Learn the Na'vi Infixes

Tense

The infixes that indicate time relative to the speaker are called tense infixes. There are four basic infixes for tense that go in the first <1> position. They can be found below:

	Infix	Example
General Past	<am>	oe pamähem
Near Past	<ìm>	oe pìmähem
Near Future	<ìy>	oe pìyähem
General Future	<ay>	oe payähem

Notice that the past tenses share an m in their infixes, while the future tenses share a y. Similarly, the proximal tenses share an ì while the general tenses share an a. This can help you quickly identify the type of tense being used.

Aspect

When dealing with the flow of time, aspect infixes describe the state of time relevant to the speaker - whether the action of a sentence is ongoing or complete. The Na'vi language has two infixes for aspect, the progressive (ongoing action) and the perfective (completed action). They go in the first <1> position and can be found below:

	Infix	Example
Progressive	<er>	oe kerä
Perfective	<ol>	oe kolä

Note that these two infixes do not indicate the tense, so when something happens - this information often gets added via context. But the perfective <ol> could also describe an event that will be completed in the future ("I will have finished this next week"), and the progressive <er> can also describe that you were or will be doing something.

Compound Infixes

When infixes for tense and aspect compete for the first <1> position, they combine to form compound infixes. There are eight possible combinations, which can be found below:

	Infix	Example
General Past Progressive	<arm>	oe tarmaron
General Past Perfective	<alm>	oe talmaron
Near Past Progressive	<ìrm>	oe tìrmaron
Near Past Perfective	<ìlm>	oe tìlmaron
Near Future Progressive	<ìry>	oe tìryaron
Near Future Perfective	<ìly>	oe tìlyaron
General Future Progressive	<ary>	oe taryaron
General Future Perfective	<aly>	oe talyaron

There is often confusion around when to distinguish between the general past <am> and the general past perfective <alm>. Because the perfective aspect is used to indicate completion of an action, the general past perfective is used when the speaker specifically wants to highlight the completion of an action in the past before moving on to another action. For example, trram oe tamaron vs. trram oe talmaron srekrr oe tamätxaw.

Subjunctive

To express possibility, you use the subjunctive infix <iv>, which goes into the first <1> position. When the tense or aspect infixes compete for the first <1> position with the subjunctive, they are combined to form compound subjunctive infixes. There are four possible combinations, which can be found below:

	Infix	Example
Past Subjunctive	<imv>	oe slimvele
Future Subjunctive	<iyev> or <ìyev>	oe sliyevele
Progressive Subjunctive	<irv>	oe slirvele
Perfective Subjunctive	<ilv>	oe slilvele

The past subjunctive and perfective subjunctive bear a similar distinction as the general past and past perfective infixes in that they are used to highlight the state of an action, completed or ongoing.

Note that the subjunctive is highly grammaticalized in Na'vi, meaning that in most cases, you will use it simply because a certain grammar rule requires it. Examples for that are modal verbs or certain adverbs and conjunctions that require the following verb to take the subjunctive.

Mood

Mood is a concept unfamiliar to English speakers, as our mood is conveyed exclusively through intonation and body language. The Na'vi use intonation on top of a verb aspect called mood to indicate their feelings. Verbs are naturally in a neutral mood. To indicate mood, you use one of two second <2> position infixes, found below:

	Infix	Example
Positive Mood	<ei>	oe teiul
Negative Mood	<äng>	oe tängul