After this post, you’ll be able to ask and answer that question. 
By the way
Na’vi has two adverbs that function like English “by the way” but are used in different situations.
mìftxele (adv., mì.FTXE.le) ‘by the way, in this regard, related to this matter’
The derivation of this adverb—mì + fì- + txele ‘in this matter’—makes the meaning clear: the speaker comes in with a statement or question related to something that has just been discussed. Example:
—Lam oer fwa tsazìma’uyul ke fnan tìtusaronit.
‘It seems to me that that newcomer isn’t any good at hunting.’
—Oeru nìteng. Mìftxele pori lu oer letsrantena fmawn a new piveng ngar.
‘(It seems that way) to me as well. By the way, I have some important news I want to
….tell you about him.’
zìma’uyu (n., zì.MA.’u.yu) ‘newcomer, someone who has just arrived on the scene’
Sometimes, however, we use “by the way” to change the subject and introduce something new into the conversation, something we’ve just remembered that’s just popped into our minds. That’s a different word:
nìvingkap (adv., nì.VING.kap) ‘by the way, incidentally’
Pronunciation: Note that it’s ving, not vìng.
Example:
—Slä tsalsungay, txo tìtslam for, lu txayo na’rìngto sìltsan.
‘But even so, if they’re smart they’ll take open terrain over bush.’
—Mllte oe. Nìvingkap ngeyä tsmukanur alu Ralu lu fpom srak?
…Txankrr ngal ke lawk pot kaw’it.
‘I agree. Oh by the way, how’s your brother Ralu? You haven’t mentioned a thing
….about him in a long time.’
txankrr (adv., txan.KRR) ‘for a long time’
Nìvingkap comes from the transitive verb vingkap:
vingkap (vtr., VING.kap – inf. 1,2) ‘occur to one, strike one, pop into one’s mind’
Vìmingkap oeti fula poe ke li ke poltxe san oe zasya’u.
‘It just occurred to me that she hasn’t yet said she’s coming.’
Reading
As you know, Na’vi was not a written language until the Sky People arrived on Pandora. So there’s no native Na’vi word that exclusively means “read written material.” Instead, the word for “gain knowledge from sensory input” was adopted to fill this need.
inan (vtr.: i.NAN – inf. 1,2) ‘read (e.g. the forest), gain knowledge from sensory input’
Note: Like omum, inan has an irregular stress pattern. When used without affixes, the stress is final: inan. But when prefixes or infixes are added, the stress shifts: erinan, ivinan, olinan, tinan.
Tìomummì oeyä, pol na’rìngit inan nìltsan.
‘As far as I know, he reads the forest well.’
tìomum (n., tì.O.mum) ‘knowledge’
tìomummì oeyä ‘to my knowledge, as far as I know’
Derivatives:
tinan (n., TI.nan) ‘reading’
ninan (adv., NI.nan) ‘by reading’
Examples:
Tsmìmìri wätx fol tinanit nìngay.
‘They’re really bad at reading animal tracks.’
tsmìm (n.) ‘animal track’
Nari si! Äo fìutral lu tsmìm ’angtsìkä!
‘Watch out! There’s a hammerhead track under this tree!’
Tìtusaronìri fte flivä, zene fko sivutx smarit ninan nìno.
‘To succeed at hunting, you have to track your prey by reading (the forest) with attention to detail.’
(Ninan nìno—NInan nìNO—is fun to say! Thanks to the LEP Committee for the example.)
The following bit of dialog shows you how to use inan for the sense of reading written material:
—Kempe si sempul?
‘What is father doing?’
— (Pol) pamrelit erinan.
‘He’s reading,’ [Literally: He’s reading writing.]
—Pefnepamrelit?
‘What is he reading?’ [Literally: What kind of writing?]
—Inan pukot a teri aysam a ’Rrtamì.
‘He’s reading a book about the wars on Earth.’
As you see, when you use inan in this sense, you need to supply an object–something that can be read. If it’s a general statement or question about reading with no particular written material in mind, the object is simply pamrel ‘writing.’
Ulte sìlpey oe, fì’upxaret inan a fì’u silvunu ayngaru nìwotx!
Edits: Spelling of letsrantena corrected; ke added before li; pukito –> pukot. Explanations in the comments.
Absolutely wonderful post with many great new vocab words. very useful as always! Irayo nìtxan to everyone involved!
Ma Karyu, mipa aylì’uri irayo nìtxan nìngay!
Ulte sìlpey oe, fì’upxaret inan a fì’u silvunu ayngaru nìwotx! – oh, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for a word for ‘reading’ (either trail of the forest or something written) – txantsan nìngay!
A question on the last example sentence:
Inan pukito a teri aysam a ’Rrtamì. – what is this -o on pukit? I thought the indefinite/durative suffix comes before the case ending? Or is this handled differently with loan words?
Yes, I’d expect pukot too…
Srane, fìtìpawmìri oe nìteng newomum. Lam oer, sweylu fwa poltxe fko san pukot, pxel fwa nìyawr poltxe li tsm. Blue Elf.
As soon as I woke up this morning, I thought about pukito.
Let’s say it’s a non-standard form you hear among some speakers, that inadvertently crept into my example. I’ve now changed it to the standard pukot. [True confessions: This is a place where the rule changed. In the language document I submitted to Lightstorm at the end of 2009, the rule was that the indefinite/durative -o could either precede or follow the case endings. I later tightened that up so that -o only precedes the case endings. But I guess the old form is still in my head. Fìtxeleri zene oe nari sivi!]
Well, that’s an interesting bit about the genesis of the language.
Thanks for clarifying.
Ma Pawl, ngaru irayo si fpi aylì’u amip.
Just small correction – for bush we have utraltsyìp (probably ayutraltsyìp in this context), na’rìng is forest
Another small correction: in the second example sentence there’s an errant t in letsrantena.
‘Ä’. [Oops.] Corrected. Irayo.
Your blogging software is being too helpful with the quotes. You mean [ʔæʔ]?
Yes, that’s what I mean. Suggestions?
Irayo.
Unfortunately, I can’t think of any suggestions for the quoting matter without watching over your shoulder while you type.
It’s not your typing — it’s the blogging software itself, using “smart quotes,” which there are no non-scary ways to turn off (based on a quick google).
Right. I’ve been aware of the “smart quote” thing. The closed quote doesn’t bother me–it’s the open quote I try to avoid. To do that, when a word begins with the glottal stop I first type two single quotes, which become open and closed respectively. Then I delete the first, open quote, leaving a closed quote at the beginning of the word. That works in the body of the post (e.g., see ‘Rrtamì above), but for some reason it doesn’t work in the comments.
If you use a Mac, I use alt + shift + apostrophy which leaves a « ’ » … no matter whether at the beginning or the end.
Nìkeftxo oeri ke tam.
I get this: Æ
Tsap’alute, ma Karyu… I forgot to switch to the English keyboard. Which key gives you « ] »? That should be the one to give you « ’ » in combination with alt+shift.
On a US Mac keyboard, Option-Shift-] gives me a fixed ’.
Kaltxì, ma B.E.
Sorry–I forgot to reply to your comment before. Actually, I was using “bush” here more in the Australian sense–according to my dictionary, “a wild, uncultivated tract of country: the Australian bush.” So na’rìng would be appropriate. Mìftxele, the line is from the dialog in one of the video games. (At least it’s what I submitted to the company; I don’t know whether it made it to the game itself.) Of course if by “bush” we mean a shrub, then you’re absolutely correct: it’s utraltsyìp.
Tewti
Tsaylì’u amip sunu oeru nìngay
Ngeyä tìkangkem lu fwa oeru teya si, ma Pawl
Lì’uri alu san inan sìk, frapo pìlmey txankrr
Irayo nìtxan!
Wow very usefull!! But a na’vi don’t know how to read a book!!
Irayo nitxan ma karyu iläfipo! Eywa ayngengahu!
Well, after Grace’s classes, perhaps some of the Na’vi learned to read. (Maybe it was a simple book.
)
In the extended collectors edition they show Grace telling Jake at the school that “the children used to love [a Dr. Seuss book]” implying that she likely taught them simple reading of English.
wow i’ve not the extended edition
but i will buy it soon! I was not know this! Irayo ma tsmukan! Eywa ngahu! 
Irayo nìtxan, ma Karyu! Ayfì’u lesar lu nìngay.
Lu oer mesìpawmo. Pamrel soli nga san Vìmingkap oeti fula poe ke li poltxe san oe zasya’u. Rutxe ftxey fì’u lu eyawr fu sweylu fwa poltxe fko san ke li ke poltxe? Ulte srake tsunslu fwa plltxe fko san mi ke poltxe sìk? Ralìri tìketengpe lu mìkam fìmelì’fuyavi?
Kop plltxe fkol lì’fyavit alu tìomummì a fì’uri newomum oe. Srake tsaw lu [tı.O.mu.mı] (luke mefam alu MeM ‘awsiteng)? Nìawnomum, lì’fyari leNa’vi mefamit ateng sar fkol ‘awsìteng a fì’u lu kxanì, kefyak?
Ma Kem,
tìpawmìri amuve, rutxe, fìsäplltxevit K. Pawlä ivinan nìmun: http://naviteri.org/2011/03/%e2%80%9creceptive-ability%e2%80%9d-and-hesitation/comment-page-1/#comment-604
’en si oe fwa fko plltxe san [tı.O.mu.mı] sìk krr a plltxe nìwin slä san [tı.O.mum.mı] sìk krr a plltxe nìk’ong.
Srane, pamrelìri oe omum.. Ngian tìpawm oeyä lolu teri tìpuslltxe. Ngeyä ‘enìri lolu oer tenga pum, slä sweylu txo Karyu Pawl oeyktivìng, kefyak?
Ma Kemaweyan, ngeyä mesìpawmìri seiyi irayo.
Ngaru tìyawr: Zene fko pivlltxe san ke li ke plltxe sìk. Oeri tsakorenit pxìm tswänga’. Krro lu ‘Ìnglìsì txur nìhawng mì re’o.
Tìpawmìri amuve, tsalì’fyavi alu tìomummì lu eyawr. Slä lì’upamìri plltxe fko san tìomumì sìk. Fko plltxe nìwin nìtxan a krr, tsun tsalìupam slivu tìomì. Slä tsafya pamrel rä’ä si!
Irayo nìtxan.
Nìvingkap tswola’ oe.. Tsun tsive’a frapo set futa tsun fko ngivop aylì’ut fa -yu ta hemlì’u a hu hemlì’uvit. Natkenong zìma’uyu. Rutxe ftxey tsunslu tsaw fralì’uhu fu nì’aw pumhu a’a’aw?
‘a’aw == hol ?
Kehe. ‘a’aw = “several”, slä hol = “few”
Ngain srane, fìmeral lu stum teng 
Txantsana tìpawm, ma Kemaweyan. Tsun fko ngivop aylì’ut fa –yu ta frahemlì’u a luke hemlì’uvi, slä hemlì’uri a hu hemlì’uvi ke tsun tsakem sivi. Na zìma’uyu a tsaylì’u lu hol nì’aw.
Since this important, let me repeat the message nì’Ìnglìsì:
Kemaweyan is asking whether the agentive suffix –yu can be feely used with infixed verbs like zìma’u ‘has just come’ to yield agents who have just done something, are about to do something, etc., like zìma’uyu ‘one who has just come’ = ‘newcomer.’ The answer is no: The agentive suffix is productive—that is, can be used freely—to form agents from verb roots, but not from infixed verbs. Those forms are special and are listed in the dictionary; you just have to learn them.
Frahemlì’u or frakemlì’u? If fra- can be used in conjunction with number marking, I have a series of follow-up questions for some later time (which is summarized pretty neatly as: “framesute?”).
Sìltsana tìpawm. Oeri nìteng tsaw eltur tìtxen si.
Tsari slu law set, irayo nìtxan
Can -yu be added to verbs infixed only with or though? Since or appear to be making new verb roots.
*to verbs infixed only with eyk or äp
*since eyk or äp appear to be
so much time I’ve been waiting for “by the way” and “read” and “for a long time”. and I like “oops” (gonna use it a lot
). ma Karyu, irayo nìtxan nìfrakrr.
tse, mipa faylura tolìng ngal, zene tìkangkem siveiyi nì’it set. (can topical faylì’uri a contract like that?)
Ma Karyu!
Ngeyä ‘upxare amip lu txantsan sì lesar nìngay ulte suneiu oer nìtxan sì nìwotx!
Eywa ngahu livu frakrr sì fratseng!
Tìsung.
Srake tsun fkol sivar lì’ut alu tsmìm fpi tuteyä “track”? Natkengong:
Rewongam tsame’a oel sawtuteyä tmìmit äo Utral Aymoktiyä.
Fu zene ayngahu pivey lì’u amip?
ke tse’a lunit a kehe. ayNa’vi sawtutesì lu nìteng ayfnel ioangä.
Ioangìri, tuteri, tsun fko sivar lì’ut alu tsmìm, ma Kamean.
Wou nìmun. Na’vi just now has 2 new words with [iŋ] — a now rare occurence in the language!
Irayo nìtxan ma Pawl.
You probably know more about this than I do, but it seems to me like a society that relies heavily on tracking like that of the Na’vi would have many distinct words for different animal tracks–a word for thanator track, a word for hexapede track, etc.
Is this vocabulary in fact characteristic of hunter-gatherer societies?