The simplicity of verbs in te reo M¯aori
Because the verb system of te reo Ma¯ ori is so different from that of English it can be confusing to those whose first language is English. But the basic principles are not complicated, and are so fundamental to the language that, for the learner of te reo, it’s well worth taking time to understand as thoroughly as possible this particular difference between the languages.
In English, descriptions are often presented in the form of a phrase composed of a ‘‘linking verb’’ followed by an adjective: The house / is warm. The work / was difficult. As emphasised in the previous column, in te reo there are no ‘‘linking’’ verbs. In te reo there are, instead, stative verbs – verbs, that is, which denote a ‘‘state of being’’, in which the concept of ‘‘being’’ (as expressed in English verbs such as ‘‘is’’ and ‘‘was’’) is actually carried in the base-word itself.
The Ma¯ ori word pai is quite a different type of word to the English adjective ‘‘good’’. Pai is a stative verb meaning ‘‘to be good’’. The sentence Ka pai / te mahi may be translated as ‘‘The work / is good’’ but the verb particle ka does not translate to ‘‘is’’. This is readily demonstrated by comparing two simple sentences: Ka waiata / te hine (Sings / the girl = The girl / sings) and Ka pai / te mahi (Good / the work = The work / is good).
In both cases ka introduces a verb – in the first case a verb of doing, but in the second case a verb of being. It can, in fact, be said that any word which may follow the particle ka directly is a verb. One difference between the phrases Ka oma and Ka pai is in the ways in which are translated. The first may be translated by an English verb, but translation of the second requires a part of the verb ‘‘to be’’ followed by an adjective. It would seem to be only long-standing familiarity with the patterns of English that makes the learning of te reo Ma¯ ori so difficult. The verb system of te reo, when considered on it’s own terms, is really much simpler than that of English.
It’s true, though, that Ma¯ ori stative verbs such as pai may be used also as adjectives – in such a phrase as he whare pai (‘‘a good house’’). Some discussion of this is to be included in the next two columns on classifying base words.
David Ka¯ rena-Holmes is a New Zealand born writer currently based in Nelson. A tutor of grammar since the 1980s, he is the author of Ma¯ ori Language: Understanding the Grammar (Pearson), and will be examining te reo grammar in a series of fortnightly articles.