Relationships between people and things

In the last column, the word taku (‘‘my’’) was described as a ‘‘neutral form’’ which may be substituted for ta¯ ku or to¯ ku. Neutral forms of the possessives exist only for words used when a single person is identified as owner: taku, instead of ta¯ ku or to¯ ku (‘‘my’’); to¯ , instead of ta¯ u or to¯ u (‘‘your’’); and tana, instead of ta¯ na or to¯ na (‘‘his or her’’).

These words, often called t-class possessives, are used when only one thing is ‘‘owned’’. When more than one thing is owned, the initial ‘‘t’’ is dropped. Thus: taku or ta¯ ku pukapuka (‘‘my book’’) but aku or a¯ ku pukapuka (‘‘my books’’); to¯ or to¯ u hoa (‘‘your friend’’) but o¯ or o¯ u hoa (‘‘your friends’’); tana or to¯ na ho¯ iho (‘‘his or her horse’’) but ana or o¯ na ho¯ iho (‘‘her or his horses’’).

Because ‘‘neutral forms’’ exist only for the one-person possessives, the distinction between a and o categories of possessives cannot be simply disregarded.

With the word for ‘‘of’’, denoting ‘‘belonging to’’, the choice must be made between a and o. There is no neutral form. Neither are there any neutral forms of the possessives where there is more than one ‘‘owner’’.

Where more than one owner is involved, a possessive particle – ta¯ , to¯ , a¯ or o¯ – is placed preceding the appropriate name or personal pronoun.

The particles ta¯ or to¯ are considered to be contractions of te a and te o (‘‘the of’’) respectively. Thus, to¯ ma¯ tou matua translates literally as ‘‘the of us father’’ – ie ‘‘our father’’. Where more than one thing is owned, the initial ‘‘t’’ is dropped. Thus, a¯ ma¯ tou pukapuka means ‘‘our books’’.

This system of possessives is certainly more extensive than that of English. Since, in te reo Ma¯ ori, there are four plural first-person pronouns (ta¯ ua and ma¯ ua for two people, and ta¯ tou and ma¯ tou for three or more people) and four possessive particles (ta¯ , to¯ , a¯ and o¯ ) which might precede any one of them, there are at least 16 different possible translations for the single English word ‘‘our"!

But calling this a system of ‘‘possessives’’ sometimes seems a clumsy description.

Certainly, the English translations (‘‘my’’, ‘‘your’’, ‘‘our’’ and others) are called ‘‘possessives’’ – but what the a/o words of te reo actually do is differentiate the relationships between people, and between people and other things, in an intriguing manner. They are also used with such frequency that it is well worth the effort to acquire a thorough understanding of them.

A wealth of information is freely available online at Kupu o te Ra¯ , kupu.maori.nz.

David Ka¯ rena-Holmes is a New Zealand-born writer currently living in Nelson. A tutor of grammar since the 1980s, his third book on the subject is Te Reo Ma¯ ori – The Basics Explained (Oratia Books, 2020). He is examining te reo grammar in a series of fortnightly articles.