Lesson Five: Questions


Kaltxì nìmun! This time we talk about how to ask and answer questions. Pretty simple stuff. Let's dive right in with some quick vocab.

Question Words

The question words in Na'vi come from the following words:

  • tute person
  • 'u thing
  • tseng place
  • lun reason
  • krr time
  • fya'o way

To form question words like who, what, where, etc., You add a pe+ (what/which) onto the word. It can go either onto the beginning or onto the end. Fya'o shortens to fya in this case. Pefya / Fyape is by far more common than fya'ope or pefya'o. And there's the + sign again. Remember a few lessons ago, this means that pe when used on the beginning of a word, may cause the word's first letter to change.

The question words in Na'vi:

  • pesu / tupe who
  • peu / 'upe what
  • peseng / tsengpe where
  • pelun / lumpe why
  • pehrr / krrpe when
  • pefya / fyape how

Notice that when you use pe+ on the end of the word, the letter changing bit is avoided. This is handy for people who often forget to change the first letter.

Using these words is simple, and a lot like English. The only difference is that the word doesn't have a set place in the sentence because Na'vi word order is flexible. So here are some examples of using some of these words:

Examples:

  1. Nga tupe lu?
    Who are you?
  2. Fìswiräti ngal pelun molunge fìtseng?
    Why did you bring this creature here?
  3. Nga za'u ftu peseng?
    Where do you come from? / Where are you from?

It's pretty standard. (more on words like fìswiräti and ftu later)

It is also possible to stick pe+ onto any noun. That is, any word which is a person, place, or thing.

Examples:

  1. Ngaru sunu peioang frato?
    Which beast do you like the most?
  2. Tsamsiyupe lu lom?
    Which warrior is missing?

Yes/No Questions with Srak(e)

All the above questions require a specific answer which is either the name of a person or place, or a time or a reason, etc. There is another very common type of question to ask: The yes/no question. This is super easy. All you do is add srak (aka srake) to the sentence, either first or last.

Examples:

  1. Ngaru lu fpom.
    you have peace.
    Ngaru lu fpom srak?
    Do you have peace?
  2. Yom ngal teylut.
    You eat beetle larvae.
    Srake yom ngal teylut?
    Do you eat beetle larvae?

The answer to a srake/srak question is either srane (yes) or kehe (no). It's also possible, like in English, to describe things further than just a yes or no answer after you've answered yes or no.

Hopefully this has been simple and helpful.


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