Saying someone did not or does not have something

Kāore ... i a/te ...

Ngā Tohutohu

Sentences using kei and i , as explained and practised in the previous exercises, can be negated by kāore … i. Look carefully at the following examples, notice how the word order changes in the negative sentence and that the negative pattern is the same for both past and present. It is also important to note that kāore has several dialectual variations including kāhore and kāre.

Hei tauira:

Kei a koe tāku pēke?	Do you have my bag?
Kāore tō pēke i a au.	I do not have your bag.

I a Eruera ngā tao.	Eruera had the spears.
Kāore ngā tao i a Eruera.	Eruera does not have the spears.

I a Hamuera āku naihi.	Samuel had my knives.
Kāore āku naihi i a Hamuera.	Samuel did not have my knives.

I te kurī rā ngā tōtiti.	That dog over there had the sausages.
Kāore ngā tōtiti i te kurī rā.	That dog over there does not have the sausages.

Kei te kura ngā tamariki.	The children are at the school.
Kāore ngā tamariki i te kura.	The children are not at the school.

For further explanations and examples see Te Kākano p.84.

Whakakāhoretia ēnei rerenga kōrero.

Saying someone did not or does not have something

Te Whanake Dictionary