Teachers will note that the possessive pronouns of Navaho are always
prefixed to the noun. Thus, we have shimá (my mother), nimá (your
mother), bimá (his mother), but never má. The stem -má has no
independent form and never occurs without a prefix.
The structure of the Navaho verb has similar characteristics, but is
more complex. The subject of the sentence is always incorporated in the
verb with a pronominal form, and other verbal elements. Ideas of time
and mode are likewise incorporated in the verb, and auxiliary verbs such
as will, did, have, might, etc. do not occur in Navaho. The ideas
conveyed by these independent words in English are expressed by
different forms of the verb itself in Navaho.
Another point in which Navaho sentence structure differs from English is
that English prepositions are postpositions in Navaho.
with my elder sister shádí bi{l-} (my elder sister, with her)
for my mother shimá bá (my mother for)
whereas normal word order in English is subject, verb, and object,
Navaho has subject, object, and verb.