OF THE PREPOSITIONS, ADVERBS, AND CONJUNCTIONS.
These have been considered at large in chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, and
require now but little notice. We proceed to consider the prepositions
which follow the verbs, and to offer a few other remarks respecting
them.
_Verbal postfixes._--An active verb will (as was observed page 60)
take _i_ after it, to denote the object of the action. Sometimes,
however, _ki_ will be found to supply its place; e. g., mohio _ki_ a
ia, matau _ki_ a ia, wehi _ki_ a ia, whakaaro _ki_ tena mea, karanga
_ki_ a ia, kua mau _ki_ te pu, _seized his gun_. Whiwhi _ki_ te toki,
_obtain an axe_, _&c._
Between these two prepositions, however, as verbal postfixes, there is
often a very important difference; e. g., na ka whakatiki ahau _i_ a
ia _ki_ te kai, _so I deprived him of food_, i. e., I withheld food
from him; na te aha koe i kaiponu ai _i_ to paraikete _ki_ a au? _why
did you withhold your blanket_ FROM _me?_ he pakeha hei whakawhiwhi
_i_ a matou _ki_ te kakahu, _an European to make us possess clothes_;
ki te hoko atu _i_ taku poaka _ki_ te tahi paraikete moku, _to sell my
pig for a blanket for myself_. Europeans generally employ _mo_, but
erroneously. Sometimes other prepositions will occupy the place of
_i_; ka haere ahau ki te whangai i taku kete riwai _ma_ taku poaka, _I
will go feed my basket of potatoes for my pig_, i. e., I will feed my
pigs with my basket of potatoes; hei patu moku, _to strike me
with_,--a form similar to hei patu _i_ a au.
NOTE.--Verbal nouns will take the same case as their roots.
Occasionally no sign of case will follow the active verb, (1) when
the verb is preceded by such auxiliaries as taea, pau, taihoa, &c.,
e. g., e kore e taea e ahau te hopu tena poaka, _it cannot be
accomplished by me (I mean) the catching that pig_; or, e kore e taea
tena _poaka_ e au, te _hopu_. (2.) When the verb is preceded by the
particle _me_, or by the prepositions _na_ and _ma_; e. g., _me_ hopu
_te poaka_ e koe, _the pig must be caught by you_; _na_ku i hopu
_tena_, _the having caught that (pig) was mine_. To this rule,
exceptions are sometimes heard.
_Neuter Verbs_ will sometimes take an accusative case of the noun
proper to their own signification; e. g., e karakia ana _i tana
karakia_, _he is praying his prayers_; e kakahu ana i ona, _he is
garmenting his clothes_; i. e., is putting them on.
NOTE.--Considerable variation will be found in the
prepositions which follow such verbs as heoi, ka tahi, &c.; e. g.,
heoi ano te koti pai _nou_, _the only good coat is yours_; ka tahi
ano te koti pai, _nou_, _idem_; manawa te tangata korero teka, _he_
pakeha (Taranaki), _a European is the greatest person for telling
falsehoods_; ka tahi ano taku tangata kino, _ko koe_ (or _ki_ a koe,
or _kei_ a koe); ka tahi ano tenei huarahi ka takahia _ki_ a koe,
_you are the first person who has trodden this path_; if it had been
_e_ koe, the meaning would have been _you now for the first TIME walk
this road_; often, also, the preposition will be omitted, and the
noun put into the nominative; e. g., noho rawa atu _he_ whenua ke,
_settled in a foreign land_; ka whakamoea atu _he_ tangata ke, _given
in marriage to another man_; te huihuinga mai o Mokau, o whea, o
whea, _ko_ te Wherowhero, _the musterings of Mokau, &c., &c., are to
Wherowhero_, i. e., Wherowhero is the grand object of interest.
Between _i_ and _ki_ when following neuter verbs, or adjectives, there
is often a considerable difference; e. g., mate _ki_, _desirous of_;
mate _i_, _killed by_; kaha i te kino, _stronger_ THAN _sin_, i. e.,
overcoming it; kaha _ki_ te kino, _strong_ IN _sinning_; ngakau kore
_ki_ tana kupu, _disinclined to, &c._; ngakau kore _i_, _discouraged
by_.
Foreigners often err in the use of these, and other prepositions; e. g.,
i a ia _ki_ reira, _while he was there_; it should be, _i_ reira.
E aha ana ia _ki_ reira? What is he doing there? it should be _i_
reira. Kati _ki_ kona; it should be _i_ kona. E mea ana ahau kia kai
_i_ te Onewhero, _I am thinking of taking a meal at Onewhero_; it
should be, _ki_ te Onewhero. Hei a wai ranei te pono? hei a Maihi
ranei, hei a Pita ranei? _with whom is the truth? with Marsh or with
Peter?_ it should be, _I_ a wai, &c. He aha te tikanga o taua kupu nei
kei a Matiu? _what is the meaning of that expression in Matthew?_ it
should be _i_ a Matiu. Again,--kahore he mea _no_ te kainga nei hei
kai, _there is nothing in this settlement for food_; it should be, _o_
te kainga nei. Enei kupu _no_ te pukapuka, _these words of the book_;
it should be, _o_ te pukapuka. Ko nga mea katoa _no_ waho, _all the
things outside_; it should be _o_ waho. He kahore urupa _o_ Kawhia i
kawea mai ai ki konei? _Was there no grave in Kawhia that you brought
him here?_ it should be, _no_ Kawhia. Again,--he mea tiki _i_ toku
whare, _a thing fetched from my house_. The meaning of this, as it
stands, is "a thing to fetch my house;" it should be, _no_ toku whare,
as in the following proverb: "he toka hapai mai _no_ nga whenua." In
constructions like these, the agent will take either _e_ or _na_
before it, but most frequently the latter. In some tribes to the
Southward of Waikato, the following form is in common use:--he pakeke
ou, _yours are hardnesses_, i. e., you are a hard person; he makariri
oku i te anu, _I have colds from the cold (air)_. The singular forms
_tou_ and _toku_ are mostly used in Waikato, or the preposition _no_;
e. g., he pakeke _nou_, and makariri _noku_, or TOKU.
Prepositions are sometimes used where a foreigner would expect a
verbal particle; e. g., _Kei_ te takoto a Hone, _John is lying down_;
_i te_ mate ahau, _I was poorly_; _No_ te tarai ahau i tena wahi, _I
have been hoeing that place_. This form belongs chiefly to Ngapuhi. Ka
tae te pakeke o te oneone nei! kahore _i te_ kohatu! How hard this
soil is! it is not at a stone, i. e., it is like a stone. Kahore ahau
_i te_ kite, _I don't see_. This last form is used chiefly in the
districts Southward of Waikato.
_Adverbs._--Most of the adverbs will (as was observed, page 85) assume
the form of the word with which they are connected; e. g., rap_u_
mar_ie_, rap_ua_ marie_tia_, rapu_nga_ marie_tanga_, _&c._ In some
districts, however, they will assume the form of the verbal noun,
after the passive voice; e. g., rapua marie_tanga_. Instances will,
also, occasionally be found in all parts of the island in which they
undergo no change; e. g., whiua _pena_, _throw it in that direction_.
Whiua _penatia_ is, _throw it in that manner_.
_Negative Adverbs._--Most of these will, when in connexion with the
verb, take a verbal particle before, or after, them; e. g., _hore_
rawa _kia_ pai; kahore i pai, or (sometimes), kahore _e_ pai; kihai
_i_[47] pai; _e_ kore _e_ pai; aua _e_ haere, kiano _i_ haere noa, _e_
hara i a au, _it is not mine_, or, _it is different from me_ (i. e.,
it was not I), &c.
_Kihai i_ and _kahore i_ are most frequently used indifferently one
for the other. An experienced speaker will, however, we think,
sometimes notice points of difference, and particularly that _kihai i_
is most frequently employed when reference is made to an act previous
to a past act, and _kahore i_ when some allusion is made to the
present time. Thus, in the following sentence, nau i kai nga kai
_kihai nei i_ tika kia kainga e te mea noa, we should prefer _kahore
nei i_ to denote _which_ WAS _not, and_ IS _not, lawful to be eaten by
a person not tapu_. In Waikato, haunga with kahore sometimes governs a
genitive case; e. g., _Kahore haunga o_ tena. Kahore, when it takes a
possessive case after it, will require it to be in the plural number;
e. g., Kahore _aku_ moni, _I have no money_, lit., there is a
negativeness of my monies. So also the particle _u_, vid. page 93.
In answering a question, the answer will always be regulated by the
way in which the question is put, e. g., Kahore i pai? _ae_; _Was he
not willing? Yes_; i. e., Yes, he was not willing. If the answer was
intended to be affirmative, the speaker would have said "I pai ano."
[47] Some foreigners, we observe, omit the _i_ after _kihai_, when it
immediately follows it. That this error, however, arises from the _I_
being blended into the ai of _kihai_ in the pronunciation is clear
from its being distinctly heard when a word intervenes to prevent
elision, as in the following example:--_kihai_ ahau _i_ pai.
TESTIMONIALS TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The author cannot conclude without returning many acknowledgments to
those kind friends who have encouraged and assisted him in the
prosecution of this work. The following favorable notices from some of
their communications are here submitted to the reader's inspection.
"For the purpose of advancing towards a more correct and idiomatic
knowledge of the Maori, I have found, and do daily find, its
assistance quite invaluable. Your exertions to supply a deficiency
which was keenly felt by every student of the Maori tongue cannot
fail to be highly appreciated, both here and at home."--_W. Martin,
Esq., Chief Justice of New Zealand._
"It is the only work that has ever been published that is calculated
to give a sound and critical knowledge of Maori. I have constant
reference to it in the publication of the Maori _Gazette_, and at all
times find it an invaluable assistant."--_George Clarke, Esq.,
Aboriginal Protector._
"To allow you to suffer loss by the publication of your valuable
grammar, would be to suffer our justice to be called in
question."--_Rev. A. N. Brown, sen., Church Missionary of the
Southern District._
"I wish you could afford to carry on your work to another part, and
take in prosody, the native waiatas, proverbs, &c.; but I must not
dictate. You have done well, and your work deserves the praise and
encouragement of every one who feels an interest in the natives and
their language."--_Rev. J. Whiteley, sen. Wesleyan Missionary of the
Southern District._
"I think you deserve great credit for your performance, and am sure
that when the language is more known you will hear it. May I thank
you to set my name down as a subscriber for twenty copies of the
whole work."--_Rev. O. Hadfield, Senior Church Missionary of the Port
Nicholson District._
FINIS.
Transcriber's Note (continued):
Page 9, "Matou & Tatau" changed to "Matou & Matau" and "Ratou & Tatau"
to "Ratou & Ratau".
Page 15, "kĭa" changed to "kiă"; footnote 5, "oho" changed to
"oha".
Page 19, "ko'iro" changed to "kotiro".
Page 24, "K" changed to "Ka".
Page 32, "taegata" changed to "tangata".
Page 53, "?kore" transcribed as "Pakore".
Page 54 footnote 13, "a?ero" transcribed as "arero".
Page 61, "mal" changed to "mai".
Page 64, "nohea" changed to "no hea".
Page 109, "i?" transcribed as "ia".
Page 113, "Wherowhoro" changed to "Wherowhero".
Page 118, "is" changed to "ia" (twice).