Nouns
Na'vi 1
Course 1 · Chapter 3 · Nouns
Na'vi nouns carry a lot of information. Small pieces added to the front tell you how many and which one, and small endings added to the back tell you what job the noun does in the sentence. Because the job is marked on the noun, the word order can be free. This chapter takes the system apart piece by piece. It builds on the ideas of affixes and case from Introduction to Linguistics, Chapter 4.
Number: Dual, Trial and Plural
English knows "one" and "more than one". Na'vi has a special form for two, a special form for three, and a general plural for more. The number words are prefixes, and each is written with a plus sign in learner materials, which means "this prefix causes lenition":
| Number | Prefix | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| one | none | tute | person |
| two (dual) | me+ | mesute | two people |
| three (trial) | pxe+ | pxesute | three people |
| more (plural) | ay+ | aysute | people |
Notice that tute became sute after each prefix. That is lenition.
Lenition: A Softening of the First Sound
Some prefixes (and certain small words, which later chapters will meet) soften the first consonant of the word that follows. The changes follow a fixed table:
| Plain sound | after lenition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| px, tx, kx | p, t, k | an ejective softens to the plain stop (a word starting px would start with p) |
| p | f | po "s/he" → ayfo "they" |
| t | s | tute → aysute; tokx → aysokx |
| ts | s | tsmukan "brother" → aysmukan |
| k | h | a k-word becomes an h-word |
| ' | deleted | a word starting with a glottal stop loses it |
| other sounds | no change |
After ay+ the prefix may even be dropped, because the lenited noun alone already signals the plural: aysute and sute both mean "people". This "short plural" works for nouns that start with a sound that lenition changes.
This and That: fì- and tsa-
Two more prefixes point at a noun. fì- means "this" and tsa- means "that". They do not cause lenition: payoang "fish" becomes fìpayoang "this fish". The plural forms are fay+ "these" and tsay+ "those", and these do cause lenition, for example faysute "these people".
The Case Endings
A case ending shows the noun's job in the sentence. Na'vi marks the jobs with suffixes whose shape depends on whether the noun ends in a vowel or a consonant:
| Case | Job | After a vowel | After a consonant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subjective | the one who acts or is, with no object | no ending | no ending |
| Agentive | the one who acts on something | -l | -ìl |
| Patientive | what is acted on | -t or -ti | -it or -ti |
| Dative | to or for someone | -r or -ru | -ur |
| Genitive | belonging to | -yä (-ä after o or u) | -ä |
| Topical | "as for …" | -ri | -ìri |
One Noun, Every Case
A vowel-final noun and a consonant-final noun side by side (the forms below are built by the rules in the table):
Three Roles, Not Two
English marks "who" and "whom" only on a few pronouns (I/me, he/him) and uses word order for the rest. Na'vi marks the job on every noun, and it recognises three jobs where English sees two. This is called a tripartite pattern:
| Role | Na'vi ending | English |
|---|---|---|
| Subject of a verb with no object ("sleeps", "is") | none (subjective) | "I" (nominative) |
| Subject of a verb with an object ("sees you") | -l / -ìl (agentive) | "I" (same word as above) |
| Object ("sees you") | -t / -ti (patientive) | "me / you" (accusative) |
Look at the famous greeting with this in mind. Oel ngati kameie is built from three parts, each of which you can now read:
The pronouns themselves (oe "I", nga "you") are the subject of Chapter 4.
Building Nouns with Endings
A few more endings and prefixes build new nouns from old ones. They are optional and regular, which is why a Na'vi vocabulary stays manageable:
| Piece | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -tsyìp | small, a diminutive | utral "tree" → utraltsyìp "bush" |
| -an / -e | male / female (optional) | karyu "teacher" → karyuan "male teacher", karyue "female teacher" |
| -o | "some" | eylan "friend" → eylano "some friend" |
| -yu | one who does the verb | slele "to swim" → sleleyu "swimmer" |
| fra- | "every" | attached in front of a noun |
- "Na'vi has no plural." It has a singular, a dual (two), a trial (three) and a general plural with the prefix ay+.
- "Word order in Na'vi is random." It is free in the sense that the case endings carry the meaning, but the verb and the endings follow fixed rules. Chapter 7 shows what is free and what is not.
- "Case endings are the same as English prepositions." Some jobs are covered by endings (agentive, patientive, dative), others by small words (Chapter 7). Na'vi uses both.
Hands-On Exercises
From tute "person" form (a) "two people", (b) "three people", (c) "people", (d) "this person", (e) "these people". From po "s/he" form the plural "they" with and without the prefix. Say which sound changed in each form.
📄 View solutionGive all six case forms of eylan "friend" and of tute "person". Then say in each case whether the ending depends on a vowel or a consonant, and why eylanti is also a possible patientive.
📄 View solutionTake apart Oel ngati kameie: name the agentive, the patientive and the verb, and say who sees whom. Then write two other word orders that mean the same, and explain in your own words why Na'vi can reorder the words but English cannot ("I see you" versus "You see I").
📄 View solutionChapter 3 Quick Reference
- Number prefixes: me+ (two), pxe+ (three), ay+ (plural); all cause lenition
- Lenition: px/tx/kx → p/t/k; p → f; t, ts → s; k → h; ' is dropped
- This/that: fì-, tsa- (plural fay+, tsay+)
- Cases: agentive -l / -ìl; patientive -t, -ti / -it, -ti; dative -r, -ru / -ur; genitive -yä / -ä; topical -ri / -ìri; subjective: none
- Tripartite: three roles (subject with no object, subject with an object, object)
- Building: -tsyìp (small), -an / -e (male / female), -o (some), -yu (one who does the verb), fra- (every)