Ngā Tohutohu
He whakamārama
By now you will have become aware that nouns can be modified by another word or words. Look at this example: He maunga teitei a Aoraki. (Mount Cook is a tall mountain.) In this example teitei is adding information about the noun maunga, telling us that it is a tall mountain. Notice that teitei follows the word it is modifying, whereas in English ‘tall’ is placed before the word it qualifies. Words used in this way are ‘adjectives’, or ‘modifiers’. Adjectives express attributes of things, people or actions. As a general rule, in Māori adjectives and other modifiers follow the word they qualify.
The following exercise is to give you practice in the use of adjectives.
Tuhia ngā kupu nei kia tika ai te whakatakoto.
