This & That | Fì + tsa
“I want this thing!” or “Give me that Bow”. Sentences, espacially the first one, that are used pretty often. Until this lesson you probably dind’t knew about how to build them in Na’vi. Therefor two prefixes exist, which are fì and tsa, which are translated to this and that.
How they work
Like every prefix they are just put in front of the noun or pronoun.
| fìtsko | This bow |
| tsatsko | that bow |
| Fìyayo | This bird |
| Tsayayo | That bird |
| Fìtseng(e) | This place (here) |
| Tsatseng(e) | That place (there) |
That’s pretty much all there is to know about how to use fì and tsa pretty simple, right?
Dual, Trial, Plural forms of fì and tsa
Only being able to say “this one thing” isn’t enough for a language, you also need to be able to say “these three things” or “those things”, etc. and also this is possible in Na’vi. I hope you still remember the dual, trial and plural, otherwise click here to look at them again, because you will need them here.
For “these two thing” and “those three things” the fì and tsa prefixes and dual and trial prefix get combined.
Fì + me+ -> fìme+
Tsa + me+ -> tsame+
Fì + pxe -> fìpxe+
Tsa + pxe -> tsapxe+
Like you see using the little + behind the new prefixes, these prefixes cause lenition.
| Fìmesko | These two bowes |
| Tsamesko | Those two bows |
| Fìpxeuran | These three boats |
| Tsapxeuran | Those three boats |
Sadly the plural form breaks this simple pattern, but they are also combined in nearly the same way.
Fì + ay+ -> Fay+
Tsa + ay+ -> Tsay+
Also these two are lenition causing, like you can see with the help of the + again.
| Faysko | These bows (four or more) |
| Tsayuran | Those boats (four or more) |
Every and all / Fra and Fray+
Those last two prefixes are used if you want to say “Every X” or “all X”.
For example: “All birds” or “every bird”.
Herefor the Fra prefix exists, which is translated to “every”. Like you see there is no + behind it, so it is not causing lenition. But if you now want to say “all” you use the pattern like before:
Fra + ay+ -> Fray+
This prefix is causing lenition again.
| Fratsko | Every bow |
| Fraysko | all bows |
| Frauran | Every boat |
| Frayuran | All boats |
