Ngā Tohutohu
You practised using the words a and o (of) with terms for family relationships. In Chapter 2 you used o when asking or giving ages, e.g. E hia ngā tau o Kuīni? (How old is Queenie?) You may also have used o in sentences using ingoa (name), e.g. Ko wai te ingoa o te tamāhine a Kuīni rāua ko Kīngi? (What is the name of Queenie and Kīngi’s daughter?) Why is o used in these and not a?
These uses introduce a second aspect of the use of o, namely that if the thing that is owned, or possessed, is part of something, then o is used. This includes names, size, age, colour, qualities of people and things, emotions, mātauranga (knowledge), whakaaro (thoughts), hara (sins), hē (mistakes) especially if made unwittingly, raruraru (problems) and even reo (language). Things that would usually take the a category take o if they are part of something such as a group, e.g. ngā tamariki a Kuīni (Queenie’s children) but ngā tamariki o te kura (the children of the school). In this last example the children are part of the school so o is used. In the phrase te tuanui o te whare (the roof of the house) the roof is part of the house so o is used.
The following exercise and some of the podcast exercises for this chapter will give you practice in the use of o when things or people are part of something, as well as the use of a and o with kinship terms.
[Instruction]
Fill in the gaps with either a or o.
Whakakīa ngā ango ki te kupu ‘a’, ki te kupu ‘o’ rānei.
