CHAPTER VI.

OF THE PRONOUNS.

The personal pronouns of Maori are as follows:

SINGULAR. | DUAL. | | { Taua, _you and I_. Ahau, or au, _I_. | { Maua, _he and I_. Koe, _thou_. | Korua, _you two_. Ia, _he_. | Raua, _they two_.

PLURAL.

{ Tatou, _you all and myself_. { Matou, _they and myself_.

Koutou, _ye_. Ratou, _they_.

The first person dual and plural has, as may be seen in the above table, two forms, _taua_ and _tatou_, _maua_ and _matou_; the former class may be denominated _inclusive_, the latter _exclusive_. For example:

The speaker of a company, who is addressing a person just come in, uses _matou_; e tatari ana _matou_ ki a koe, _we are, or have been waiting for you_. If he means that only himself and another have been waiting, he uses _maua_, e tatari ana maua kia a koe: but when he addresses the whole company he uses _tatou_; Tatou ki te kai, _let us go to dinner_. If however he is addressing only another beside himself, he uses _taua_; Taua ki te kai, let us (two) go to dinner. Again, if he says, No _matou_ tenei kainga, he tells you, the hearer, that he and others possess this farm. If he says, No _maua_ tenei kainga, he tells you that he and some other person already mentioned possess it. If however he use _tatou_, No tatou tenei kainga, he means that all that he is addressing have a share in it. If he says, No taua tenei kainga, he tells you, the hearer, that it belongs to you and himself.

NOTE.--The student will find hereafter that the dual number is sometimes used for the plural.

In addressing an individual _ia_ is sometimes used in the second person by Ngapuhi; e. g., E ia. It is used in a very strange combination also with _wai_ by some tribes; e. g.,

Ko wai ia? _who said so?_

The PERSONAL PRONOUNS admit, in the singular, of _declension_; e. g.,

SINGULAR.

_Nom._ Ahau or Au, _I_. _Poss._ Naku, or Noku, _mine_. _Obj._ Ahau, or Au (preceded by some preposition); e. g., _Ki_ a au, or, ki ahau, _to me_, _E_ a hau, or, e au, _by me_, Maku or Moku, _for me_.

SINGULAR.

_Nom._ Koe, _thou_. _Poss._ Nau or Nou, _thine_. _Obj._ Koe (preceded by some preposition); e. g., kei a koe, _with thee_. Mau and Mou, _for you_.

SINGULAR.

_Nom._ Ia, _he_. _Poss._ Nona, or Nana, _his_ or _hers_. _Obj._ Ia (preceded by some preposition); e. g., I a ia, _from him_ or _from her_. Mona and Mana, _for him_, or _for her_.

Pronouns, in common with nouns, have no gender. There is no word in Maori to denote the pronoun _it_ with its dual and plural. Their place is generally supplied by some artifice of the construction, as will be shewn in the Syntax.

OF THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.

As the _possessive_ pronouns are closely connected with the _personal_, they may be mentioned next.

They are as follows:

SINGULAR. | PLURAL. | Toku, or tāku, or tăku, _my_. | Oku, āku, or ăku, _my_. Tou, to, or tau, _thy_. | Ou, o, au, _thy_. Tona, tāna, or tăna, _his_. | Ona, āna, ăna, _his_.

The other possessive pronouns are formed from the dual and plural of their respective pronouns by prefixing _o_; e. g.,

o { taua, } _of us two_. | o { tatou, } _our_. { maua, } | { matou, } o korua, _of you two_. | o koutou, _your_. o raua, _of them two_. | o ratou, _their_.

Such words as _himself_, _his own_, _my own_, &c., are expressed in Maori by some adverb added in the sentence; e. g., Nona _ake ano_ tona aroha ki a tatou, _his love to us was his own_; i. e., was self-derived.

The adverbs most usually employed for this purpose are _ake_, _ano_, _noa_, _iho_, _tonu_.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

The next in order are the relative pronouns. For these there is no distinct form in Maori. Sometimes they are wholly omitted in the sentence; e. g.

Ko te tangata tenei i patua e Hone, _this is the man that was beaten by John_.

At other times their place is supplied by some artifice of the construction. Vid. S.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.

The demonstrative pronouns are as follows: _Taua_, _tenei_, _tena_, _tera_, and their respective plurals, _aua_, _enei_, _ena_, _era_.

_Tenei_ and _aua_ are used for _that_ and _those_. _Tenei_ is applied to the object nearest at hand, or to the point of discourse to which the speaker had last alluded; _tena_ to an object near to, or connected with, you the person spoken to; _tera_ to an object farther remote; e. g.,

No Hone tenei ware, _this is John's house_. No Penehamine tena, _that one near you_. No Kukutai tera, _that one farther off is Kukutai's_.

The same distinction is to be observed in the plural number.

It may be questioned whether tenei and its branches are not, like _to_, (vid. article) compounded of two words, viz. _te_ and _nei_, &c. They can always, at least, be resolved into them; e. g., Ho mai tena mea, _give me that thing_, is the same as ho mai te mea na. There is, however, a little difference in the uses of these two forms which the attentive student will discover by observation.

_Nei_, _na_, and _ra_, are mostly added (like the ci, and lá of French) to point at the object more forcibly.

When the speaker wishes to denote the object with _familiarity_, _contempt_, &c., he generally uses the resolved form; e. g., Ka hinga ahau i te wakatakariri ki _te_ tangata _nei_, _I fall with anger at the fellow here_.

Sometimes we meet with nei and its branches twice repeated; e. g., tenei na, tera ra.

Nei, &c., are often used in asking questions; e. g., nei na? _Is this it?_ Ra ra? _Is that it?_

NOTE.--The speaker should be careful in speaking not to confound this demi-pronoun with the interrogative particle _Ne_.

Sometimes we meet with _ia_ used as a demonstrative, e. g.,

Tona wenua kai ha _ia_, _that is the very land of food_.

NOTE--_Anei_, and _ara_ are often used by Ngapuhi for _enei_ and _era_.

THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.

The interrogative pronouns are _wai_, _aha_, _tehea_, and its plural _ehea_, _kohea_, and sometimes, (particularly in Waikato,) _pehea_.

_Wai_ is applied (1) to persons, and (2) to animals or things, as _canoes_, _ships_, &c., to which the name of a man has been given, and is always the pronoun used in asking the question, What is his name? It is sometimes applied to _countries_, &c.; but, in such cases _kohea_ is the pronoun most frequently used.

The following are examples of the uses of _wai_ and _kohea_:

Ko wai tena? _Who is that?_ Na wai tenei? _Whose is this?_ Ko wai tena kuri? _Who is that dog?_ i. e., what is his name? Ko wai tena poti? ko Wikitoria, _what boat is that?_ ans. _Victoria_. Ko wai tona ingoa? _What is his name?_ Ko wai tena whenua? _What country is that?_ Kohea tenei? _What place is this?_

NOTE.--Wai will sometimes take the plural form by having _ma_ postfixed; e. g., Ko wai ma ena? _Who are they?_

_Aha_ is applied to everything in which _kind_ is denoted; so also is _pehea_ sometimes:

EXAMPLES.

He aha tena mea? _what (insect, animal, or thing) is that?_ Ko Hone aha? _which John was it?--(was it John the Baptist, or John the Apostle?)_ He aha a Erihapeti ki a Hone? _what (relation) is Elizabeth to John?_ Na te aha? _from what cause? (why?)_ Pehea ana to whakaaro? _what is your thought?_ i. e., _what do you think?_ E taea te pehea? _what can be done? how can it be helped?_ He kai pehea tena kai? _what kind of food is that?_

NOTE.--The above sentence decides the right of _pehea_ to be considered a pronoun. Most of the compounds however of _hea_; such as, _kohea_, _pehea_, _nohea_, _ihea_, _mohea_, &c., ought most probably to be considered as belonging to the class of adverbs.

The student will find, as we proceed, that the lines of distinction between the various classes of pronoun, adverb, preposition, noun, verb and adjective, are frequently but faintly marked, and that the same word may be often noticed as standing in four or five different ranks.

Tehea, and its plural ehea, is applied to _which_ of a number, and is used to denote _persons_, or _things_; e. g.,

Ko tehea tau e pai ai? _which do you choose?_ Ko ehea tangata au e ki nei, _which men do you speak of?_

NOTE.--Pronouns are sometimes employed to denote the time of the sentence, as will be seen hereafter. (vid. verbs.)

THE DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS.

_Each_ and _every one_, are expressed by the demonstrative or possessive pronoun, and the noun twice or thrice repeated; e. g.,

Haria mai e tera tangata, e tera tangata, tana kono riwai, _bring each man his basket of potatoes_. Ia tangata ia tangata, _each man_. I tenei ra i tenei ra, _each day_. E warea ana ki tana mahi ki tana mahi, _each is engaged with his own particular business_.

THE INDEFINITE PRONOUNS.

_Some other_ and _any_, are most frequently denoted by _te tahi_, and its plural _e tahi_; sometimes also by the preposition _i_; (vid. prepositions.)

Kua kite ahau i _e tahi_, _I saw some (of them)_. Ko _e tahi_ kihai i kitea e ahau, _some I did not see_. Kahore kau ahau i kite i _te tahi_, _I did not see any at all_.

_Whatever_, _whatsoever_, &c., are expressed in various ways; as may be seen in the following examples:

Ko _nga mea katoa_ e mea ai koutou, _or_ } _whatever ye do_, Ko _nga aha noa_ &c. &c. } Col. 3, 17. Ko _ta koutou e inoi ai_ i toku ingoa, _whatever ye ask in my name_. Kia ho atu ki a ia _tana_ mea _e_ inoi ai ia, _to give her whatsoever she would ask_, Mat. 14, 7. Ka kai koutou, ka inu, _ka aha_ ranei, _whether ye eat or drink or whatever ye do_. 1 Cor. 10, 31.