Word Order Restrictions
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While Na'vi is usually described as having free word order, there are nonetheless some restrictions to know about.
- Ke must always go directly before the verb, kea must go before its noun.
- Attributive/non-predicative adjectives must either go directly before or directly after the noun they describe. You can use both kawnga tute and tute akawng.
- Possessives/genitives must either go before directly before or directly after their possessed noun, except that an adjective describing the noun may come in between if necessary:
- oeyä 'eylan = 'eylan oeyä,
- oeyä sìltsana 'eylan = 'eylan asìltsan oeyä
- Ma must go directly before the name who is being addressed.
- Srak(e) may (as far as I know) only go either at the very beginning or very end of a yes/no question.
- The words ko and nang must only go at the end of the sentence.
- Modal verbs can only come somewhere before the secondary verb; the secondary verb cannot happen somewhere before the modal:
- nga yivom tsun = wrong
- tsun nga yivom / nga tsun yivom / tsun yivom nga = correct forms.
- The topical must come at the beginning of the clause (though there seems to be an exception in song, in the Hunt Song, pxan livu txo nì'aw oe ngari...).