Na’vi has what is referred to as “relative free word order”, which means that in most circumstances the how a sentence is arranged is subject to how the speaker wants it to flow. This is achieved through noun case endings, which indicate the role of each noun in a sentence.
The Core Three
There are three primary noun case endings, the agentive, the patientive, and the dative. They can be found below:
Value |
Ending (Consonant or Vowel) |
Example |
Agentive |
-ìl or -l |
Oel ngati kameie, I See you |
Patientive |
-it or -ti* |
Ngal pukit inan, You read a book |
Dative |
-ur or -r(u) |
Oe srung si ngaru, I help you |
Different noun case endings are used depending on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. Each case has two endings, depending on whether the noun ends in a consonant or vowel. The Patientive case ending has a slight exception to this rule, where the -ti ending can be used with either noun. This is due to a rule in word creation.
In simple transitive sentences like oel ngati kame, I See you, both the agentive and patientive are used. However, there are some exceptions to this rule where sometimes one or both of these are omitted.
The dative can be used with both transitive and intransitive verbs as necessary.
In simple transitive sentences like oel ngati kame, I See you, both the agentive and patientive are used. However, there are some exceptions to this rule where sometimes one or both of these are omitted.
The dative can be used with both transitive and intransitive verbs as necessary.
The Genitive / Possessive
The fourth noun case is called the genitive case. In Na’vi, the genitive case is used to indicate possessive nouns. The genitive case has two endings, which can be found below:
Ending |
Example |
|
Nouns Ending in Consonants, -o and -u |
-ä |
Fì'uä fahew, this thing's smell |
Nouns Ending in Vowels |
-yä |
Ngeyä tsko, your bow |
The possessive noun must come directly before or after the noun that it is possessing. For example, to say my bow you could say either tsko oeyä or oeyä tsko and be correct. The possessive case ending can also be roughly translated as “of the”, ie. the line from the film Na’viyä hapxì, part of the Na’vi. For pronouns, -yä becomes -eyä and the ending vowel is dropped ie. ngayä becomes ngeyä.
The Topical
The fifth and final noun case is the topical case. The topical will always come at the beginning of a clause, and it deals with the topic of a verb or sentence. It is marked by the following suffixes:
Ending (Consonant or Vowel) |
Example |
|
Topical |
-ìri or -ri |
Tìkangkemìri oe ngaru srung si, I help you with your work |
The topical is used for a variety of things in Na’vi. Primarily it serves to set context for a sentence or “cheat” a direct object into an intransitive verb, like in the sentence tì’eyngìri ngeyä oe pey, I wait for your response. This occurs more frequently with intransitive verbs, though it’s not impossible to need it for a transitive verb.
The topical can also be used for inalienable possession, which are for things like your txe’lan, heart, or ontu, nose, that for all intents and purposes can never belong to anyone else.
The topical can also be used for inalienable possession, which are for things like your txe’lan, heart, or ontu, nose, that for all intents and purposes can never belong to anyone else.
