Tìng Lìlì, To Breastfeed

Posted by sickdelusion on 8/17/2026

I've asked KP via e-mail about the possibility of using tìng lìlì for saying to breastfeed.

He replied:

Quote:

About tìng lìlì, meaning ‘to breastfeed’:

Yes! I like it, and it sounds very Na’vi to me. You could use it with or without an object (the object would of course be in the dative):

Sa’nok prrnenur tìng lìlì.
‘Mother is breastfeeding the baby.’

Sa’nu terìng lìlì, ma paskalin. Rä’ä srätx pot set.
‘Mommy is breastfeeding, honey. Don’t bother her now.’

Furia tìng lìlì ke lu fìtseng sìltsan.
‘This isn’t a good place for breastfeeding.’

However, I would not say *Poe tìng lìlì fa okup sneyä, since okup is understood and therefore redundant. It would be like saying, “She’s breastfeeding with her milk.” 😊

Eywa ngahu frakrr,

ta P.

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