Na'vi/Adpositions

Besides case, the role of a noun in a clause may be indicated with an adposition. This may occur either as a preposition before the noun, as in English, or as an suffix at the end of the noun, as in Japanese, a greater degree of freedom than human languages allow. For example, "with you" may be either hu nga or ngahu. When used as suffixes, they are much like the numerous cases found in Hungarian and Finnish.

Attested adpositions

Adpositions may be stressed when they occur as prepositions, but not as suffixes, where they have no effect on the stress of the noun.

Adp.	Len.	English	Example	Translation
äo	−	"under"	äo Utral Aymokriyä	under the Tree of Voices
eo	−	"before (place), in front of"	eo ayoeng	before us
io	−	"above"
uo	−	"behind"
fa	−	"with", "by means of"   (instrument)	aylìʼufa ʼeylanä	in the words of a friend
fkip	−	"up among"
fpi	+	"for the sake of"
ftu	−	"from" (direction)	Note irregular ftu sat "from that"
hu	−	"with, together with" (accompaniment)	Eywa ngahu hu Eywa	Gaia (be) with you with Eywa
ìlä	+	"via, along, by"
ka	−	"across"
kip	−	"among"	ayngakip	among you
kxamlä	−	"through (the middle of)"		(kxam "the middle" ìlä "via")
lok	−	"close to"	lok ʼawkx, ʼawkxlok	near the cliff (also a verb, "to approach")
luke	−	"without"	lu luke kxu	be without harm
maw	−	"after" (in time)	maw hìkrr	in a moment
mì	+	"in", "on"	mì teʼlan ʼRrtamì fìtrrmì	in the heart(s) on Earth on this day
mìkam	−	"between"		(mì "in" kxam "the middle")
mungwrr	−	"except"	éyktanmungwrr	except the leader
na	−	"like", "as"	na ayskxe mì teʼlan rel na uniltìranyu	like stones in my heart (simile) a picture as an avatar (form)
ne	−	"to" (direction)	terìran ayoe ayngane tsenge a tsane po karmä	we are walking your way the place to which she was going
nemfa	−	"into"		(from ne mì+fa)
pxaw	−	"around"
pxel	−	"like", "such as"	sute pxel nga	people such as you
ro	+	"at" (location)	ro fäpa, ro helku	at the top, at home
sì	−	"and" (phrases)	trrä sì txonä, aylìʼut horentisì	of day and night, words and rules
sìn	−	"on", "onto" (?)
sre	+	"before" (time)	sreseʼa	prophesize
ta	−	"from" (generic)	aungia ta Eywa	a sign from Eywa
takip	−	"from among"
tafkip	−	"from up among"
teri	−	"about, concerning"	teri lìʼfya leNaʼvi plltxe	talk about the Naʼvi language
vay	−	"up to" (space or time)	vay set vaykrr	up to now, still, (with a negative verb) not yet until
wä	+	"against"		(as in "fight against")

Various locative and temporal adverbs are derived from these: neʼìm "toward the back", nefä "upwards", nekll "downwards"; taʼem "from above"; mawkrr "after, afterwards"; srekrr "before, beforehand". Note also kä neto "go away (toward the distance)" and tok mìso "be there in the distance", both perhaps based on the particle to "than". Sreseʼa "to prophesize" is literally "to foresee", sre+tseʼa.

There are words besides traditional adpositions that have the same dual preposition/suffix use, such as sì "and" and pe+, -pe "which?", though the latter case is a dual prefix/suffix (peu, ʼupe "what?"—see Questions), never a preposition.

Though a prefix, the adverbial nì- "-ly" functions as a generic adposition: nìfyaʼo alaw "in a clear manner". It may be used where no specific adposition is correct; mì fyaʼo, for example, would mean literally "in the way, on the path", not *"in the manner".

Lenition and the ambiguity of short plurals

When used as prepositions, certain of these trigger lenition, marked "+" in the table above. One of the leniting prepositions is mì "in", as in mì sokx "in the body", from tokx "the body". This may cause some ambiguity with short plurals: mì sokx could also be short for mì aysokx "in the bodies". When mì is used as a suffix, however, the noun is not lenited.

	noun		preposition + noun		noun-suffix
Singular	tokx	"body"	mì sokx	"in the body"	tokxmì	"in the body"
Short plural	sokx	"bodies"		"in the bodies"	sokxmì	"in the bodies"
Long plural	aysokx		mì aysokx		aysokxmì