Study Guide Te mahi 37

Ngā Tohutohu

He whakamārama

As well as the verbs which express or imply some kind of movement, there is a small group of verbs which also use ki to mark the object of the action, e.g. Kei te mōhio ētahi Pākehā ki te reo Māori. (Some Pākehā know the Māori language.)

These verbs include pīrangi (to want), hiahia (to desire, wish for), mōhio (to know, understand) and mahara (to think, remember, consider).

Verbs other than these, and those that indicate motion towards a goal, either actual or figurative, as discussed and practised earlier, will take i to mark the goal or object of the sentence, e.g. I inu rāua i te wai ārani. (They drank the orange juice.)

It should be noted that this use of i does not apply to some other sentence patterns using verbs, including the sentence pattern you learnt in Chapter 3 of Te Kākano, emphasising who did the action, e.g. Nā Pita i hoko te miraka. (It was Peter who bought the milk.)

In this sentence pattern there is no word to mark the receiver of the action.

The following exercise gives you practice in using ki and i appropriately.

Whiriwhiria ngā kupu tika hei whakakī i ngā ango. Kia kotahi anake te whakamahi i ia kupu.
Instructions translation: Choose the correct words to fill the gaps. Use each word only once.