Zola’u nìprrte’! Welcome!

My friends,

Zola’u nìprrte’ ayngaru nìwotx! Welcome to you all! It’s a pleasure to post this first message to Na’viteri (Concerning Na’vi), my blog about the language of the inhabitants of Pandora in James Cameron’s seminal film, “Avatar.” I hope that everyone with an interest in Na’vi—from the casually curious to those aspiring to mastery—will find something useful here.

I have three main goals for Na’viteri that will be reflected in three different kinds of posts:

1. BEGINNERS’ CLASSROOM—NUMTSENGVI AYSNGÄ’IYUÄ

This is the place for Na’vi 101, a series of friendly, progressive language lessons, starting from scratch, for beginners. Here you’ll find conversations and dialogs where you’ll not only see the language in written form but be able to click on a button and hear it spoken as well. You’ll also find brief, non-technical grammatical explanations, passages for reading and listening comprehension, and practice exercises.

I want to make one thing clear at the outset. As many of you know, a wealth of learning materials for Na’vi is already available on the Internet—discussion boards in at least 18 languages, Na’vi language lessons, dictionaries, sound recordings, videos—created by devoted fans of “Avatar” and Na’vi who have formed a spirited and passionate Na’vi Community. (You’ll find links to some of those sites under “Na’vi on the ‘Net” at the right.) The quality of many of these materials is extraordinarily high; the fact that talented people have put in so much time and effort to help others learn Na’vi is for me a great source of pride. What I myself will present here is not intended to substitute for or supplant those materials but rather to supplement them. At times, in fact, I may refer you to a particularly clear or insightful explanation, discussion, or example that someone else has provided.

2. LANGUAGE DISCUSSION—TÌPÄNGKXO LELÌ’FYA

In these posts, aimed at intermediate and advanced learners, I’ll be discussing various points of grammar and usage and responding to questions. I’m grateful for the probing queries I’ve gotten from members of the Community, many of which have helped me see where Na’vi needs further elucidation and development. This blog will be a central location where I can offer suggestions and address issues of interest to those who are already using the language for communication.

3. NEW EXPRESSIONS, NEW RULES—MIPA AYLÌ’FYAVI, MIPA HOREN

This is the place for introducing new vocabulary and expressions and presenting new or extended rules of grammar and usage.

While Na’viteri will be an English/Na’vi bilingual blog, there will inevitably be more English than Na’vi. Ideally everything would be in both languages, but that would take more time than I have. Like all of you, I’m still a learner myself and not yet at the point I can write as quickly and easily in Na’vi as I can in my own native language. That said, I’ll try to include as much Na’vi as I can for intermediate and advanced students.

This is my first-ever blog—and it will soon become clear, if it hasn’t already, that I am very much feeling my way around. So as we go along, don’t be surprised if you come across inconsistencies and errors of various kinds or if you notice changes to format and organization as I discover better ways of doing things. Your constructive comments and suggestions are always welcome. I also want to say how grateful I am for the offers of help I’ve received from kind volunteers in the Community—irayo, ma oeyä eylan (thank you, my friends); as things go along, I may indeed enlist your assistance. Right now, though, I want to acknowledge the invaluable guidance I’ve received from Britton Watkins and Josh Feldman, without whose generous help I’d still be scratching my head and wondering how in the world to get started. Needless to say, any mistakes or omissions are my own.

And so . . . Awnga sngivä’i ko! Let’s begin! Check back here soon for Na’vi 101 Lesson 1 and the first posts to the discussion room. Until then, kìyevame ulte Eywa ngahu—so long, and Eywa be with you.

Paul Frommer

NìNa’vi:

Ma oeyä eylan,

Tse . . . Nìawnomum, fwa oel fìtìkangkemvit1 sngeykivä’i2 krrnolekx nìtxan, slä nì’i’a3 tsun oe pivlltxe san Zola’u nìprrte’ ne pìlok4 Na’viteri sìk! Tìmweypeyri ayngeyä seiyi irayo nìngay. Sìlpey oe, awngeyä lì’fyaolo’ìri fìpìlok lìyevu pxan, ulte frapo—ftxey sngä’iyu ftxey tsulfätu5—tsìyevun fìtsenge rivun ’uot lesar.

Lu pìlokur pxesìkan sì pxefne’upxare:

1ve: NUMTSENGVI6 AYSNGÄ’IYUÄ

Fayupxare layu aysngä’iyufpi, fte lì’fyari awngeyä fo tsìyevun nìftue nìltsansì nivume.

Ma oeyä eylan, faysänumviri rutxe fì’ut tslivam: Nìltsan omum oel futa ayhapxìtul lì’fyaolo’ä awngeyä txantsana aysänumvit ngolop fte aylaru kivar. Faysulfätuä tìkangkem oheru meuia luyu nìngay. Kllkxayem fìtìkangkem oeyä rofa7—ke io—pum°10 feyä.

2ve: TÌPÄNGKXO LELÌ’FYA

Fayupxaremì oe payängkxo teri horen lì’fyayä leNa’vi fpi sute a tsun srekrr tsat sivar. Ayngeyä sìpawmìri kop fmayi fìtsenge tivìng sì’eyngit. Nìawnomum tolel oel ta ayhapxìtu lì’fyaolo’ä pxaya sìpawmit atxantsan a vay set ke ’oleyng. Sìlpey oe tsnì tsìyevun nì’i’a tsakem sivi fìpìlokfa.

3ve: MIPA AYLÌ’FYAVI, MIPA HOREN

Pìlokä fìhapxìyä tìkan lu law.

Lu law ’uo alahe, ma eylan. Krro krro°11 fìtsenge oe tìkxey sayi. (Ke plltxe san sasyi sìk!) Txo tsive’a ayngal keyeyt, rutxe oeru piveng fte tsivun oe sa’ut leykivatem.

Ha awnga sngivä’i ko! Ziva’u nìmun ye’rìn . . . tsakrr rayun ayngal ayupxaret amip.

’Ivong Na’vi.

ta Pawl

1kangkemvi ‘project, piece of work’

2Make sure to distinguish between the two senses of “begin”—intransitive (as in “The work began”—Tìkangkem sngolä’i) and transitive (as in “She began the work”—Poel tìkangkemit sngeykolä’i).

3’i’a ‘finally’  Na’vi has different words for the two senses of “finally” in English. Nì’i’a is “finally” in the sense of “at long last”—“I’ve finally finished!” For “finally” in the sense of “lastly”–“Finally, we need to talk about the budget”—use syen.

4lok ‘blog’

5tsultu ‘master of an art, craft, or skill; expert’ Related expressions: tsul ‘mastery,’ tsul si ‘to master’

6numtsengvi ‘classroom, division of a school’

7rofa (ADP-) ‘beside, alongside’

°10pum ‘possession, thing possessed’ Pum is used as a “dummy noun” with the genitive pronouns to form “disjunctive possessives”—that is, words like “mine,” “yours,” “theirs.” Example: Kelku ngeyä lu tsawl; pum oeyä lu hì’i. (Your house is large; mine is small.)

°11krro krro ‘at times, on occasion’

Edit (30 June): Corrected two errors: *faysänumeviri–>faysänumviri, *aysänumevit–>aysänumvit

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36 Responses to Zola’u nìprrte’! Welcome!

  1. Muzer says:

    Irayo! Oel fpìl futa lu txantsan fwa ngal sngeykä’i pìlokit!

    Oe lu mi nì’aw sngä’iyu, tafral oe sìlpey tsnì fìpamrelur ke lu kea kxeyey.

  2. Ma Karyu,

    Fì’uri irayo seiyi nìtxan! Oel fpìl futa tsun oe pivlltxe san oe plltxe ayoefpi nìwotx sìk krr a oe ngaru peng, ayoe *newpoley krr atxan. Oel haya ‘upxareti ngeyä *newparyey.

    * newpey – best I could come up with for “anticipate”, with prrte’pey as a second choice – based off similar compounds of nulnew (prefer) maweypey (patient) txanew (greedy) and sìlpey (hope)

  3. Muzer says:

    Oel tswìma’ futa plltxe fì’uti mì hama ‘upxare:

    Oel reralpeng* nìNa’vi Operati a wìntxu ayfamrelit tsaheyluä**. Tsakem tìtxen si oeru, slä lu txa’*** krro.

    * Do we have a better word for “translate”, or should we use this?

    ** It’s a web browser – it shows writings of Tsaheylu 😉

    *** I know, I know, txa’ probably means “hard” as in not soft, but we do not know any other word for “difficult” yet, so it’s the best I can do.

  4. Corey Scheideman says:

    Tewti! Leiu fì’u fmawn atxantsan nang! Ma karyu oel ngati kameie.

    I put this pìlok on RSS…Hopefully it gets updated often! I cannot wait to learn from the tsulfätu!

    –Tirea Aean of learnnavi.org

  5. Paul Kush says:

    Irayo nitxan:) Nume ko!

  6. Kemaweyan says:

    Ma Karyu! Oel ngati kameie ulte fìpìlokìri sì tìkamgkemìri ngeyä seiyi oe ngaru irayo nìtxan 🙂 Fìfmawn oeru woeiu! Sìlpey oe tsnì fì’u tsìyevun slivu mipa tìsngä’i tì’ongä lì’fyayä leNa’vi fte pxaya sute tsivun tsive’a tìlorit fìlì’fyayä atxantsan ulte nilvew nivume fì’ut nìngay 😉

    Awngal nìwotx pamey fì’ut nìngay 😉 Ta set oe zasya’u fìtsengene pxìm nìtxan 🙂 Irayo nìmun, ma Karyu. ‘Ivong Na’vi!


    ta Kem

  7. Gisle Aune says:

    Pìlokìri irayo seiyi oe ngaru. Txantsan. Oel tayok pxim fìtsenget, fralo a ngaru mìpa pamrelur pamrel soli. Aylrrtok ngaru lì’fyateri ulte Eywa ngahu liveiu.

  8. We’ve been waiting for this! Irayo ma karyu Pawl!

  9. Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn says:

    Nì’i’a! Oel poley krr ayol fpi pilok ngeyä. I can’t wait for the advanced lessons. I’ve almost felt halted in learning from the lack of new info other than memorizing words.

    Seiyi irayo ma Karyu Pawl!

    *irayo was the only word able to use “si” before it right?

  10. Ftiafpi says:

    Txantsan! Ayoeyä yawnea karyuru pìlok lu set! Zene ayoe ngivop ftxozä fpi fì’u. Pesenge tok Skxawng? Zene ayoengur aysìnäk livu. 🙂

    Tse, fì’u lu fmawn asìltsan ulte ke tsun oe pivey vaykrr ayoeyä nawma karyul ayoeru tìng fmawnit nì’ul.

    Fìpìlokìri ngaru seiyi irayo ma karyu Pawl. ‘Ivong Na’vi!

    -Ta Ftiafpi

  11. Txur'Itan says:

    Kaltxì ma Karyu Pawl,
    Oel txopu rä’ä si. Oel nìyevume ftxey tslivam fuke tslivam nìNa’vi pusängkxo.

    ‘Ivong Na’vi Ulte Eywa ngahu.

  12. Taronyu says:

    Irayo, ma nawma Karyu Pawl.

    Perlltxe na Jake Sully san Outstanding! sìk.

    Ayoeng nìftxavang kameie zusawkrrne.

  13. Txepsiyu says:

    Seiyi irayo ma Pawl!
    Ivong Na’vi!

  14. tigermind says:

    Txantsan! Fìpìlok txana suteru srung satsìyi. Fwa ngeyä aylì’ut tse’a ayoel nìwotx oeru prrte’ lu nìtxan. Set ayoe ‘awsiteng nerumeie nìngay. Fìtìkangkemviri ngaru oe seiyi irayo, ma Karyu. Sìlpey oe, trro tsun oe pivlltxeie nìNa’vi tengfya ‘awvea lì’fya oeyä. Ngeyä ‘upxaret ahay paryey oel. Vay tsakrr, Eywa ngahu, ma Karyu.

    ta Lawren

    (Txo kxeyey silvi oe, tsari tsap’alute si)

  15. tsrräfkxätu says:

    Siveiyi irayo Nawma Sa’nokur furia tìpusey ’oli’a! Fìtseng oeru teya si fìtxan fwa tsun tsngivawvìk!

  16. tsrräfkxätu says:

    Namew oe pamrel sivi fwa san tsatsun.

    Kin ayoengìl fya’ot fte leykivatem upxaret. 😉

  17. kawazoe says:

    Kaltxì ma Karyu Pawl.
    Oe ngaru seiyi irayo fpi nawma tìkangkem. Ke tsun oe pivey lezusawkrra pamrelit. Nawma sa’nok hu ayoeng livu tengkrr tìsop amowan tìnumeteri. 🙂

  18. xMine says:

    Thanks for your work ma Karyu Pawl!
    Für alle Deutschen gibt es hier eine Übersetzung: http://forum.learnnavi.org/deutsch-(german)/naviteri-neuer-blog-von-karyu-pawl-deutsche-ubersetzung-des-ersten-eintrags/
    nume ko!

  19. Plumps says:

    Ngengaru oe suyi irayo, ma Karyu Pawl,

    ngeyä aylì’u sì tìnew fte srung sivi ayoeru lu meuia anawm. Fìpìlokìri sì aylì’uri amip sì aysänumviri ayoe parmey nìwotx.

    Lu fìfmawn aswey!

    —ta Plumps

  20. Thorinbur says:

    Oel ngati kameie, ma Pawl.

    awvea postì ngeyä nawma sanok lrrtok siveiyi.

    Translated this to Polish and posted in learnNa’vi as i will do with all other posts from here. Can’t wait for more.

    Ivong’ Na’vi!
    Seiyi irayo!

  21. scorpius says:

    hi master!!!! just a question!!!! in the complete bluray dvd is there NA’VI SUBTITLES???? i think it would be greater for the immersion of people who are interested in na’vi language…. My friends in http://www.learnnavi.org are translating the entire film ….

    when they’ll finish it, they’ll sent to you the copy . should you ready to correct this and after to say to cameron ‘ hey guy, na’vi’s fans have translated the film we must include it into the film ‘ ?????

    AND if you can’t , then just give them the correction of the translating and explain errors .

    Pleeeeeeeeeeease !!!!!!!!
    THER ARE MOST OF FANS !!!!! SOME of them are definitively na’vi !!!!!

  22. Mike says:

    Kaltxì

    Ulte Irayo ma Pawl si smuk!
    Eywa ngahu.

    Nice website, ‘ivong this website!

    Kìyevame,

    Ta Mike / Kxetse (@ Na’vi forum)

  23. Kxrekorikus says:

    Ohel ngengati kamuye ma Pawl!
    Txantsana ‘upxare.

    ‘ivong Na’vi!

  24. Hrraptawta says:

    Irayo ma Pawl!

  25. hufwe som says:

    irayo ma Pawl!
    we were wating so much for that. it’s an honor for us to have you as a karyu.
    ivong Na’vi!

  26. Olo'eyktan says:

    Kaltxì ma txantslusama karyu, ngengeyä aysänumvi swey lu ulte ayfo prrte’ lu oer.

    I am very pleased you opened this blog and i will do my best translating your posts into Italian if you grant me this honor, also if you don’t mind my partner Alessandro will make you some proposals and offer services.

    ngaru fpomtokx lu tì’i’avay krrä

    ta Olo’eyktan (mì avatar-italia)

  27. Luke says:

    Thank you so much for setting up this blog! I can tell already that I wil be learning a lot about language in general as well as Na’vi.

  28. Krrtspangyu (Philipp) says:

    Kaltxì.

    Zene ohe ngengaru irayo sivi, ma nawma karyu Pawl.
    Fìtìsrungìri oe poley ta krr atxan!
    Skxomìri tìpusängkxoyä ngengahu fìpìlokìlä oeru prrte’ lu.
    Nìmun, ohe ngengaru seiyi irayo.

    Kìyevame ta Krrtspangyu.
    (Tsap’alute kxeyeyìri, oe nerume fpi slivu tsulfätu fìlì’fyayä 😉 )

  29. Lisa says:

    I have heard of the great Pawl and I heard him speak Na’vi and I said to myself I want to learn more than my three words of Na’vi.

    I hope if I find sound it’s in that my system can handle it. Flash won’t work on my system. Mp3’s I can.

    I’m afraid that I’m a grammatical skxawng so I hope for a beginner like me grammar will be explained so that even I can get without being too technical as I understood nothing of grammar already mentioned.

    Irayo.

  30. Lisa says:

    Darn it. The subscribe by RSS just gave me a page with stuff I didn’t understand. I don’t know how to get answers on how to subscribe.

    Oe completely lost and clue-less.

  31. Jameso says:

    Kaltxì, ma Paul! I am new to the language and honestly I dont know almost nothing. Yeah I could say that. Anyway just wanted to thank you on making such a interesting language! I hope I’ll learn it someday.
    Irayo, ma Paul!
    Kìyevame ulte Eywa ngahu!

  32. Mìhìl says:

    Irayo karyu Pawl,

    I’ve recently had some problems making a phrase since I had no colours, now we have!

  33. 'Eveng says:

    Krro Krro!! Beautiful word!! ahahaha very strange one!

  34. 'Eveng says:

    Kaltxì ma pawl!
    I’ve invented a language is called Ysel i want know if u like the sound that this one have. Y [ɳe] Ym [iem] the “Y” next to other consonants sound like [ie:]
    The Morning = Y qngepf’ [ɳe: ʃŋepf].
    The Night = Ym qpfep [ iem ʃpfep].
    I’m Italian so i don’t have only an articol like “The” So “Ym” is the feminine of “Y”
    Il and La.
    Ok what do you think about it?
    Thank you!
    Na’vi is a very amazing language!!

  35. Dakar says:

    Cant find translation for this word you use alot.” hayalovay”
    could you translate for me. Also is your group on facebook?
    Anyway. Thank you

    • Pawl says:

      Kaltxì, ma Dakar.

      Thanks for your questions, and my apologies for the late reply.

      Hayalovay simply means, “until the next time.”

      As for a FB page, I think I do have a personal one, which was created for me by a student of mine years ago. But I never go to it. I’m just not a Facebook person. 🙂

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