Describing Stuff

Kaltxì! And welcome to Lesson 4.

This time we talk about describing stuff.

Topics

Describing With lu

Describing With a

Vocabulary Used

Describing With lu

In Na'vi, We describe what something is with lu. In this case, it's like an "=" sign. Some examples:

Eyktan lu txantslusam.
The leader is wise.

Tsamsiyu txur lu.
The warrior is strong.

That's pretty much what it looks like to describe something by saying what it is by using lu. Notice that none of the words are modified in any way; we can just get any noun (n.) and any adjective (adj.) from the dictionary, and then place them in a 3-word sentence with lu. All word orders of such a sentence will share the same meaning.

But what if you wanted to describe a noun on the fly while saying something else about it? Check it out:

Describing With a

txantslusama eyktan plltxe.
=
eyktan atxantslusam plltxe.
The wise leader speaks.

txura tsamsiyu wem.
=
tsamsiyu atxur wem.
The strong warrior fights.

nga lu taronyu asìltsan.
=
nga lu sìltsana taronyu.
You are a good hunter.

You probably notice that when describing the noun on the fly while saying something else about it, there there is an -a- attached onto the adjective that describes the noun. You may also notice that the -a- is always attached onto the side of the adjective where the noun is, and that the adjective is always exactly next to the noun.

Above, we talked about describing a noun with a single adjective. Now, I'm going to show you how you can do exactly the same thing as above, but instead of describing it with just a single word, describe it with a whole phrase of words. Check it out:

lrrtok si pxìm a tuté oeru sunu.
The smiles often -> woman to me is pleasing/likeable.
=
sunu oeru tuté a lrrtok si pxìm.
is pleasing/likeable to me woman <- smiles often.
"I like the woman who smiles often."

Here in this example, instead of using a single adjective such as {txur} (strong) or {txantslusam} (wise) to describe the noun tuté (woman), we are using an entire phrase, namely, {lrrtok si pxìm} (smiles often).

The rule for a is pretty much the same as for the -a- we attach to adjectives: The word a floats in between the description (in this example, {lrrtok si pxìm}) and the noun it describes (in this example, tuté).

The main skeleton of this sentence is tuté oeru sunu = sunu oeru tuté (I like the woman).

fpe' ayngal oer a 'upxareti stawm oel.
The send you me -> message hear I.
=
oel stawm 'upxaret a ayngal fpe' oer.
I hear the message <- you send me.
"I hear the message that you send to me."

In this case, the phrase {fpe' ayngal oer} = {ayngal fpe' oer} (you send to me) is describing 'upxareti (the message).

The main skeleton of this sentence is 'upxareti stawm oel = oel stawm 'upxaret (I hear the message).

Vocabulary Used