III. DEFINITIVES.

III. DEFINITIVES.

§ 14. DEFINITIVES are those words which shew how far, or in what way the signification of a noun is limited. The name therefore will comprehend what are commonly known as articles, possessive pronouns, possessive cases of nouns, and demonstrative pronouns. All these, with one exception, have two numbers, singular and plural; and all stand _before_ the nouns with which they are connected.

§ 15. TABLE OF DEFINITIVES.

SINGULAR. PLURAL.

He, _a_, or _an_. He ---- Te, _the_. Nga, _the_. Tetahi, _a_, _one_, _some_. Etahi, _some_. Tenei, _this_. Enei, _these_. Tena, _that_ (near the person Ena, _those_ (near the person spoken to). spoken to). Tera, _that_ (at a distance). Era, _those_ (at a distance). Taua, _that_ (before mentioned). Aua, _those_ (before mentioned). Ia, _that_. (No plural.) Tehea? _which?_ Ehea? _which?_ Taku, _my_. Aku, _my_. Toku, _my_. Oku, _my_. Tau, _thy_. Au, _thy_. Tou, _thy_. Ou, _thy_. To, _thy_. O, _thy_. Tana, _his_, or _her_. Ana, _his_, or _her_. Tona, _his_, or _her_. Ona, _his_, or _her_. Ta taua, _our_. A taua, _our_. To taua, _our_. O taua, _our_. Ta tatou, _our_. A tatou, _our_. To tatou, _our_. O tatou, _our_.

And so on with all the other personal pronouns, with names of persons, or places, with nouns of locality (§ 10), and with all common nouns when they follow any definitive except _he_, by prefixing _ta_, or _to_, for the singular, and _a_, or _o_, for the plural.

EXAMPLES.

Toku whare, _my house_.

Enei hoiho, _these horses_.

He whare, _a house_, or _houses_.

Ta Hemi pukapuka, _Hemi's book_.

To tenei tangata kaainga, _this man's dwellingplace_.

§ 16. PECULIARITIES OF _he_ AND _te_. (_a_) Never use _he_ after a preposition, but substitute _tetahi_, thus:

He tangata, _a man_.

Ki tetahi tangata, _to a man_.

(_b_) When a common noun is used to denote a class, as the simple plural is often used in English, use _te_ in the _singular_, and not _he_, thus:

He kararehe kaha te hoiho, _the horse is a strong beast_.

Te hoiho, _the horse_; i. e. _horses_ in general.

§ 17. POSSESSIVE PREPOSITIONS following Definitives. (_a_) When a possessive follows _he_, always use either of the prepositions _na_, or _no_, never _a_, or _o_.

EXAMPLES.

He pukapuka naku, _a book of mine_, or _belonging to me_.

He whare no tenei tangata, _a house belonging to this man_, or _of this man's_.

(_b_) When a possessive follows any other definitive, except _he_, always use either of the prepositions _a_, or _o_, _never_ na, _or_ no.

EXAMPLES.

Te pukapuka a Pita, _Pita's book_.

Tenei taha oku, _this side of me_.

Taua whara o Hemi, _that house of Hemi's_.

§ 18. Of the DEMONSTRATIVES, _tena_ denotes that the thing spoken of is near, or in some way connected with the person spoken to; _tera_, that it is at a distance from or unconnected with either the speaker or the person spoken to; _taua_, that it has been already mentioned. _Ia_ is generally used distributively for _each_, both it and the noun being repeated. _Tenei_, _tena_, and _tera_ may also be used in the same way.

EXAMPLES.

Ia tangata ia tangata, _each man_.

Tenei rōpū tenei rōpū o ratou, _each company of them_.

_Tera_ is often used in an emphatic way for the personal pronoun of the third person singular.

_Tenei_, _tena_, and _tera_ often stand alone, the noun being understood, but _taua_ is never used in this way.

EXAMPLES.

Naku tenei, nau tena, _this is mine, that is yours_.

Ne rangatira taua tangata, _that man is a chief_.

§ 19. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN _a_ AND _o_, which applies also to _na_, _no_, _ma_, _mo_, _ta_, _to_, is this; _a_ is active, and _o_ is passive, that is to say, _a_ is used with reference to the agent, _o_ with reference to the person or thing acted upon, thus:

Taku patunga i a koe, _my striking you_.

Toku patunga e koe, _my being struck by you_.

They are also strictly correlatives, _a_ having reference to the superior, and _o_ to the inferior, thus:

Toku pāpā, _my father_.

Tana tamaiti, _his child_.

Tona rangatira, _his master_.

He pononga nana, _a servant of his_.

Always use _o_ in speaking of members of the body, clothes, houses, names, medicine, water for drinking, washing &c., but _a_ in speaking of work, food &c.

EXAMPLES.

Tona kakahu, _his garment_.

Ou waewae, _your feet_.

He kai mau, _food for you_.

Tetahi wai moku, _some water for me_.

Tou ingoa, _your name_.

Taku ingoa mou, _my name for you_ (i. e. _which I have given you_).

OBS. To, _thy_, plural o, resembles _tau_ rather than _tou_ in the way in which it is used, though it often appears to be used indiscriminately for either.