Ngā Tohutohu
He whakamārama
You have already learnt about the words tēnei, tēnā, tērā and their plural forms on page 44 of Te Kākano. You will know that one way of indicating that more than one thing is being spoken about is by dropping the ‘t’ off the word, e.g. He tōkena nō Mere ēnā. (Those are Mere’s stockings that you have.)
You will find that this dropping of the ‘t’ is a common pattern and occurs with some other words that determine whether what is being talked about is singular or plural. You will have encountered this with tētahi and ētahi, e.g. Me ako tātou i ētahi waiata hou. (We should learn some new songs.)
Likewise with the possessive determiners taku, tō and tana, more than one thing is indicated by dropping the ‘t’ off the word, e.g. Ko ana ākonga ērā. (Those are her students.)
Two other words that determine singular and plural are taua and aua. These two words are used when referring to people or things that have been mentioned already, e.g. Ko Honoruru te tāone nui o ngā moutere o Hawai‘i. Kei te moutere o O‘ahu taua tāone. (Honolulu is the major city of the Hawaiian islands. That town is on the island of O‘ahu.)
Like taku, tō and tana and their plural forms, taua and aua must be followed by a noun, unlike tēnei, tēnā, tērā and tētahi and their plural forms, which do not require a noun after them.
Tuhia ngā kupu e tika ana hei whakakī i ngā ango.
