soon enough, don’t worry.)
So, we can put words in whatever order we want- great! Let’s get a dictionary, find
some words, and throw them together!
oe (pn.) I, me
yom
payoang
(vtr.) eat
(n.) fish, lit. “water animal”
Vocabulary
“I eat fish” = oe yom payoang, right? Not so fast!
Before we dive into why this is wrong, we need to first examine why word order
matters in English in the first place. It turns out there’s a very important reason that
English words go in the order they do (and it wasn’t because Sir Thomas English
“said so” one day and everyone rolled with it).
Let’s consider the phrase “Neytiri sees Jake”. You can probably imagine this situation
with little difficulty. You can easily tell what is happening (seeing), who is seeing
(Neytiri), and who is being seen (Jake). But HOW?!
The answer comes down to the types of words being used, and where they are
placed.
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A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing. Some examples of nouns include
tree, sky, human, home, and street.
A verb is a word that describes an action or state. Some examples of verbs include
run, eat, sleep, hear, prefer, know, and think.
English sentences tend to go “NOUN-VERB-NOUN”.
● The first noun does the action. This is called the subject.
● Between the two nouns is a verb. The action being done.
● After that, the noun affected by the action, which is called the direct object.
What happens when we take a sentence like “Neytiri sees Jake” and swap the
nouns? In the resulting sentence, “Jake sees Neytiri”, their relationship is reversed.
Now Jake is doing the seeing, and Neytiri is being seen.
Going back to our incorrect Na’vi sentence from before: oe yom payoang. Word for
word, this might make sense to you: I, eat, fish. Your English-brain instantly makes
assumptions about the relationship between myself and the fish from the word
order. But, Na’vi has no set word order. I could have just as easily chosen oe payoang
yom, or even payoang yom oe.
So if we can’t use word order to answer who is doing what, how can we?
2. “How do I tell who is doing what?”
Let’s imagine a world where instead of leaning into word order to tell who is doing
what, we just said out loud what the role of each noun is. The sentence “Jake sees
Neytiri” would become “Jake, the subject, sees Neytiri, the direct object”. Since these
roles are clearly labeled, a sentence with odd word order, like “Neytiri, the direct
object, Jake, the subject sees”, is suddenly a lot less intimidating. We are still able to
answer the question from before: who’s doing what.
This is a very literal version of what Na’vi does. Rather than saying “_____ the subject”
or “direct object”, Na’vi uses case endings, which are short sounds that are added to
the end of a noun to establish these roles. They communicate the same information,
but are less cumbersome.
● The subject, or thing performing the verb, takes the case ending of -l or -ìl.
○ -l is used if the word ends in a vowel.
○ -ìl is used following consonants.

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Because oe is our subject, it becomes oel
● The direct object, or thing affected by the verb, is denoted with -ti, -t, or -it.
○ -ti is always correct. You should default to using it.
○ -t can be used if the word ends in a vowel, and the next word
begins with a vowel or the sentence has ended.
○ -it can be used if the word ends in a consonant, and follows the
above rules.
Payoang is our direct object, so it becomes either payoangti or payoangit
● The verb doesn’t need to be modified (for now!)
Think like the Na’vi!

Na’vi tries to alternate between vowels and consonants for more fluid speech.
This is why we have different case endings depending on how a word ends.
Putting these ideas together word-for-word, “I eat fish” becomes oel yom payoangit.
But because we are using case endings to denote subjects and direct objects, you
are free to rearrange these words any way you choose. All of the following examples
are legitimate and acceptable:
oel payoangti yom yom oel payoangit

oel yom payoangit yom payoangti oel
payoangti oel yom payoangti yom oel

A good way to check to make sure your sentence is correct is to simply try
another word order. If the meaning changes, you probably forgot a case ending!
If we wanted to swap the relationship between myself and the fish, and say “fish eats
me”, we simply swap the case endings. oe-l becomes oe-t(i), and payoang-it
becomes payoang-ìl. As before, you have many options for word order.
oeti payoangìl yom yom oeti payoangìl

oeti yom payoangìl yom payoangìl oet
payoangìl oeti yom payoangìl yom oet
Try it yourself!
EARLY EDITION
6
Identify the subject, direct object, and verb of these sentences. Even though you
may not know the vocabulary involved, you should be able to quickly recognize
the case endings.
oel poti tse’a yerikti taronyul tspang awngal fìtsengti tok

ngati oel kin palulukanti taron pol utralti ngal takuk
3. “Why would I choose one word order over another?”
It’s up to you! Most of the time, word order is just the speaker’s preference.
However, there are a few subtleties of the Na’vi language to consider.
The first consideration is emphasis. In English, when we want to call attention to a

particular piece of information, we stress how we pronounce that word. It’s louder,
sometimes held. “I eat fish” (as opposed to someone else who doesn’t). “I eat fish” (as
opposed to throw it at my friends). “I eat fish” (as opposed to some other kind of
protein). Notice how, while each of these sentences are using the same words, the
way in which they are said changes the goal of the sentence.
Na’vi doesn’t employ this tonal emphasis, as far as we know. Rather, the word that
goes last in the sentence is said to carry the “punch”. Because of the flexibility of
word order offered by case endings, we are able to put whatever word we choose at
the end of a sentence. Most often, this is the verb. Without an action, there wouldn’t
be much reason to bring up a sentence in the first place!
Na’vi also tends to group subjects and objects next to each other. This helps
explain why Subject-Direct Object-Verb, or SOV Order, is the most common in the
canon. But remember- this is a preference, not a rule!

Practice a wide variety of word orders! Part of learning Na’vi is un-training your
brain to expect information to always come in subject-verb-object order.

EARLY EDITION
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In Summary
1. What order do words go in the Na’vi language?

Na’vi has limited free word order- there is no one correct way.
2. How do I tell who is doing what?

We use the -L and -T case endings to indicate the subject (performer of
the verb) and direct object (affected by the verb).
3. Why would I choose one word order over another?

The final word of a sentence is sometimes used for emphasis. Often this
is the verb, though any word order is valid.
Subjects and objects also tend to be next to each other.
Post-Lesson Review: Na’vi Word Order
Warm Up A
You’re going to need to introduce yourself to other speakers very soon, if you
haven’t already! Here are a collection of useful phrases. Don’t get used to getting
these kinds of stock phrases- these are just here to help you initially!
Kaltxì Hello
Fìlì’fyari oe sngä’iyu lu I’m a Na’vi language beginner.
Smon nìprrte’ Nice to meet you
Lu oeru tìpawm I have a question
<word>ri peral [nì’ìnglìsì]? What does <word>mean [in English]?
Irayo Thank you
Kiyevame Goodbye / See you later
Warm Up B
Let’s make your first vocabulary list! First, make sure you have access to a Na’vi
dictionary of some kind (I suggest a searchable one, like dict-navi.com).
Look up words for things you do on a daily basis- things you interact with, your
hobbies, activities, or things you enjoy. Sort these into two columns:
nouns and verbs. Be sure to include both the English and Na’vi word! A few
particularly useful words have been added to get you started. You can also add

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words you look up for the following exercises for easy reference.
Nouns Verbs
oe (pn.) I, me yom (vtr.) eat

nga (pn.) you näk (vtr.) drink
po (pn.) he / she tse’a (vtr.) see
Post-Lesson Review: Na’vi Word Order
Section A
Read the English sentence, and then select all true statements.
If there are no correct answers, leave the section blank.
1. Neytiri sees Jake 2. Ateyo cooks teylu

a. Jake is the subject a. teylu is the subject
b. Neytiri is the direct object b. teylu is the direct object
c. Jake is the direct object c. Ateyo is the subject
d. Neytiri is the subject d. Ateyo is the direct object
3. Rini catches fish 4. You hear music

a. fish were catching a. hearing is the subject
b. Rini was catching b. music is being heard
c. fish were caught c. you are the direct object
d. Rini was caught d. this sentence has no verb
Section B
Identify the order the information is presented in by paying attention to the case
endings. Use V for verb, S for subject, and O for direct object.

EARLY EDITION
9
EX: tse’a oel ngati V S O
1. oel ngati kame ___ ___ ___ 2. tse’a yerikti ngal ___ ___ ___
3. oeti yom payoangìl ___ ___ ___ 4. ngati stawm pol ___ ___ ___
5. näk payti yerikìl ___ ___ ___ 6. talioangti ngal taron ___ ___ ___
Section C
Complete the Na’vi sentences by adding the proper case endings, given the
provided English sentence. Look up words you do not recognize in a dictionary.
1. You eat fish nga__ payoang__ yom 2. I lead them fo__ oe__ eyk
3. They send a
fpe’ fo__ ‘upxare__ 4. They lead me eyk oe__ fo__
message
5. You send him po__ fpe’ nga__ 5. I hear them oe__ stawm fo__

EARLY EDITION
10
Section D
Choose the correct English sentence for the provided Na’vi.
1. pol oeti stawm 2. ftxey oel payoangit 3. pol makto ikranit

a. I hear her a. I eat fish a. She rides an ikran
b. He hears me b. He leads them b. He leads me
c. You hear me c. I choose fish c. An ikran rides me
d. You hear her d. You choose fish d. I lead the ikran
4. oeti hawnu fol 5. payti oel tse’a 6. ngati oel tse’a

a. I protect them a. I see him e. He sees you
b. She leads them b. She drinks water f. I see her
c. They protect me c. Water sees me g. You see me
d. I choose them d. I see water h. I see you
Section E
Select all correct Na’vi sentences for the provided English.
If none are correct, leave the section blank.
1. I protect him 2. She eats fish 3. They send me

a. oel poti hawnu a. poti payoangìl yom a. fol fpe’ oet
b. fol hawnu oet b. yom pol payoangit b. fpe’ oel fot
c. oet ngal hawnu c. pol yom payoangìt c. oeti fpe’ fol
d. hawnu poti oel d. poti yom payoangìl d. fpe’ pol fot
4. You see her 5. They hear me 6. I choose her

a. ngal tse’a pot a. oel foti stawm a. oeti ftxey pol
b. foti yom payoangìl b. fol stawm oet b. tse’a poti oel
c. eyk ngal poanit c. stawm fol oet c. oel poti ftxey
d. ngal poti tse’a d. oet stawm fol d. oel ftxey pot
Section F
There is something wrong with each of these Na’vi sentences. Write a corrected
version of the sentence to the right of each, based off the intended English.
1. oe fpe’ ‘upxare I send a message _____________________________________
2. oeti ngal tse’a She sees me _____________________________________
3. tse’al poti oe I see him _____________________________________
4. payoangti fo yom They eat fish _____________________________________
5. yerik pol taronit He hunts hexapede _____________________________________

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6. oe stawm nga I hear you _____________________________________
Section G
Translate the following Na’vi into English.
1. stawm fol oet ________________________________________________
2. oel ngati tse’a ________________________________________________
3. poti oel stawm ________________________________________________
4. hawnu oeti ngal ________________________________________________
5. payoangìl yom oet ________________________________________________
6. fol fpe’ payoangit ________________________________________________
Section H
Translate the following English into Na’vi, emphasizing the underlined word.
1. She sends a message ________________________________________________
2. I eat hexapede ________________________________________________
3. I protect you ________________________________________________
4. He hunts fish ________________________________________________
5. They hear me ________________________________________________
6. I See into you ________________________________________________
Section I
In your own words, answer the following. Phrase your answers as you would if a
friend asked these questions.
1. In what order do words go in Na’vi? 2. What is a subject?
3. What is a direct object? 4. What is a case ending?

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5. What is the point of case endings? 6. How do you pick a word order?

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13
Other Types of Verbs and Objects
In the previous chapter, we learned about case endings, and how we use them to
answer the all-important question of “who is doing what”. Now that you understand
the reason we indicate a noun’s role and how to do so, we are going to introduce
another type of object and another type of verb.
1. What is an indirect object? How do we indicate it?

2. What are the two kinds of verbs?
3. When is it okay to omit case endings?
Consider the sentence “I give a gift to you”. Using what you learned in the previous
chapter, try to identify as many roles as you can. What is the subject, verb, and direct
object of that sentence?
The verb is obviously give. As we learned, the subject is the performer of the verb, so
it makes sense that the subject is I- the one giving. That leaves two remaining
nouns- you, and the gift. The direct object is the noun that is directly involved in the
verb. What is being given? The gift. So, what role is you playing in this sentence?
This third noun role is called the indirect object.
1. “What is an indirect object? How do we indicate it?”
The indirect object is a noun that is affected by the act of the subject performing
the verb [on the direct object]. Where the gift is the thing being affected by "give"
(as the direct object), you are being affected by "I give the gift".. You will find that the
indirect object is often a recipient of some kind. In English, this often takes the form
“to <i.obj>”, such as in “I give a gift to you”.
Like the roles discussed in the previous lesson, the indirect object is denoted with a
case ending so it isn’t mistaken as the subject or direct object.
● -ru is always correct.

● It can also take the form of -ur after a consonant
● It can be shortened to -r if the word ends in a vowel. This is most common at
the end of a sentence or preceding a word that begins with a vowel (for flow).
Using this information, here are a few ways to say “I give a gift to you”.

EARLY EDITION
14
oel stxeliti tìng ngar tìng oel ngaru stxeliti ngaru stxeliti oel tìng
The indirect object is sometimes used for things other than recipients, and not every
instance of “to” in English will be an indirect object in Na’vi. Sometimes what might
seem like an obvious direct object is actually an indirect object. But don’t fear-
there’s an easy way to tell when this is the case. It all comes down to recognizing the
type of verb you are dealing with.
2. “What are the two kinds of verbs?
Up until this point, the verbs we have used are what are known as transitive verbs. A
transitive verb is one that can have a direct object. Usually, if you can “<verb> a
<noun>”, it is a transitive verb. Eating, giving, taking, and sending are all examples of
transitive verbs. In a dictionary, a transitive verb will be marked as vtr., or verb-
transitive.
The other type of verb is intransitive. As its name may suggest, intransitive verbs are
the opposite of transitive: they cannot have a direct object. These are often actions
that one can perform by themselves: sleeping, jumping, running, and the like. In the
dictionary, these are marked as vin. for verb-intransitive.
Try it yourself!
Look up the following verbs in a Na’vi dictionary. Which of these can have a
direct object? Which cannot? Are there any that surprised you?
hena tìran hahaw ska’a srew

zup mllte nìn sop len
A very common type of intransitive verb is a si-verb. Si-verbs take the form of a noun
or adjective, followed by si. Examples include srung si, law si, and nari si. Note how all
of these are two words, the second of which is si. The word si is almost never used on
its own, but it can be likened to meaning “do”, or “engage in”. For example, "srung" is
help (the noun, of help itself), where "srung si" is "engage in help" or "do help", a verb.

All si-verbs are formed from another word. Whenever you encounter a new one,
take a moment look up the word it derives from. Doing this, you can easily learn
two words instead of one, and remember them better, too! Efficient!
All si-verbs are intransitive, even ones that to an English speaker would be
transitive (such as srung si- “help”). If you run into these kinds of intransitive verbs
that seem to have an obvious direct object, there is a good chance that it is actually

EARLY EDITION
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the indirect object. Remember- an intransitive verb, by definition, cannot have a
direct object. However, both types of verbs can potentially have an indirect object.
oe ngaru srung si kaltxì si po oer hururu lew si sa’nok
I help [to] you [s]he greets [to] me mother covers [to] the pot
From the Film!

The Na’vi gather in chant to beg the help
of Eywa to help save a wounded Dr. Grace
All:
srung si poeru, ma Eywa
Help her, Eywa
Perhaps you may have noticed something odd about these examples: the subjects
don’t have the -L endings from before! This is not an accident or error, but rather a
useful feature of the Na’vi language!
3. “When is it okay to omit case endings?”
To answer this question, we must think back to why Na’vi uses case endings in the
first place. The goal of a case endings is to remove ambiguity regarding who is doing
what. Since all verbs have a subject, implied or otherwise, Na’vi took this as an
opportunity to shorten things a little.
When using intransitive verbs, there is never a direct object (because again, they
can’t have one). Because you cannot confuse the subject with a direct object that
can’t exist, the subject of an intransitive verb does not take a case ending. In
order for this to work, though, we still must always mark the indirect object (as well
as some other cases that we will cover in the future!)
But wait, there’s more! Sometimes when using a transitive verb you don’t need to
specify a direct object. For example, you could say “I hunt” without specifying what
thing you are hunting- you just hunt in general! Whenever you use a transitive
verb without a specified direct object, you can treat it as an intransitive verb.
And, since we are using the verb intransitively, we don’t need to include the subject
marker!

A noun without a case ending should be assumed to be an intransitive subject.

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This is just one of the many ways Na’vi tries to be compact and efficient- dropping
unnecessary information that could easily be implied.
In Summary
1. What is an indirect object? How do we indicate it?

An indirect object is a noun that is affected by the act of the verb taking
place, rather than being directly involved. It is usually a recipient of some
kind. It is indicated with the -RU / -UR / -R case ending.
2. What are the two kinds of verbs?

Transitive verbs (vtr.) are able to have a direct object.
Intransitive verbs (vin.) cannot have a direct object.
All si-verbs are intransitive.
3. When is it okay to omit case endings?

The subject of an intransitive verb doesn’t need to be marked.
All transitive verbs can be used intransitively if the direct object doesn’t
need to be specified.
Post-Lesson Review: Other Types of Verbs and Objects
Section A
Indicate whether each verb is transitive (vtr) or intransitive (vin). Then, check
which noun cases make sense to be used with it.
EX. tìng vtr ✓ Subject ✓ Direct Object ✓ Indirect Object
1. yom ____ Subject Direct Object Indirect Object
2. srung si ____ Subject Direct Object Indirect Object
3. hawnu ____ Subject Direct Object Indirect Object
4. plltxe ____ Subject Direct Object Indirect Object
5. ralpeng ____ Subject Direct Object Indirect Object
6. tätxaw ____ Subject Direct Object Indirect Object
Section B

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Fill in the missing case endings in the following Na'vi sentences based on the
provided English.
WIP --pam

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Adjectives
Actions that nouns are performing are very important, but sometimes you need to
provide some more details to convey information or clarify which noun you are
talking about. This is where adjectives come in. An adjective is any word that
describes a noun. Some examples of English adjectives are blue, tall, strong, fast,
and wise.
1. How do we use adjectives in Na’vi?

2. When can I omit a?
1. “How do we use adjectives in Na’vi?”
Up until this point, we have been free to put words in whatever order we desired.
Case endings allowed us to tell how nouns related regardless of order. With
adjectives, we are presented a different problem. Now, we must answer what
describes what!
Consider the phrase “the wise hunter finds the fast animal”. There are two distinct
pairs of information: the hunter is wise, and the animal is fast. We must be careful to
not confuse the animal as wise or the hunter as fast.
To make the relationship between a noun and an adjective clear, Na’vi places
adjectives next to the noun they are describing. This is similar to how English uses
adjectives, but with a bit of extra flexibility: the adjective can come before OR after
the noun. Then, to make sure that it is clear which noun the adjective is describing,
the sound a is added to the adjective, on the side “pointing” to the noun.
win
ioang
(adj.) fast
(n.) animal Vocabulary
wina ioang -- the fast animal
ioang awin -- the fast animal
Generally, you are limited to two adjectives per noun- one on each side. In most
situations, this is more than enough specificity to make it clear what noun you are
talking about.

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If you really want to emphasize a certain quality, you can use the same adjective in
both slots. This is a way of saying “no other adjective better describes this thing”.
wina ioang awin -- the extremely fast animal
Nouns that are described with adjectives can be used like any other noun. Just make
sure to apply the appropriate case endings on your nouns, like before. The adjective
is not modified by case endings.
ioangit awin taronyul atxantslusam run -- the wise hunter finds the fast animal
hahaw ngeyna tute -- the tired person sleeps

When adding adjectives after a direct object that ends in a vowel, you can
always use the lone -T ending. It always flows since the next syllable is always a.
2. “When can I omit the a?”
There are a few exceptions to adjectives. If there is already an a sound on the side
of the adjective that points to the noun, you don’t add another. For example, with
the adjective hona (cute, endearing), you do not add the a when the adjective is to
the left, but do on the right.
hona ioang -- the cute animal

ioang ahona -- the cute animal
There is another instance where the a can be omitted. A large number of adjectives
begin with le-, often called (simply enough) le-adjectives. These are formed from
other nouns or verbs. Since there are so many of these words formed in a regular
fashion that are always adjectives, the Na’vi language leans into this to save space.
The le- prefix may be treated as an a for purposes of connecting an adjective to a
noun.
txon (n.) night

fpom
lefpom
(n.) wellbeing, peace, happiness
(adj.) well, peaceful, happy, pleasant
Vocabulary
lefpoma txon / txon lefpom -- pleasant night / good night (as a greeting / parting)

EARLY EDITION
20
You may add an a to the beginning of a le-adjective, though this is unusual as
the Na’vi try to keep things short and simple. txon alefpom is valid, but rare.
In Summary
An Adjective is a word that describes a noun.
1. How do we use adjectives in Na’vi?

Adjectives must be placed next to their noun, with an a added to the side
of the adjective pointing to the noun.
2. When can I omit a?

If the adjective already begins or ends in an a on the side it would be
added, the sound doesn’t need to repeated.
le-adjectives also don’t need a left-side a.

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21
Lu - the most misunderstood word
One of the most common (and commonly misunderstood) verbs in the Na’vi
language is lu. It’s so important that an entire chapter is being dedicated to it!
1. What does lu mean?

2. What are the three uses of lu?
1. “What does lu mean?”
If you look up lu in a dictionary, you are likely to find the definitions “is, am, be, or
are”. While that seems like a good starting point, it can be very misleading to new
learners, especially since those words are so common in the English language.
When you look up a word in the dictionary, you will be provided with sufficient
translations of that word when taken from Na’vi to English, NOT the other way
around. This is a very important distinction! In other words, when taking Na’vi to
English, a dictionary will usually point you towards the general meaning of the word.
But when taking English to Na’vi, you must tread with caution.
A common adage among language learners and teachers is to “translate the

meaning, not the words”. English words can often have many different meanings
by themselves. For example, "right" can be a direction (turn right), something
granted by law (a right to vote), correctness (she was right), and more! So, when
asked to translate "Right!", simply the word itself won't do! You must be mindful of
the meaning being communicated, not the words used to do so.
Lu has three different (but related) meanings, depending on its usage. Like the
English word "right", the context in which it is used will point you towards its
meaning.
2. “What are the three uses of lu?”
Lu is an intransitive verb that does three things: state presence, equivalence, or

ownership. Let’s cover each.
The first function of lu is stating presence. This is the one that all of the other uses
derive from. To say that "there is a <thing>", or that "a <thing> is present", you simple
EARLY EDITION
22
use that noun alongside lu. Word order is flexible, but for this usage it is more
common for lu to go first (as the final word is for emphasis, and the thing is the
important part.)
lu tìngäzìk-- there is a problem / a problem is abound
This usage compares with two other, very similar verbs: tok, and fkeytok. tok is a
transitive verb, which is used to say "(sbj.) is at (d.obj)", a location. This usage is for
stating a person or thing's whereabouts- the location is the important part. fkeytok
comes from kifkeyti tok, literally ‘be in the world’, and is used for more abstract
statements of existence (or non-existence, more on negation later). This is when you
want to comment on the reality of a thing. To compare all three:
lu sawtute -- there are skypeople (they are present, abound)

sawtutel fìtsengti tok -- Skypeople are here (at THIS location, not elsewhere)
sawtute fkeytok -- Skypeople exist- (they are real, not fake).
The second function is stating equivalence. This is when you need to say that two
things are the same, or that one thing is another thing. This is as simple as including
another noun or adjective alongside lu.
oe lu taronyu -- I am a hunter
You may be worried that we aren’t specifying what the subject is, given that there
are two nouns in this statement. Again, case endings are used to clarify ambiguity-
when we are saying one of these things is the other, it doesn’t matter. “A hunter is
me” and “I am a hunter” mean the same thing. Like most things in Na’vi, flexible
word order applies here too. Additionally, lu is an intransitive verb. It would not take a
subject case ending, and cannot have a direct object!
lu oe taronyu / taronyu lu oe / oe taronyu lu / etc... -- I am a hunter
This can also be used to state qualities of a noun (i.e. describe). Instead of a second
noun, use an adjective.
po lu kanu -- [s]he is smart
The final use is for stating ownership. Consider the phrase “I have a bow”. There is
no transitive verb for has or have. Rather, like many languages on Earth, “is/exists
(thing) to (owner) ” is the way Na’vi states possession.
lu tsko oeru -- There is a bow to me / I have a bow

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23
Remember the meaning of the indirect object- it is a noun that is affected by
the act of a verb. An object being around (see first use of lu) affects its owner.
Always keep these three uses in mind when considering lu- do not use it blindly
when trying to communicate “is/am/be/are”. The Na’vi language has its own way of
expressing these ideas that will be covered in later chapters.
In Summary
1. What does lu mean?

Providing a definition of lu is difficult as is does 3 different things in Na’vi.
2. What are the three uses of lu?
Stating Existence lu <noun>
Stating Equivalence lu <noun> <noun/adj.>
Stating Ownership lu <noun> <noun>ru

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24
Commands and Negation
Often times when speaking to others, we aren’t just telling them about things, but
suggesting (or commanding) that something be done or avoided.
1. How do you address someone?

2. How do you make a sentence a command?
3. How do you make a negative command?
4. How do you negate a verb?
5. How do you negate a noun?
1. “How do you address someone?”
In the previous chapter we learned about pronouns, whose exact meaning changes
depending on the context. One of which was nga - you, which is all fine and dandy,
so long as the person being talked to knows they are nga. So, how do we make sure
they know we’re talking to them?
When addressing someone in Na’vi, you precede their name with ma. This is like
saying “Hey <name>,” before diving into a sentence. If you frequently use group
messaging software, you can also think of this like a verbal “@” sign. It can go
anywhere in the sentence, but is often used at the start to grab attention.
From the Film!

Neytiri and Jake need to deliver an
important message.
Neytiri: ma sempul! ma sa’nok!
Jake: ma Eytukan, lu oeru aylì'u frapor.
Eytukan: pivlltxe, ma Tsyeyksuli.
Father! Mother!
Eytukan, I have words for everyone
Speak, JakeSully.
This is only used for addressing, or getting their attention. You don’t use ma every
time you use a name, nor do you need to use it in every sentence.
Neytiril payoangti yom -- Neytiri eats fish

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25
ma Jake, Neytiril payoangti yom -- @Jake, Neytiri eats fish
Use ma whenever you need to establish (or re-establish) the person you are
talking to. In English, this is basically any time you’d use the name of the person
you’re talking to instead of “you”.
A good time to make sure the person you are talking to knows they are being
addressed is when issuing a command.
2. “How do you make a sentence a command?”
Much like commands or suggestions in English, omitting the subject information

makes a sentence a command. The implied subject (usually nga or a plural form) is
the target of the command.
ngal payoangti yom -- you eat fish (statement)

payoangti yom -- eat [the] fish (command)
From the Film!

Eytukan commands Neytiri to take his
bow.
Eytukan:
ma ‘ite… tskoti munge...
Daughter… take [this] bow
A less assertive way Na’vi can issue commands is by soliciting agreement. In

english, this takes the form of “Let’s…” or “How about…”. This is accomplished by
adding the word ko to the end of a sentence.
payoangti yom ko -- Let’s eat fish!

kaltxì si ko -- How about saying hello?

EARLY EDITION
26
From the Film!
After receiving an inspirational speech,
the leader of the Ikran People of the
Eastern Sea issues a command.
Olo’eyktan:
makto ko!
Let’s ride!
These are all for when you want the listener to do something. What if you want them
to NOT do something?
3. “How do you make a negative command?”
Negative commands use the word rä’ä. This usually goes directly before the verb.
payoangti rä’ä yom! -- Don’t eat the fish!
It can also be placed after the verb, usually sentence-final, for extreme emphasis.
payoangti rä’ä yom! -- Don’t eat the fish! (i.e. it’s not yours to eat)
payoangti yom rä’ä! -- DON’T eat the fish! (i.e. it is poisonous and you’d die)
4. “How do you negate a verb?”
Negation is when you want a verb to mean its opposite. In english, this is like saying
“not <verb>”. A verb is negated by preceding it with ke. This ke must precede the
verb. It’s another example of word order not being totally free.
oel payoangti ke yom -- I don’t eat fish

ke tung pol tsat -- [s]he doesn’t allow that.

ke comes from kehe - "no!".
As a reminder, the verb component of a si-verb is the si part. So when using ke or

rä’ä, it must go before the si-part.
txopu rä’ä si -- don’t be afraid!

po kaltxì ke si -- [s]he doesn’t greet / say hello

EARLY EDITION
27
5. “How do you negate a noun?”
Similar to verbs, nouns are negated by preceding them with a word. This is usually
kea, but sometimes takes other forms that I’ll cover in a moment. The meaning is
similar to saying “no <noun>s”. It’s sort of like how you connect adjectives to nouns,
but not totally. This must go before the noun- you cannot put it afterwards as ake.
kea tìpawm -- no questions
When negating a noun, however, you must also negate the verb. The resulting
sentence looks like a double negative, which in English is a positive, but as you may
recall, you aren’t studying English.
kea swizaw ke lu oeru -- I have no arrows (lit. I don’t have no arrows)
As mentioned, there are some exceptions. Extremely general nouns tend to have
unique forms when negated. You may notice that most of these begin with kaw-,
which is short for ke ‘awa, literally “not one…”.
kawkrr (adv.) never (no time)

kawtu (pn.) nobody (no person)
kawtseng
kekem
(adv.) nowhere (no place)
(n.) nothing (no action)
Vocabulary
ke’u (n.) nothing (no thing)
Like kea, the verb must also be negated when using these special forms.
kawtu ke omum -- nobody knows
If you want extra emphasis on just how no-something doesn’t-verb, you can add
kaw’it (lit. “not a bit”). This is almost always at end of sentence, likely for emphasis!
kawtu ke omum kaw’it -- nobody knows at all

EARLY EDITION
28
In Summary
1. How do you address someone?

Place the word ma before the name of the person being addressed.
2. How do you make a sentence a command?

Omitting the subject of a sentence is implied to be a command to the
person being addressed (whoever is assumed to be “you”).
ko can be added to the end of a sentence to solicit agreement with an
action.
3. How do you make a negative command?

Adding rä’ä before a verb to command not to <verb>.
Placing it after the verb is for extreme emphasis.
4. How do you negate a verb?

Adding ke before a verb makes it “not-<verb>”. ke must precede the verb.
5. How do you negate a noun?

Adding kea before a noun makes it “no-<noun>”. If this is done, the verb
must also be negated with ke.
Some general, common words have special forms.
Pronouns, Plurality and Possession

Adjectives aren’t the only way to describe nouns. In this chapter, we will discuss
some other tools for adding information: pronouns, plurality, and possession.
1. What’s a pronoun?
2. How does Na’vi express plurality?
3. What is lenition?
4. How does Na’vi express possession?
1. “What’s a pronoun?”

EARLY EDITION
29
You’ve already seen and used several pronouns already without realizing it. A
pronoun is a special kind of noun that refers to a specific thing, but in different
contexts means different things. Examples include “you”, “me”, “I”, “him”, or “her”. If
I said “you”, and you said “you”, we would be referring to different, specific people,
but we’re using the same word to do so.
Because pronouns refer to a specific thing, they almost never take adjectives. It
would be weird to say “the red you”. What does that mean, the red one? How many
“you”s are there?! There are other special rules with pronouns that will be covered
soon. The most common Na’vi pronouns are as follows:
oe (pn.) I, me
nga
po
(pn.) you
(pn.) he/she (ungendered, third person) Vocabulary
sno (pn.) themself, themselves, their own

Both po and sno are ungendered. Na’vi generally avoids specifying gender
unless absolutely necessary, and prefers common, gender-neutral terms.
The first three, oe, nga, and po, are fairly straightforward. The last one, sno, is a bit
alien to English. It always refers back to the subject- the subject’s self. We’ll cover a
more logical use of sno soon.
Neytiri yawne lu snor -- Neytiri is beloved to herself // loves herself

po yawne lu snor -- [s]he is beloved to themself // loves themself
(Neytiri could be po)
There is another set of pronouns, but to truly appreciate their elegance, we need to
first explain plurality.
2. “How does Na’vi express plurality?”
Plurality, as you may know, is when there are multiple of the same noun being
discussed at the same time. In English, something is pluralized by adding -s or -es to
the end of the word to indicate that there are two or more of something. For
example, “box” vs. “boxes”.
Na’vi plurality is a little different. First, they recognize three kinds of plurality- 2, 3, and
4 or more. Secondly, plurality is represented as a prefix instead of a suffix.

EARLY EDITION
30
me+ (prefix) two (dual)
pxe+ (prefix) three (trial)
ay+ (prefix) four or more, general/unknown amt.
Vocabulary
utral meutral pxeutral ayutral

tree two trees three trees trees (4+)

The Na’vi value proportions over specific numbers. One, two, and three are
significantly different amounts relative to each other, but after 4 it starts being
“a lot” and each addition makes up a smaller percentage of the whole.
A related prefix is fra-. This means “all” or “every”.
frautral -- every tree, all trees
You may notice that the plural prefixes were listed with a + at the end, where fra- has
a -. This is the third difference with Na’vi plurality: it can change the word it’s
attached to. Prefixes and adpositions with a + at the end cause lenition.
3. “What is lenition?”
Lenition is a changing of certain sounds caused by some prefixes. When a leniting

prefix or adposition is put before a word that begins with a consonant, the
consonant will sometimes change. This usually results in an easier to pronounce
word, though these changes also make the plurals extra clear.
Only certain consonants are affected by lenition. Fortunately the set of affected
letters follow an easy to remember pattern.

EARLY EDITION
31
1. If it is an ejective sound, replace it with its non-ejective counterpart
KX » K PX » P TX » T
2. If the sound has an ejective counterpart, soften the sound
K»H P»F T or TS » S
3. Tìftang (‘) disappears completely
‘ »
In the previous example with the word utral, the word was not modified for lenition
because the letter U does not fall under any of these categories. However, if we used
a word like payoang, it would be affected by lenition.
payoang mefayoang pxefayoang ayfayoang
fish two fish three fish 4+ fish
Because we so often use the 4+ prefix and Na’vi loves saving syllables whenever
possible, the general plural prefix (ay+) has a special rule. If ay+ would cause
lenition, the prefix can be optionally dropped. The lenited consonant must still
remain, though. Otherwise we’d have no idea it was pluralized!
kxetse ayketse ketse
tail 4+ tails 4+ tails
There is one last exception. If tìftang (‘) is followed by a pseudovowel (LL or RR), it
is not lenited. This is because pseudovowels cannot lead a syllable.
‘rrpxom pxe’rrpxom
thunder three thunders
Na’vi plurality is intertwined with the pronouns we covered earlier in an elegant way.
In English, the group pronoun “we” is extremely context sensitive. One cannot
always immediately determine if “we” includes the listener or not. Na’vi makes this
very clear. This is called inclusivity- it establishes who is included (or excluded) in the
group pronoun.
Consider the word oeng. This is a combination of oe and nga. oe + nga = me + you.
This form of “we” includes both the speaker and listener. This can be extended to
pxoeng and ayoeng for 3 and 4+ individuals, including both the speaker and
listener. Another word for ayoeng is awnga, which is a contraction of ay+, oe, and
nga.

When oeng or ayoeng have a case ending, the a in nga returns: oengal,
ayoengat, etc.
If you don’t want to include the listener, you can use moe. This derives from me+ and
oe, literally “two me(s)”. You can similarly say pxoe and ayoe for 3 or 4+ others. This is
when you are saying “we”, as in “me and someone else, not you”. Notice the lack of
nga!
EARLY EDITION
32
The same goes for nga- menga, literally “two you(s)”- you and someone else (but not
me.) Similarly, nga can be extended to pxenga and aynga. All of these is for groups
that include the listener, but not the speaker- there is no oe!
And finally, as you may expect, we can apply this to po as well (though be careful
with lenition!). These forms are mefo, pxefo, and ayfo. Since the ay+ causes lenition,
ayfo is usually just fo. This obviously excludes both the speaker and listener. You can
even apply fra- here, to create frapo - “everyone”.
As for sno, it is never pluralized, since it always refers back to a previously described
(and already pluralized) noun.
pxesaronyu snoru srung si -- the three hunters help themselves

(It is implied that sno refers to the pxesaronyu)
4. “How does Na’vi express possession?”
Possession is a way of describing one noun as belonging to or being a part of

another. For example, “Neytiri’s knife” is referring to a specific knife- the one that
Neytiri has. In English, this sometimes takes the form “[thing] of [owner]”, for
example “branch of a tree”.
The possessive relationship uses the genitive case ending. The “owner” of the
relationship takes this case ending. Like the others, it takes different forms
depending on the word it is attached to.
● -ä if the word ends in a consonant, u, or o

● -yä on everything else
tstal Neytiriyä Neytiriyä tstal ultralä vul vul ultralä

Neyitiri’s knife Neyitiri’s knife branch of tree branch of tree
The genitive case changes slightly when attached to a pronoun. If a pronoun ends
in a vowel, that vowel is replaced with an e. Then as before, because it ends in an
e, the -yä ending is used.
oe » oeyä nga » ngeyä po » peyä sno » sneyä
tsko oeyä säfpìl ngeyä peyä wutso sneyä samsä’o

my bow your idea his/her meal their own weapons

EARLY EDITION
33
Because possession describes a noun, the owner must be near the noun it modifies,
but can come before or after. Similar to adjectives, If it wasn’t near the noun it was
describing, it would be hard to tell who owns what!
While the genitive behaves like an adjective in many ways, it is not a true adjective.
For instance, it does not take up an adjective slot.
ngeyä spuwina tsko atun -- your previous, red bow
Genitive can also be chained together. It’s best to work starting from the noun and
moving outwards to avoid ambiguity.
oeyä sempulä tsko // tsko sempulä oeyä -- my father’s bow
From the Film!

Jake rallies the Omatikaya people to help
him in uniting the clans.
Tsu’tey (Translating):
fìtsenge lu awngeyä!
This place is ours!
Speaking of ambiguity, be careful with the placement of the genitive. With

adjectives, we could place them between two nouns because the a-connector
pointed us towards the noun being described. But with the genitive, we cannot do
this! There is nothing indicating which noun is being described!
yerikìl awin syuveti yom -- the fast hexapede eats food

yerikìl oeyä syuveti yom -- my hexapede eats food? hexapede eats my food?
Fortunately, due to flexible word order, you can always arrange your sentences in a
way where there is no ambiguity.
Finally, we mentioned the pronoun sno earlier. The most common usage of this
pronoun is with the genitive case, referring back to the subject.
Neytiril tstalit sneyä Tsyeykur tìng -- Neytiri gives her knife to Jake
In this situation we do not use peyä. Instead, peyä is how we reference possession by
someone who isn’t the subject.

EARLY EDITION
34
In Summary
1. What’s a pronoun?
A pronoun is a noun that refers to a specific thing, but the exact thing
being referenced is context sensitive. They rarely take adjectives.
Pronouns can be combined with plurality prefixes to describe groups.

Na’vi groups specify inclusivity: whether the speaker or listener are
included in the group or not.
2. How does Na’vi express plurality?

Na’vi has 3 kinds of plurality, and employs prefixes to indicate plurality.
me+ two (dual)
pxe+ three (trial)
ay+ four+ (general or unknown)

Additionally, fra- can be used to say “all <noun>” or “every <noun>”.
3. What is lenition?
A softening or changing of sounds. Prefixes marked with a + cause
lenition.
KX » K TX » T PX » P K»H P»F T/TS »S ‘»[ ]
If the ay+ prefix causes lenition, it can be optionally dropped while
leaving the lenited sound.
4. How does Na’vi express possession?

The genitive case ending -(y)ä. Works for “X’s” and “X of Y” relations.
-ä is used if the word ends in a consonant, u, or o.

-yä is used on everything else.
Pronouns are modified, where the final vowel becomes an e.
The genitive can be chained to establish complex relationships.
Be careful with genitive placement to not create ambiguity.

EARLY EDITION
35
Infixes, Part 1 - When
Up until now we’ve only been using the present tense form of verbs- things that are
currently happening or could happen. But now it’s time to introduce the past and
future into conversation. This will be the first of three foundational lessons on a
unique tool in Na’vi grammar- the Infix.
1. What is an infix?
2. How do we indicate tense?
3. How do I know where to put an infix?
1. “What is an infix?”
In previous chapters we have used both prefixes and suffixes to modify words. These
are mechanisms that should be familiar to most English speakers. But Na’vi has
another kind of affix- the infix, which goes inside a word.
In some fringe cases, English does actually use infixes, though only in slang and not
for any meaningful purpose. Consider if you were having a party “up in this hizouse”
and it was “in-f**king-credible.” Both <iz> and <f**king> are examples of English slang
infixes.
One final note about infixes, they do not change the stress of a word. Every word
with 2 or more syllables has one that is typically stressed. In English, we say ROLLing,
not rollING. Na’vi is the same way, except since we add affixes to words, which can
change the number of syllables. Fortunately, the stress doesn’t change when we do
so.
Stress is “stored” in vowels in Na’vi. This is to say that if the stress on taron is TAron,
regardless of how the word is modified, the syllable with the A is the one that will be
stressed.
2. “How do we indicate tense?”
As you may have guessed from the title of this lesson, infixes are how Na’vi indicates
tense. There are many different infixes, but for purposes of this lesson we are going
to focus on four simple ones. First, <am> and <ay>.

EARLY EDITION
36
oel payoangti y<am>om -- I ate fish (past)
oel payoangti y<ay>om -- I will eat fish (future)

EARLY EDITION
37
By inserting <ay> and <am>, we can specify the verb happened in the past or future-
but the Na’vi concept of tenses does stop there. Na’vi can also specify the recent
past or near future. These are done with <ìm> and <ìy>.
oel payoangti y<ìm>om -- I just ate fish (recent past)

oel payoangti y<ìy>om -- I will soon eat fish (near future)
You may have noticed a pattern with the infixes that makes them easier to
remember. Those that begin with ì are near, where those that being with a are far.
Similarly, the ones that end in m are related to the past, where ending in y
corresponds to the future. This is best demonstrated in a grid:
M Y
(past) (future)
Ì <ìm> <ìy>
(near) (near past) (near future)
A <am> <ay>
(far) (far past) (far future)
Many learners often ask “what defines near vs. far?”. The answer to this question, like
most, is “it depends”. If we were talking in the context of an entire lifetime, last year
would be very recent! But, in the context of day-to-day activity, last year could be a
really long time ago. The best advice I can give in this regard is that If it “feels recent”
to you, then it probably is!

Because of the availability of the more specific near-tenses, <am> and <ay> are
often used for far-future and far-past.
So, we know that we must insert these infixes inside a verb. But WHERE in the verb?
3. “How do I know where to put an infix?”
There are very consistent rules for the placement of infixes- but their placement is
dependent on the type of infix being used. In this lesson we’ve covered tenses, which
go in position <1>. As you may have guessed, there are several categories of infixes,
and other positions that they go in. For now, we will only concern ourselves with
position <1>.
Position <1> is before the penultimate (second-to-last) vowel of the verb. In

situations where the verb only has one vowel, it simply goes before that one.

EARLY EDITION
38
taron -- t<1>aron
yom -- y<1>om

Infixes always* begin with a vowel and end in a consonant. Since they precede a
vowel, this will always result in a valid, pronounceable word.
*: except for one we will cover next chapter but don’t worry about it
It wouldn’t be a language without exceptions, so let’s get those out of the way! As
you remember, the verb part of a si-verb is the si, so that gets the infixes.
po srung s<am>i oeru -- she helped me

(never sr<am>ung si)
Try it yourself!
Identify infix position <1> in the following verbs, and practice the four infixes
we’ve covered. What does the resulting verb mean? When it is taking place?
tse’a fpe’ omum

txopu si tìran frrfen
Many Na’vi words are two or more others combined to make new meaning, and
verbs are no exception. When this is done, it is often a noun and a verb combined.
When this happens, the verb component holds on to the infix- the vowels in the
compound word don’t affect infix position.
ral (n.) meaning

peng
ralpeng
(vtr.) tell
(vtr.) translate, (lit. “meaning-tell”)
Vocabulary
fìpukit Entul ralp<ay>eng -- Entu will translate this book
(never r<ay>alpeng)

As you pick up more vocabulary, you’ll find it easier and easier to recognize
compounds. Noticing compounds makes it easier to remember words, too!
If you are unsure of an infix position, you can always double-check with a dictionary.
Verb entries will include dots (•) at infix positions <1> and <2>. We’ll cover <2> later, for
now just know it exists and comes second. Let’s dissect a dictionary entry to show
how to find this information.

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39
taron: [ˈt·a.ɾ·on ] JC,PF vtr. hunt
Stressed Syllable Marker,Infix Position, Syllable Break, Word Source, Part of Speech
As you can see, the infix position breakdown of taron is t<1>ar<2>on.
This “before the penultimate vowel” rule is what Paul Frommer has officially declared
as the rule to use for determining position <1>. HOWEVER, at time of writing, there is
an easier way to calculate its position: Before the first vowel. Since currently there
are no three-syllable root verbs, “before second-to-last” is indistinguishable from
“before first”.
If Frommer ever creates a three-syllable root verb, however, this will go out the
window!
In Summary
1. What is an infix?
An infix is an addition to a word that goes inside the word, instead of
before (a prefix) or after (a suffix).
Stress is preserved on the vowel, regardless of infixes.
2. How do we indicate tense?

Tense is indicated by an infix inside a verb.
<am> - general past
<ìm> - near past
no infix - present
<ìy> - near future
<ay> - general future
3. How do I know where to put an infix?

Tense infixes go in position <1>
Position <1> is located before the second-to-last vowel of the verb.
Some compound verbs can have irregular infix positions.
In dictionary entries, infix positions are denoted with a dot •
Because there are no three-syllable root verbs (yet), infix position <1> can
also be thought of as before the first vowel.

EARLY EDITION
40
EARLY EDITION
41
Infixes, Part 2 - That’s just like, your opinion, man
Infixes can do more than indicate tense. They can also be used to communicate how
the speaker feels about the verb.
1. What is affect, and how do we communicate it?

2. What are the affect infixes?
1. “What is affect, and how do we communicate it?”
One feature of Na’vi that isn’t present in English is verbal indication of how you feel
about a situation. This is called affect or judgement- it allows the speaker to
indicate how they feel about the verb or other circumstantial information.
Affect is always inferred from the perspective of the speaker. If you were talking
about how someone else was hunting in the rain and they weren’t happy about it,
you would not use affect. However, if you were mad that someone else was hunting
in the rain, then you would use affect. It is the speaker’s judgement.
To do this, we employ infix position <2>. Position <2> goes before the final vowel.
As with position <1>, if there is only one vowel, it goes before that one, but AFTER
position <1> infixies (if applicable).
taron - t<1>ar<2>on
yom - y<1><2>om
2. “What are the affect infixes?”
There are presently four affect infixes. First, <ei> indicates positive attitude or
emotion. This is to say, the speaker is excited or happy about the verb.
tar<ei>on pxefo -- those three are hunting (neat!)

oel payoangti y<ìy><ei>om -- I will soon eat fish (yay!)
<ei> is the only infix that ends in a vowel instead of a consonant, so it has a few
unique exceptions. If it is placed before an i, ì, ll, or rr, it changes into <eiy>. This
ends up happening a lot in si-verbs!

EARLY EDITION
42
oe ngaru srung seiyi -- I help you (happily!)
(never “srung seii”)
Try it yourself!
Try saying “srung s<ei>i”. It kind of ends up sounding like “srung seiyi” anyway!
On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, <äng> indicates negative

attitude- anger or displeasure concerning the action.
fol payoangti ke y<äng>om -- They aren’t eating fish (arg!)
As you can see, using <ei> and <äng> add circumstantial information concerning
how the speaker’s opinion about the verb. The other two affect infixes also add
circumstantial information, though they relate less to emotion.
Sometimes when making a statement it is concerning something that you aren’t

certain is true, but are making your best guess at. In English, this is done by adding
words like “must have” or “I assume” to the sentence. Na’vi conveys inferential
assumptions with the affect infix of <ats>.
nga txopu s<ats>i -- You must be scared (based on how you’re acting, etc.)
fo h<ìy><ats>um --[I assume] they will be leaving soon
Finally, Na’vi has a unique affect used in ceremonial circumstances- <uy>. It’s there
to fancy up speech for special occasions.
srung s<uy>i poru ma Eywa -- help them, Eywa (ceremoniously)
Speaking of fancy ceremonial language, there’s some special associated pronouns.
ohe
ngenga
(pn.) I, me (replaces oe)
(pn.) you (replaces nga) Vocabulary
The normal plurality rules apply to these pronouns as well (so mohe, ayhoe,
pxengenga, etc. are valid). If ohe and ngenga are to be combined ala oeng, they
instead take the form ohe sì ngenga / ohe ngengasì.

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43
From the Film!
Eytukan welcomes Jake as one of the clan.
Eytukan:
Ngenga 'itan omatikayaä luyu set.
Na'viyä luyu hapxì.
You are a son of the Omatikaya now.
Part of The People.
In Summary
1. What is affect, and how do we communicate it?

Affect indicates the feelings or judgement of the speaker.
It is communicated via an infix in the verb, in position <2>.
Position <2> comes before the final vowel.
In single-vowel verbs, it comes after <1>
2. What are the affect infixes?

<ei> - positive emotion
(changed to <eiy> when preceding an i, ì, ll, and rr )
<äng> - negative emotion
<ats> - informed assumption
<uy> - ceremonial tone, used alongside special pronouns
ohe - replaces oe
ngenga - replaces nga

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44
Infixes, Part 3 - Are We Done Yet?
As we’ve seen, many kinds of information can be communicated via infixes. So far
we’ve covered tense (answers when the verb happens) and affect (how the speaker
feels about the verb or other circumstantial information). This chapter will introduce
one more type of information that is needed to continue with the fundamentals.
1. What is aspect?
2. What is the subjunctive?
3. Where do these infixes go?
4. What are the combined infixes?
1. “What is aspect?”
At its heart, aspect answers the question “is the action completed?”. This is
completely separate from tense- it is possible for something to be done in the future,
present, or past. As you probably guessed, aspect is communicated via infixes.
First up, <er>. This is called imperfective, or ongoing. This refers to something that
has begun, but has not yet finished. English’s closest approximation of this concept
is the structure “is/was/will be <verb>-ing”.
po tul -- [s]he runs

po t<er>ul -- [s]he is running (and continues to run)
When you are no longer <er>, you are <ol> - perfective, or completed/finished. This
is an action that has concluded. The English approximation of this is a little messy
because we often associate completed actions with past tense. To be fair, there can
be some overlap between these ideas.

po t<ol>ul -- [s]he ran (and finished running / is no longer running)
In addition to these two aspects, there is another idea that is very related: the
subjunctive.
2. “What is the subjunctive?”

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45
The subjunctive describes things that are uncertain- things that are not objective
facts, such as possibilities, wishes, or hypotheticals. It is often called possibility
mode, which is a great way to think about it. This can take many forms in English,
but most commonly it is represented as “may <verb>” or “might <verb>”.
In Na’vi, we use the infix <iv> for the subjunctive.

po t<iv>ul -- [s]he may run (but may not)
The subjunctive infix will become more important in the future, as it is often required
by the grammar.
3. “Where do these infixes go?”
The aspect and subjunctive infixes both go in position <1>, which you may
remember as the same place where tense infixes go. As a reminder, it is before the
penultimate vowel (or, due to a lack of 3-syllable root verbs, before the first vowel).
Just like tenses, you can use both aspect and affect.
fo t<er>aron -- they are hunting (and continue to hunt)

fo terarängon they are hunting (and continue to hunt) (arg!)
But, you can also combine them with tense! As mentioned before, tense and aspect
are independent pieces of information. However, they occupy the same infix
position. In the situations where you need to specify both when something
happened and how complete it was, we turn to combined infixes.
4. “What are the combined infixes?”
Combined infixes contain two types of information that would normally occupy the
same infix slot. This is to say that tense, aspect, and the subjunctive can be
included in the same infix. Combined infixes follow a consistent set of rules that
make them easier to remember. First, the consonant of the aspect is put in
between the letters of the tense.
<am> <ìm> <ìy> <ay>
<arm> <ìrm> <ary>

<ìry>
<er> far past near past general future
near future ongoing
ongoing ongoing ongoing
“soon be verbing”
“was verbing” “was just verbing” “will be verbing”

EARLY EDITION
46
<alm> <ìlm> <ìly> <aly>
<ol> far past near past near future general future,
complete complete complete complete
“had verbed” “had just verbed” “soon will have verbed” “will have verbed”
While this may seem quite complex and a lot to remember, it can be thought of as
an extension of the pattern we learned to remember the tense infixes.
Begins with a or ì : far vs near.

Middle is r or l : ongoing vs complete
Ends with m or y : past vs. future
The subjunctive works a little different. This time, the consonant of the merged infix
is inserted in <iv>. This means we lose near/far information when combining tenses,
but still preserve past/future. In addition to tense, the subjunctive can also be
combined with the aspects! However, One cannot combined subjunctive, aspect,
and tense at the same time. That would be way too much information if you ask me!
<am> <ìm> <ìy> <ay> <er> <ol>
<iv>
(subjunctive)
<imv> <iyev> / <ìyev>* <irv> <ilv>
*<iyev> is a bit different, because <iyv> would not create valid words in the Na’vi phonetics system.
Additionally, both <ìyev> and <iyev> are valid.

Only use a combined infix if both pieces of information are important to
communicating your point!
Now that we’ve covered all these complex infixes, I must stress that these are not
very commonly used. As discussed in previous chapters, languages generally keep
things simple. If information is not critical to communicating meaning, it doesn’t
have to be included. Many beginners will “over-infix” their statements when first
learning about combined infixes. Just because you are in a generally good mood
doesn’t mean everything has to take <ei>. Not everything done in the past needs an
<ìlm> or <alm>.
Let’s say we are trying to communicate that you ate some delicious fish yesterday.
An over-infixed version of this sentence might look like such:
trram oel payoangti y<alm><ei>om

EARLY EDITION
47
When I read this, I get “Yesterday, in the past, I ate fish (and finished eating it) and
this made me happy”. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t talk like this regularly.
So, let’s trim the fat. Firstly- since we already specified that this happened yesterday
(trram), we no longer need to specify a tense. <am> and <ìm> aren’t very precise, or
at least not as precise as stating outright the day it happened. Secondly, is <ei> really
required? Sure, it may have been a delicious fish meal, but unless that was the
highlight of your day or you are especially proud of this thing, then <ei> can be let go
too. Trimming out these pieces, we get a much simpler sentence:
trram oel payoangti y<ol>om
Yesterday, I ate (and finished eating) fish. So, the question then becomes: how
important is it to specify that you finished eating the fish? This is ultimately
something that would come down to conversational context.

Double check your sentences to see if there’s information that could be implied.
No need to say the same thing twice!

EARLY EDITION
48
In Summary
1. What is aspect?
Aspect answers the question “is the action completed?”
Ongoing aspect - <er> infix
Complete aspect - <ol> infix.
2. What is the subjunctive?

The subjunctive refers to a verb that is uncertain, be it a wish, prediction,
guess, or hypotheticals. It is required by some parts of the grammar that
will be covered in later chapters. It uses the <iv> infix.
3. Where do these infixes go?

Aspect and subjunctive both go in position <1>, the same place that
tense information can go. This is before the first vowel.
4. What are the combined infixes?

If both tense and aspect information are to be used, use a combined infix.
The aspect infix’s consonant is placed between the two letters that make
up the tense infix.
<arm> <ìrm> <ìry> <ary>, and <alm> <ìlm> <ìly> <aly>.
When combining with the subjunctive, the consonant of the tense is

added between the subjunctive. It can also be combined with aspect by
placing the consonant of the aspect in the same manner.
<imv> <iyev>/<ìyev> <irv> <ilv>

EARLY EDITION
49
We Can Try to Begin to Understand Modals
In a previous lesson we learned about the <iv> (subjunctive) infix and how it conveys
uncertainty or possibility. This idea will be put into good use with a new kind of verb.
1. What is a modal verb?

2. How are modal verbs used?
3. How are case endings used with modal verbs?
4. How are infixes used with modal verbs?
1. “What is a modal verb?”
A modal verb, also known as an auxiliary verb, is a verb that can modify or
describe the circumstances of another. Some examples of modal verbs are "must",
"can", "begin", and "want". One can simply "run", but they could also "begin running",
"want to run", "continue running", or "must run". These helper verbs are helpful in
establishing relationships between the actor and the verb.
Modal verbs will be marked with an extra m. in dictionary entries: vtrm. (transitive,
modal) or vinm./vim. (intransitive, modal).
2. “How are modal verbs used?”
Modal usage in Na'vi is very similar to English. First, the modal verb must precede
the verb it is modifying. However, the modal does not have to be immediately
before the affected verb. We still have some flexibility in the word order.
Secondly, the verb affected by the modal must take the <iv> infix. This is because
all modal verbs refer to things that are inherently uncertain. For example, I can leave,
but whether I leave or not is uncertain.
tsun
zene
(vinm.) can, able to
(vinm.) must Vocabulary
oe hum -- I leave
oe zene hum -- I must leave
oe tsun h<iv>um -- I can leave
EARLY EDITION
50
tsun oe h<iv>um -- I can leave (alternate word order)
oe h<iv>um tsun -- NOT VALID, modal comes after the affected verb
3. “How are case endings used with modal verbs?”
Although modal verbs are listed with transitivity information, that is only important
when using them by themselves, without modifying another verb.
new
fmi
(vtrm.) want
(vtrm.) attempt, try Vocabulary
pol oeti new -- [s]he wants me
fol new yivom -- they want to eat
fmi tsauvanit! -- try that game!
po fmi tsakem sivi! -- [s]he tries to do that [action]!
As you can see, one can want or attempt a noun. In those cases, we're just using the
modal as the main verb. But, we can also use it to modify a verb.

You can think of modality and transitivity as a badges that unlock new ways to
use a verb. Every verb is intransitive, but some have access to a direct object (tr)
or modifying other verbs (m).
Combining modal verbs with intransitive verbs is pretty simple, but what if we want
to add a direct object to the affected verb? For example, "they want to eat fish"? In
this case, the fish is the direct object of eat. But what is the subject of eat?
Technically, eat has no subject. "They" is the subject of want, not eat. Who is
wanting? They. Who is eating? Nobody. The simplest version of this statement
would be "they want". The fact that "eating is wanted" and "the thing wanted to be
eaten is fish" is all additional information to the fact that wanting is happening. This
same logic can be applied to answering what the direct object of "want" is. "Fish" is
not wanted, "eating" is. But, verbs don't take case endings, so the direct object case
ending can be saved for the direct object of the modified verb.
Since we are using two verbs in the same sentence, we need a way to keep track of
which nouns relate to which verbs. As always, we turn to case endings to answer
such relationship questions. The subject of the modal remains unmarked, where the
direct object of the modified verb is marked.
fo new yivom payoangit -- they want to eat fish

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51
new fo yivom payoangit -- they want to eat fish (alternate order)
new yivom fo payoangit -- they want to eat fish (alternate order)
new yivom payoangit fo -- they want to eat fish (alternate order)
However, the Na'vi are very accustomed to certain patterns, such as subjects and
direct objects being next to each other, and verbs being at the end. So, the following
is judged as acceptable, even though it breaks from the pattern above.
fol payoangit new yivom -- they want to eat fish
In this case, "new yivom" is treated as a single "super verb". This is proper in all almost
all occasions, barring some very formal situations. Less common is the following:
payoangit fol new yivom -- they want to eat fish
A large number of speakers would find this jarring, since it SOV's pattern is more
common than OSV's. But, it is still valid. So, how about having subjects and objects
after the "new yivom" super verb? Does this work? The answer is no!
new yivom fol payoangit -- NOT VALID
In the previous example, we established a subject-object relationship, and then

"corrected" ourselves with a modal super verb. But if the modal verb combination
comes first, the Na'vi now expect an unmarked subject (and a marked direct object,
if applicable).
4. “How are infixes used with modal verbs?”
As said earlier, the verb affected by the modal always takes the <iv> infix, and ONLY
<iv>. If we need to add tense, aspect, or affect information, that goes in the modal.
new fo yivom payoangit -- they want to eat fish

n<am>ew fo yivom payoangit -- they wanted to eat fish
n<ay><ei>ew fo yivom payoangit -- they will want (yay!) to eat fish
In situations where you are using multiple modal verbs (yes, that is a thing!), keep
following the same rules from before: the lead modal receives all the informational
infixes, and the affected verbs are simply <iv>.
ts<ìy>un fo sgn<iv>ä'i yivom payoangit

-- they will soon be able to begin to eat fish

EARLY EDITION
52
It's especially important to keep modals in order from start to finish. Since modals
describe the subject's relationship with the verb, you want to make sure the correct
verbs are describing each other!
fo sngamä'i nivew yivom payoangit -- they began to want to eat fish

fo namew sngivä'i yivom payoangit -- they wanted to begin eating fish
In Summary
1. What is a modal verb?

A modal verb is a kind of verb that can be used to modify another verb.
2. How are modal verbs used?

Modal verbs go before the verb they modify. The affected verb gets the
<iv> infix.
3. How are case endings used with modal verbs?

The subject of the modal is an unmarked subject. The direct object of the
affected verb, if applicable, remains marked as a direct object.
It is valid to use -L and -T endings with a modal verb, but only if the modal
and modified verb come after the nouns.
4. How are infixes used with modal verbs?

Only the leading modal verb can be given informative infixes. Any verbs
that follow take <iv>.

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53
*Prefixes and Suffixes
The Na’vi language relies heavily on the uses of affixes to modify words. These are
the small chunks of sounds that are attached to a word to modify its meaning or
provide additional information, such as the -L, -T, and -R case endings. This lesson
will introduce handful that will be useful to you.
All of the affixes that will be shown in this lesson are freely productive, or create
valid new words, without requiring the specific combination to exist in the
dictionary. It’s important to learn which affixes are productive, and which ones are
common in etymology but non-productive.
The first two are very common noun prefixes: fì- and tsa-. These mean “this” and
“that”, respectively. They can be attached to the beginning of a noun to say things
like “this (noun)” and “that (noun)”.
Thing, object, fact (n.): ‘u

‘u » fì’u » this thing
‘u » tsa’u » that thing
tsapayoang » that fish
fì’upxare » this message
Related to fì- and tsa-, there is also fay+ and tsay+ for “these (this + plural)” and
“those (that + plural). You may recognize the ay+ from the previous lesson on plurals.
tawtute » sky person (human)

faysawtute » these sky people (humans)
‘ewll » plant
tsayewll » those plants
The other plural prefixes (me+, pxe+) can also be combined in this way.
fìmeharyu » these two teachers

tsapxefìwopx » those three clouds
One final prefix for nouns, fne-. This is means type/kind of (noun). It comes from the
noun “fnel”, which is a type or kind of something.
mauti » fruit
fnemauti » type of fruit
You can also use the genitive case to create a similar noun, using the root word “fnel”

EARLY EDITION
54
fnel mautiyä » fruit’s type / type of fruit
These prefixes can be combined, too! The order is fì/tsa, then plurality, then fne-.
fìfnetute » this kind of person

tsamefneioang » those two kinds of animal
tsayfne’ewll » those kinds of plants
fìpxefnerìk » these three kinds of leaves
The next is an example of a suffix: -yu. You can attach -yu to the end of any verb to
say “a person who [verb]s”, similar to how “-er” behaves in English.
taron » hunt (vtr.)

taronyu » hunter (n.)
Next, the indefinite suffix, -o. This is similar to how we say “some [noun]” in English
(i.e. somewhere, something, sometime). Anything that could be described with the
original noun is included- no particular one is specified or needed.
tute » person
tuteo » someone (lit. some person)
pa’li » direhorse
pa’lio » some direhorse
With the prefixes, if the ending vowel matches the start of the word it leads into,
they are contracted together. Na’vi tries to avoid doubling sounds unless not doing
so would create ambiguity.
atan » light
tsatan » that light
The -o suffix adds additional information, however, so it is doubled where applicable.

When written, a dash (-) is sometimes added to make this more clear.
yayo » bird
yayo-o » some bird
In a previous chapter, we covered addressing others via the word “ma”. You can also
indicate that you are addressing a group with the suffix -ya (not to be confused with
-yä, the possessive indicator). This can only be applied to nouns that refer to a group.
For example, you will never see something like “ngaya”, since nga refers to a single
person.
mawey, Na’viya! mawey! » Calm, @people! Calm!

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55
oel payoangit yom frapoya » @Everyone, I eat fish!

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56
*Asking Questions
Up until this point we have only been working with statements- I eat fish, he ran, you
must soon go. In this lesson we will cover how to ask questions in Na’vi.
Fundamentally, there are two kinds of questions. The first is the Yes-no Question. As
its name implies, it’s a question that can be answered with “yes” or “no”. These are
things like “Did you eat fish?” or “Is she sleeping?”.
To indicate a Yes-no question, we simply add srak or srake to the statement. Srake
must be at the beginning, and srak must be at the end.
Etymology Note: srak(e) comes from the combination of sran(e) (yes) and kehe (no).
ngal payoangit yamom » You ate fish (sometime in the past).

ngal payoangit yamom srak » You’ve eaten fish Y/N?
srake ngal payoangit yamom » Y/N have you eaten fish?
It is more common to use srak, unless the question statement is rather large. When
dealing with longer questions, it may help the listener to know you are about to
launch into a question at the start of the sentence rather than say so at the end.
There is another form of the Yes-no question that you may encounter- kefyak. This is
added to the end of a statement to ask for confirmation. This is similar to how in
English we finish statements of assumption with “...right?”.
ngal payoangit yamom, kefyak » You’ve eaten fish, right?
Etymology Note: kefyak is actually the shortening of ke fìfya srak, which means “not
this way Y/N?”. So it is still a srak question, just in disguise!
Our final way of asking questions is with a an affix that can be either a prefix or a
suffix: -pe+. This is the question affix, which can be translated as “what” or “which”
(noun). Remember that due to lenition, the pe+ prefix may change the first sound
of the word it is attached to.
utral tree
peutral or utralpe which tree?
kilvan river
pehilvan which river?
Some words may be shortened in irregular ways. This tends to happen on more
common root words that often drop a syllable when part of a compound word. Here
are some examples:
EARLY EDITION
57
fya’o way, path, or manner
pefya OR fyape in what way / how?
tute person
pesu OR tupe which person / who?
Regardless of what word we choose, if we insert these nouns with the -pe+ affix into
a sentence, the statement becomes a question.
pehrr oel payoangit yom » when will I eat fish? (what/which time)
oel ‘upet yayom » what will I eat? (what/which thing)
pesul payoangit yom » who eats fish? (what/which person)
These are called Wh-questions because they ask things like what, when, where,
why, and who (and how).
Most of the time people ask questions when they assume the person or people they
are addressing know the answer. But sometimes people wonder aloud things that
they don’t expect to be answered. If you assume the listener won’t know the answer,
we can employ the <ats> (inferential) mood affix along with the question word..
srake pol tsapayoangit y<ol><ats>om » I wonder Y/N he ate that fish…

pesu k<ol><ats>ar for? » I wonder who taught them...
Sometimes you may be asking about a pluralized noun. For this, we use pem+, pep+,
and pay+. You can also choose the suffix -pe instead, and then pluralize the noun as
normal.
pemyayo » what two birds?

meyayope » what two birds?
pepsìpawm » what three questions?
pxesìpawmpe » what three questions?
payhilvan » what rivers?
(ay)hilvanpe » what rivers?
The question prefix can also be worked in to the fne- prefix we covered in the
previous chapter. It goes in the place of fì- or tsa-.
tsole’a ngal pefneioangit » What type of animal did you see?

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58
*Clause Attribution and F-Words
In a previous chapter, we learned how “a” can be used to connect an adjective to a
noun, which describes it. There is another way we can describe nouns, and it works
in a very similar way. Introducing clause attribution!
Suppose we wanted to say “I ate the fish that you hunted”. The end of that sentence,
“...that you hunted” is describing the fish that I ate, like an adjective describes a
noun. However, it is a phrase with a verb and a subject, not a single word like “blue”
or “fast”. In grammar, this is called a clause- a piece of a sentence, consisting of a
verb and its related nouns.
Similar to how we use adjectives, we describe with clauses with a- the difference lies
in where it is placed. Unlike adjectives where we attach it to the word, the a in clause
attribution is free-floating.
yamom oel payoangit atun » I ate [the] red fish (adjective)

yamom oel payoangit a ngal tolaron » I ate fish that you hunted (clause)
You’ll notice that “ngal tolaron” could stand alone by itself as a phrase: “you hunted”,
it is simply missing the thing that is hunted. The missing piece, in this case the direct
object, is the thing it is describing - the fish.
Like adjectives, clauses used to describe nouns can be on either side of the noun
they are describing.
yamom oel payoangit a ngal tolaron » I ate fish that you hunted
ngal tolaron a payoangit yamom oel » I ate fish that you hunted
You cannot have your clause’s nouns and verbs intermingle with the nouns and
verbs of other clauses. To avoid ambiguity, you must have all of a descriptive
clause’s ideas together, though their order within the clause is as flexible as the
language allows.
payoangit a ngal oel tolaron yamom » Not legal

payoangit a ngal tolaron yamom oel » I ate fish that you hunted
So, using clause attribution, we can describe nouns with verb phrases. There is a
particular application of this technique that you will see often, using the words fula,
futa, and fwa- sometimes called “the f-words”. These are used when a clause is the
subject or direct object of a verb statement.

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59
All of the f-words are shortened forms of fì’u a, or “this thing (which is [clause])”, with
some sort of case ending. (fì-, “this”, + ‘u, “thing”, with the clause attributive a).
fì’u a » fwa, for when fì’u is an intransitive subject (and has no case ending)
fì’ul a » fula, for when fì’u is a transitive subject (-L ending)
fì’ut a » futa, for when fì’u is the direct object (-T ending)
So, how do we use these things? Consider the sentence “You know that I eat fish”.
ngal omum futa oel payoangit yom » you know this thing: I eat fish
What we are doing is making a placeholder object (fì’u, “this thing”) that we then
describe. If you unpack futa back into fì’ut a, this may be a bit more clear.
ngal omum fì’ut a oel payoangit yom » you know this thing: I eat fish
Here is another example, using fwa. This is the same as just saying “fì’u a”. Note the
lack of a case ending, because these would be the subject of intransitive verbs.
fwa slolu taronyu nga tsranten ayoer

»
this thing: you have become a hunter is important to all of us
Like most things in the Na’vi language, the word order with f-words can be a little
flexible, though we can’t use the contracted version of futa if the clause is to the left,
because it is specifically a shortened form of “fì’ut a”, NOT “a fì’ut”.
oel payoangit yom a fì’ut ngal omum » you know this thing: I eat fish
ngal omum oel payoangit yom a fì’ut » you know this thing: I eat fish
Using clauses to describe things is useful and flexible, but can get complex if you’re
not careful. With great power comes great responsibility to respect your listener.
Consider the phrase “I know that you think that I eat fish”.
omum oel futa fpìl ngal futa oel payoangit yom

»
I know this thing: you think this thing: I eat fish
If you wanted to give your listener a hard time, you could use word order to make
this very difficult to comprehend (but technically correct) sentence:
futa futa oel payoangit yom ngal fpìl omum oel

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60
»
I know this thing: you think this thing: I eat fish
I would strongly advise against doing this in practical conversation. This example is
presented for academic purposes only.
*Adverbs and Conjunctions

Much in the same way that adjectives describe nouns, adverbs can be used to
describe verbs. In Na’vi, adverbs are much more flexible than adjectives, because a
clause only contains one primary verb. Because of this, an adverb’s position within a
clause is completely free!
sunu nìtxan oeru fwa nga zola’u

nìtxan oeru sunu fwa nga zola’u
etc...
»
To me is very liked that you have come
Adverbs ultimately describe the way in which the verb was done. This includes
descriptors like “quickly”, “quietly”, “loudly”, and such, but also describe things like
locations and time of the verb.
fìtxon nga tolul nìwin nìtxan » tonight you ran very quickly
A clause can have any number of adverbs, and this is especially useful as
demonstrated above- you can provide a lot of context to a single verb statement by
using the full palette of adverb types.
You may notice that many adverbs begin with nì-. Though we will cover this more in
depth in a later lesson, many words can be made into an adverb by adding nì-. This is
similar to how English adds “-ly”
ftue » easy (adj.)

nìftue » easily (adv.)
One unusual adverb is ke, which you may remember is used for negating a verb.
This adverb is unusual in that it must precede the verb it modifies.
oel payoangit ke yom » I do not eat fish

EARLY EDITION
61
Another way we can provide more information is by connecting the ideas of two
separate sentences. To show a relationship between multiple statements, a
conjunction is used. These are words like “but”, “and”, “instead of”, and the like.
nga tìyaron ulte oe ‘ìyem » You will hunt and I will cook
tsun nga kivä, slä oe zene ‘ivì’awn» You can go, but I must stay.
Notice how these two statements are related, and provide context by being
juxtaposed next to each other.
*The Topical Case
The topical case is a tool in the Na’vi language that is used to establish the topic of a
sentence. Even though “topic” and “subject” often mean the same thing in English,
this is different from the grammatical subject (the performer of the verb). Usually,
the topic of a sentence provides a bit of additional information that could possibly be
inferred with the right context, but is being specifically mentioned to make it clear.
However, we will also cover a few instances where the topical case is required by
Na’vi grammar.
Like subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects, the topical uses a case ending: -RI
or -ÌRI. Be very careful to not confuse this with the indirect object marker -ur/-r(u).
The topical can be roughly translated as “Regarding/concerning [topic], (statement)”.
The way I remember this is “RI-garding [topic]...”.
Like the other case endings, the topical case ending is attached to the end of a noun.
The topic is always found at the beginning of a sentence or clause, and this makes
sense, since you would want your listener to know the topic as soon as possible.
pori eyktanìl tìngayit poleng oeru

»
Concerning him, chief told to me the truth.
One could have said “chief told me the truth”, and it could be inferred from the
context of the conversation that we might be talking about him, but the topical case
makes this very clear. The topical is most commonly employed when the topic of the
sentence is related to what is being discussed, but not directly.
A common application of the topical is to “cheat-in” more information when you’ve

already run out of noun slots. You may have run into the word for “learn”, nume, but

EARLY EDITION
62
been confused to find that it is an intransitive verb. The subject must be the one
learning, but how do you specify what is being learned without a direct object?
fìlì’fyari oe nerume » regarding this language, I am learning
In a previous lesson, we learned about the words fwa, fula, and futa. The topical case
introduces another word like this- furia. Much like the other clause attribution
placeholders, this is expanded from fì’u + ri + a - “concerning this thing, which is…”.
Doing so can make a clause the topic of a sentence.
furia po hamum ‘efu ayoe nitram

»
regarding (this thing, which is) he left, we feel happy
Similar to the other F-words, we can also connect this clause attribution from the
left, though not with furia itself. It needs to be expanded back into its components:
po hamum a fì’uri ‘efu ayoe nitram

»
regarding (this thing, which is) he left, we feel happy
All of these are examples of a pattern known as the Topic-Comment structure. You
state a topic, and then comment on it.
One of these uses is for inalienable possession. This is something that is difficult to
separate from a person, usually used for body parts.
oeri ngal pxunit tolakänguk

»
regarding me, you struck arm! (and I am upset about this)
It is more common to use the topical for this relation than the genitive case (-eyä).
oeyä pxunit would still be understood, but it would sound very strange to the Na’vi.
It’s best to only use the genitive to describe inalienable possession if the topic was
already taken up by something more important or relevant.
WIP
A final usage of the topical is in comparisons of equality. Na’vi uses nìftxan (which
more or less means “this much-ly”) in combination with descriptions.
EXAMPLE
»

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63
TRANSLATION

EARLY EDITION
64
PART 2: NEXT STEPS
Now that you have the foundation of Na’vi grammar, you are
ready to tackle any concept that comes your way! Lessons in this
part are not dependent on each other, so if there is a topic that
catches your eye or that you encounter and need to look up, feel
free to skim around this section.
This part will complete your understanding of textbook Na’vi

grammar. After this comes Part 3, which will teach ways to deviate
from the standardized grammar such as casual speech, slang, and
contractions.
var nivume ko!

EARLY EDITION
65
EARLY EDITION
66
*Adpositions
Adpositions are used to add temporal (time) or spatial (space) information to a
sentence. These are things like “under”, “over”, “in”, “with”, “after”, “before”, and such,
as well as some others that don’t have a good english approximation (“in the
capacity of”) . They tend to be very short, rarely over 2 syllables long, and have two
possible positions: before the noun, or attached to the end (like a suffix).
oe pìmängkxo hu po » I was just chatting with him

oe pìmängkxo pohu » I was just chatting with him
Some adpositions cause lenition. Much like pe+ (the question affix), this only
happens if they are placed before a noun.
in, on: mì+ (adp.)

before(temporal): sre+ (adp.)
kelkumì ngeyä oe ultxa ngahu sìyi » I will meet with you in your home
mì helku ngeyä oe ultxa ngahu sìyi » I will meet with you in your home
Since there isn’t much more to say about adpositions, I will demonstrate a few
common/useful ones here.
with (accompanying): hu
with (by means of): fa
towards (direction): ne
from (direction): ftu
ftu kilvan fìtsengene po samop fa pa’li Entuhu

»
from (the) river to here he traveled by direhorse with Entu

EARLY EDITION
67
*Infixes - Pre-first Position
In addition to the infixes that modify tense and aspect, there is another category of
infixes that modify the transitivity of a verb. These infixes are <äp> and <eyk>.
Starting with <äp>, which is sometimes called the self or reflexive infix. This means
to (verb) to oneself.
yur » wash (vtr.)

y<äp>ur » wash itself (vin.)
pol pxenit oeyä yur » He washes my clothes

po yäpur » He washes himself
Note that the transitivity of the verb changes when using <äp>. In this case, yur goes
from being a transitive verb (subject acts on an object) to intransitive (subject acts
without an object).
The other pre-first position infix is <eyk>, or the causative infix. This changes the
verb to be “cause to (verb)”, and adjusts the nouns relationship to each other.
zup » fall (vin.)

z<eyk>up » cause to fall (vtr.)
oe zolup! » I fell!
pol oeti zeykolup! » He caused me to fall!
As you can see, the <eyk> infix transforms an intransitive verb into a transitive one-
where a subject is now causing an object to do an action.
The causative infix behaves a little differently when the verb is already transitive.
yom » eat (vtr.)

y<eyk>om » make eat (vtr.)*
oel payoangit yom » I eat fish
sa’nokìl payoangit yeykom oeru » Mother makes me eat fish
Notice how in this example, the subject is making the indirect object <verb> the
direct object.
Both of these infixes have a new position- <0>, which is directly before position <1>.
For this reason, sometimes these are referred to as pre-first position infixes.

EARLY EDITION
68
As a quick refresher, previously we learned about the tense/aspect infix position <1>,
which is before the second-to-last vowel. In single-syllable words, this is before the
only vowel. Infix position <0> falls right before that position.
yom » y<0><1><2>om
tse’a » ts<0><1>e’<2>a
y<am>om » y<eyk><am>om
ts<am>e’a » ts<äp><am>e’a
The <äp> and <eyk> infixes can be used together, becoming <äp><eyk>.
oe zäpeykamup » I caused myself to fall

EARLY EDITION
69
*Describing With Verbs
One of the ways we can describe a noun is with its relationship to a verb. This is
different from how we use case endings to indicate the subject or direct object, but
do keep in mind how we mark nouns as it will come in handy in this lesson!
Consider the phrase “the hunted animal runs quickly”. What is the main verb here?
What information are we given about the animal?
The main verb here is run. We are using hunted to describe the animal (like an
adjective), and quickly to describe the manner in which the animal runs. Rather than
make new adjectives for hunted and hunting, Na’vi does what English does and just
modifies the root verb (hunt). In linguistics, this is called a participle.
Instead of suffixes “-ed” and “-ing”, Na’vi uses the infixes <us> and <awn>. These are
position <1> infixes- the same place where tense and aspect information goes.
The infix <us> is used when the thing being described would be the subject of the
verb being modified. In English, this is the “-ing” form of a verb, such as hunting.
tusarona palulukan / palulukan atusaron » [the] hunting thanator
Similarly, <awn> to describe the thing that would be the direct object. This is like
English’s “-ed” form.
tawnarona yerik / yerik atawnaron » [the] hunted hexapede
Participles in Na’vi have a few limitations. Firstly, they cannot be combined with
other infixes. If a verb is being modified to be made an adjective, it can only take
<us> or <awn>. If additional information is needed that is normally provided by
infixes (such as tense, mood, or aspect), consider using clause attribution instead.
This will allow a greater range of freedom with what information you are adding in a
more natural-sounding way.
Secondly, the participle is never combined with lu to equate a noun and an

adjective. This is a situation where the participle doesn't behave like a normal
adjective, but if you think about what meaning you would be conveying, it is
redundant.
Note: this is incorrect Na’vi for purposes of an example

po lu tusaron » they = hunting

EARLY EDITION
70
You could just as easily communicate that they are hunting by removing both the lu
and the <us>. Remember that if Na’vi has a choice, it will remove unnecessary
syllables.
po teraron » they are hunting (and continue to hunt)
TEXT » TEXT

EARLY EDITION
71
*More Affixes
In an earlier lesson, we learned that the -o suffix is used to specify an indefinite noun-
“someone”, “somewhere”, “some object”, etc. Another use of -o is for specifying a
duration of time. This may seem a bit strange, but remember that when
mentioning durations of time, we are rarely specifying a specific instance of that
duration of time. If it takes me 30 minutes to cook a meal, I can choose any 30
minute block of time to do that. No matter which chunk of 30 minutes I choose, it
will be of equal length to the time I am referencing.
mezìsìto ftolia oe » I have studied for (some) two years
The next affix we will cover is -tsyìp: the diminutive. It is attached to nouns, and it
usually means “small” or “endearing”, but it can also be used to belittle or mock.
ngeyä txeptsyìp mi palon » Your cute little fire is still burning!

tsun oe rivun ngatsyìpit nìftue! » I could find little-you easily!
This is also sometimes used in the creation of new nouns that could be described as
smaller versions of other things.
utral » tree
utraltsyìp » bush
ram » mountain
ramtsyìp » hill

EARLY EDITION
72
PART 3: NA’VI LIKE A NATIVE

EARLY EDITION
73
Error 404: English Not Found
Na’vi is not just a reskin of English. In this chapter we’ll cover a handful of words that
don’t have a clean cut English equivalent. As this is inherently a vocabulary lesson,
there won’t be any real questions to answer, just words to explore.
One of the easier ways to express the incongruencies between English and Na’vi
vocabulary is when you dive into the senses. Na’vi has some simple words for scents
that English describes as “smells like _____”.
nget (adj.)smell of decaying wood and leaves; dank (non-animal decay)

kxänäng (adj.)smell of decaying animal/flesh; rotting, putrid
sosul (adj.)pleasant smell of nearby running water, rain, moist vegetation
unyor (adj.)sweetly aromatic (a flowery or aromatic woody sort of smell)
atxar (adj.)smell of living animals, i.e. a watering hole or animal nest
Waterfall words
Verbs
kame ran ha’
Sneaky LUs (statives) (I can’t remember if i wanted this to be a separate chapter or

not, probably should be)

EARLY EDITION
74
*Na’vi Phonetics
Understanding the rules of the Na’vi sound system can also be useful when reading
and pronouncing words that you may not know or recognize. This can also be used
to create proper loan words, or when creating a Na’vi name.
Phonetics covers the rules of which sounds exist, as well as how they can be
combined with other sounds and arranged in a word. Why does “pomeldine” look
like a valid word, but “tcrpwz” not? This is because in English, we generally expect
consonants to be separated by vowels, and the consonant sounds that are here
don’t blend together. Na’vi has a set of phonetic rules like these, too!
The first rule of thumb is that a syllable can only ever contain one vowel. If you see
two vowels next to each other, then it must fall on a syllable boundary. For example,
the word meoauniaea is comprised of eight syllables- me•o•a•u•ni•a•e•a. If two vowel
sounds blend together in the same syllable, that is a diphthong, of which Na’vi has
four: AW, AY, EW, EY. The diphthongs that end in W are pronounced as if they glide
into a u sound, where the ones that end in Y blend into an i. We can’t write these as
“au” or “ei”, though, because then they would be two syllables (since, again, a syllable
can only ever have one vowel).
The pseudo-vowels of LL and RR are different in that they cannot be at the start of a
syllable. If the L or R sounds appear at the beginning, they always take on their
consonant form- never the vowel form. They CAN follow a consonant in the first
syllable, but will never lead it. Additionally, a pseudo-vowel will always mark the end
of a syllable. If a consonant follows a pseudo-vowel, it is pronounced at the start of
the next syllable.
There are three consonants that can precede other consonants: f, s, and ts.
Pronouncing these, you may notice that they are very breathy, making them easy to
blend into another consonant. Syllables like “fko” and “tskxe” are possible.
Some consonants cannot end a syllable- f, h, s, ts, v, and z. A syllable like “luf” or “paz”
would never appear in proper Na’vi. Additionally, w and y do not normally end a
syllable, unless attached to an A or E (forming a diphthong). A syllable like “kaw” is
legal, but not “kìw”.
Finally, if the same consonant sound ends a syllable that starts the next, within the
same word, the sounds are combined. You won’t see a word like “mot•tì”, it would be
combined to “mo•tì”.

EARLY EDITION
75
PAM IS STILL WRITING THIS HRH

EARLY EDITION
76
Anatomy of a Na’vi Syllable
Onset
Pre-Consonant Vowel Coda Consonant
(Optional)
Consonant (Required) (Optional)
(Optional)
‘
Any Consonant, Any Vowel,
F K
except: except:
KX
Cannot be ‘, F, H, LL or RR require
S consonant in
L
S, TS, V, or Z if
previous slot. M
pre-consonant is
TS used. LL and RR N
cannot be
Cannot be same preceded by their NG
consonant as consonant forms
(L and R) P
previous syllable
ended with PX
LL and RR cannot
(within the same be followed by R
word) including any Coda
T
pseudovowels Consonant
TX
(note that this is the
set of allowed onset
consonants if a pre-
consonant is used,
plus ‘)

EARLY EDITION
77
TL;DR: a Na’vi Grammar Quick Reference
(this is not a substitute for reading the lessons! if you don’t understand something, this won’t explain it!)
Case Endings:
Topical VTR. Subject VTR. Direct Object Indirect Object
-ÌRI / -RI -L / -ÌL -IT / -T / -TI -UR / -RU / -R
● Topic: A relevant, related, non-subject or object noun that could be
determined via context but is clarified anyway, -OR- inalienable possession
● Subject: Does the verb
● Direct Object: Affected by the verb (directly)
● Indirect Object: Affected by the subject performing the verb [on the d.object]
● Subject/D.Obj markers are only used on transitive verbs (vtr), not intransitive
(vin)
Infix Position <1>: Tense or Aspect:
Placed before second-to-last vowel (usually before first vowel)
Tense: Deals with WHEN Combined Infixes (used rarely)
Past Future am ìm ìy ay
<_m> <_y> iv <imv> <ìyev>/<iyev
Near <ì_> <ìm> <ìy> >
er <arm> <ìrm> <ìry> <ary>
Far <a_> <am> <ay>
ol <alm> <ìlm> <ìly> <aly>
<ìsy> and <asy> for future + determined by speaker
Subjunctive Aspects
Aspect: Deals with COMPLETION
<iv> + <ol> = <ilv>
<er> : Imperfective.
<iv> + <er> = <irv>
“it is happening, but not completed”.
<ol> : Perfective, or finished.
“this action is completed”.
<iv> : Subjunctive, or possibility. Not an aspect but
behaves like one. Required by modal verbs, tsnì
“it could happen, but might not”
Infix Position <2>: Mood:

Placed before last vowel, after <1> (if applicable)
Negative Mood Positive Mood Inferential Ceremonial /
<äng> <ei(y)> Assumption Formal
<ats> <uy>
Infix Position <0>: Weird Stuff:
Placed before <1>, in this order (if both)
● <äp> - Self-affecting

EARLY EDITION
78
○ (SBJ) (VTR) themselves
● <eyk> - Causative.
○ (SBJ) causes (D.OBJ) to (VIN) -or- (SBJ) causes (I.OBJ) to (VTR) (D.OBJ)
Attribution:
● Adjectives: Add an a to the side of the adjective that points to the noun
○ Must be directly left or right of noun
○ If adjective begins with le-, no a is on left side (optional but preferred)
○ words that already have an a in these positions do not take on another
● Possessive / Genitive:
○ Add -(y)ä. -yä for after vowels except u/o, -ä for everything else.
○ word-final vowels in pronouns become e. i.e. oeyä, ngeyä, peyä
● Clauses: Add a between the clause and the noun it describes
Common Prefixes
this that two three four+ all, every these those
fì- tsa- me+ pxe+ ay+ fra- fay+ tsay+
Questions:
● srake / srak for yes-no questions. srake is sentence-first, srak is sentence-
final. Pick one.
● pe+(noun) or (noun)-pe for wh-questions (what when where why who how)
● kefyak? - “isn’t it? right?”
Negation:
● ke <verb> : Not-verb. i.e. ke yamom fol payoangit - “they did not eat fish”
● rä’ä <verb> : Do not <verb> (command). <verb> rä’ä for extreme emphasis.
● kea <noun> : No (noun).
○ main verb must also be negated
○ special case negations will sometimes use kaw- (from ke ‘aw)

EARLY EDITION
79

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Na'vi as a Second Language

TA PAMÌRÌK ALU NICK PAAVO

Latest Update: Jan 21 2019

This document is a work in progress.

It is not yet comprehensive, however it is functional.

Print at your own cost.

Comment/Suggest corrections and/or @Pamìrìk on LN discord.

Video Pronunciation Lesson: LEARN THIS FIRST!

▶ Learn the Na'vi Alphabet! Pronunciation Lesson (19:13) [youtube.com]

PART 1: CORE GRAMMAR 3

PART 2: NEXT STEPS 65

PART 3: NA’VI LIKE A NATIVE 73

TL;DR: a Na’vi Grammar Quick Reference 78

*: chapters that are either WIP or being updated

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Agency is important because it allows you to get meaningful practice in.

ta Nick “Pamìrìk” Paavo

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

These are the fundamental ideas of Na'vi grammar. Once you

tslolam srak? txantsan! nume ko!

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

In this chapter, you will learn the answers to these questions:

1. What order do words go in the Na’vi language?

1. “What order do words go in the Na’vi Language?”

English sentences tend to go “NOUN-VERB-NOUN”.

2. “How do I tell who is doing what?”

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Payoang is our direct object, so it becomes either payoangti or payoangit

● The verb doesn’t need to be modified (for now!)

Think like the Na’vi!

oel payoangti yom yom oel payoangit

Think like the Na’vi!

oeti payoangìl yom yom oeti payoangìl

oel poti tse’a yerikti taronyul tspang awngal fìtsengti tok

3. “Why would I choose one word order over another?”

The first consideration is emphasis. In English, when we want to call attention to a

Think like the Na’vi!

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

1. What order do words go in the Na’vi language?

2. How do I tell who is doing what?

3. Why would I choose one word order over another?

Post-Lesson Review: Na’vi Word Order

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

oe (pn.) I, me yom (vtr.) eat

Post-Lesson Review: Na’vi Word Order

1. Neytiri sees Jake 2. Ateyo cooks teylu

3. Rini catches fish 4. You hear music

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

1. pol oeti stawm 2. ftxey oel payoangit 3. pol makto ikranit

4. oeti hawnu fol 5. payti oel tse’a 6. ngati oel tse’a

1. I protect him 2. She eats fish 3. They send me

4. You see her 5. They hear me 6. I choose her

1. oe fpe’ ‘upxare I send a message _____________________________________

2. oeti ngal tse’a She sees me _____________________________________

3. tse’al poti oe I see him _____________________________________

4. payoangti fo yom They eat fish _____________________________________

5. yerik pol taronit He hunts hexapede _____________________________________

NA’VI AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

1. stawm fol oet ________________________________________________

2. oel ngati tse’a ________________________________________________

3. poti oel stawm ________________________________________________

4. hawnu oeti ngal ________________________________________________