Be patient and positive about negatives

Mastering the correct phrasing of negative sentences (which has been the focus of the last three columns) undoubtedly requires considerable practice, but there are two negative expressions much easier to learn and remember correctly. They are kao (‘‘no’’) and kaua! (‘‘don’t!’’).

Both of these words can stand as complete statements. It should be noted, though, that when kaua is used to open a verbal sentence, it is paired with the verb particle e: Kaua/e haere! (‘‘Don’t go!’’).

The word kao most commonly stands alone, as does its affirmative counterpart a¯ e (‘‘Yes’’) – but what is to be made of the word whakaa¯ etanga (‘‘agreement’’)?

Here, the word a¯ e is found sandwiched between the ‘‘causative prefix’’ whaka- and the ‘‘noun-ending suffix’’ -tanga.

The prefix whaka- is termed ‘‘causative’’ because it denotes ‘‘causing to happen’’, eg the word haere means ‘‘to move’’ (in one direction or another), whilst whakahaere means ‘‘cause to move’’ – and may be used to translate the English ‘ to organise’’.

The word ma¯ rama (not quite the same as marama for ‘‘moon’’) means ‘‘light’’, and whakama¯ rama can mean ‘‘enlightenment’’ or ‘‘to clarify’’. Whakaa¯ e thus means ‘‘to cause ‘yes’ ’’ – or ‘‘to agree’’.

The Reed Dictionary of Modern

Ma¯ ori provides a long list of words beginning with the prefix whaka-.

Another common prefix is kai-, which denotes the person who does something.

The word mahi is used both as a noun meaning ‘‘work’’ and as a verb ‘‘to work’’, and the word kaimahi may be translated as ‘‘worker’’. The word tiaki has meanings such as ‘‘to look after’’ and ‘‘to care for’’ – and kaitiaki is thus a word used to denote ‘‘guardian’’.

Prefixes generally have just one simple, constant form – but the suffix -tanga in the word whakaa¯ etanga (‘‘agreement’’) is only one of at least nine different ‘‘noun-endings’’: -nga, -anga, -hanga, -inga, -kanga, -manga -ranga, -tanga and -whanga.

For any given base word, a specific one of these suffixes is usually regarded as correct.

Thus -nga is the usual nounending suffix for the word ora (‘‘to be alive and healthy’’) – and oranga can mean ‘‘sustenance’’, as in the karakia said before meals: Ho¯ mai/ ki a ma¯tou/he taro/mo¯ te¯nei ra¯,/he oranga/mo¯ o¯ ma¯ tou tinana (‘‘Give/ to us/bread/for this day,/a sustenance/for our bodies’’.

For the word tangi (‘‘cry’’ or ‘‘weep’’), the usual suffix is -hanga, to form tangihanga (‘‘occasion of weeping’’, ‘‘funeral’’).

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.