So far we have looked at how to negate fou4 of the six tense markers in te reo maori.
Kāorɛ au I kai.
I did not eat.
Kāorɛ au I te kai.
Either I am not eating or I was not eating
And Kāore au e kai ana
I was not, am not or will not be eating.
The next tense marker is ka, for the future.
Ka kai au.
I will eat.
And we negate this with e.
Kāorɛ au *e* kai.
You may wonder why e. Why not Kāore au ka kai, that would seen to make more sense.
Well, we have actually met e before when it relates to the future.
You may or may not remember this sentence
He aha koe *e* kai ai?
Why will you eat.
And the e in this sentence shows is that we are talking about something in the future. Why *will* you eay?
And e does that same thing here.
Kāorɛ au *e* kai.
In the future, i *will* not eat.
And now let’s do something clever, because we can.
He aha a Hēmi e haerɛ atu ai ki te hui mā runga i te pahi?
Kāorɛ a Hēmi ɛ taraiwa i tōna motokā i te pō.
Take your time. Stop the video.
So he aha e ai asks why in the future. So why will Hēmi go.
Mā runga means to travel by means of.
So...
Why will Hēmi go to the meeting by bus?
Kāorɛ a Hēmi ɛ taraiwa
This is the negation of ka that we have been looking at, so
Hēmi will not drive
Tōna motokā is his car. And its tōna not tāna because vehicles are in the o category.
I te pō is at night.
So he will go to the hui by bus because
Hēmi will not drive his car at night.
Because he's night blind. Can't see in the dark. Even with his headlights on. He crash. Poor Hēmi.
There are some pesky little particles in te reo Māori, and the peskiest of all is ɛ.
This is because it can be used in several different ways:
as part of a tense structure (e waiata ana au – I am singing),
as a command (e tū – stand up),
as a way of counting things (e rua ngā pukapuka – two books),
Also, in a passive sentence e marks the person doing the action - the cake was eaten by me e au
and, importantly for us, in sentences that talk about things that have not yet happened.
You may or may not remember this sentence:
He aha koe ɛ haere ai?
Why will you go?
Now this is a bit tricksy, but ɛ is used here to refer to something that has not yet happened.
It is used for unrealised action.
If I ask why will you go, then you haven’t gone yet.
The action is still unrealised.
That’s why we say:
He aha koe *e* haere ai?
And actually, it’s the same idea when we use ɛ in a command.
If I say *e* tū — stand up — it’s because you aren’t standing now.
You’re probably sitting.
So your standing hasn’t happened yet.
Again, it’s unrealised action.
So now let’s come back to negating verbal sentences.
We already know how to say:
I am not going
I was not going
I did not go
The next tense marker we want to negate is ka.
Ka haerɛ au
I will go.
So how do we say I will not go?
This brings us back to that peskiest of particles: ɛ, and unrealised action.
If I say I will not go, then my going hasn’t happened, and it won’t happen. Unrealised action, yeah?
So Māori uses ɛ:
Kāorɛ au *ɛ* haere.
I will not go.
Kāorɛ koe ɛ kai.
You will not eat.
Kāorɛ ia ɛ waiata.
She will not sing.
Kāorɛ au ɛ kōrero.
I will not talk.
Kāorɛ a Mere e kai i te mīti.
Mere will not eat meat.
Kāorɛ tāua e umere ki ngā tamariki.
You and I will not shout at the children.
Kāorɛ tā rātou kurī ɛ ka-ka-ti i a koe.
Their dog will not bite you.
Kāorɛ koe e piki i te maunga.
You will not climb the mountain.
Kāorɛ a Rangi ɛ katakata ki ngā tamariki ɛ tākaro ana.
Rangi will not laugh at the playing children.
And now let’s do something clever, because we can.
He aha a Hēmi e haere atu ai ki te hui mā runga i te pahi?
Why will Hēmi go to the meeting by bus?
Kāorɛ a Hēmi ɛ taraiwa i tōna motokā i te pō.
Hēmi will not drive his car at night.
Ooo! That’s very clever!
the same idea when we use ɛ in a command.
If I say *e* tū — stand up — it’s because you aren’t standing now.
You’re probably sitting.
So your standing hasn’t happened yet.
Again, it’s unrealised action.
So now let’s come back to negating verbal sentences.
We already know how to say:
I am not going
I was not going
I did not go
The next tense marker we want to negate is ka.
Ka haerɛ au
I will go.
So how do we say I will not go?
This brings us back to that peskiest of particles: ɛ, and unrealised action.
If I say I will not go, then my going hasn’t happened, and it won’t happen. Unrealised action, yeah?
So Māori uses ɛ:
Kāorɛ au *ɛ* haere.
I will not go.
Kāorɛ koe ɛ kai.
You will not eat.
Kāorɛ ia ɛ waiata.
She will not sing.
Kāorɛ au ɛ kōrero.
I will not talk.
Kāorɛ a Mere e kai i te mīti.
Mere will not eat meat.
Kāorɛ tāua e umere ki ngā tamariki.
You and I will not shout at the children.
Kāorɛ tā rātou kurī ɛ ka-ka-ti i a koe.
Their dog will not bite you.
Kāorɛ koe e piki i te maunga.
You will not climb the mountain.
Kāorɛ a Rangi ɛ katakata ki ngā tamariki ɛ tākaro gh at the playing children.
And now let’s do something clever, because we can.
He aha a Hēmi e haere atu ai ki te hui mā runga i te pahi?
Why will Hēmi go to the meeting by bus?
Kāorɛ a Hēmi ɛ taraiwa i tōna motokā i te pō.
Hēmi will
Ooo! That’s very clever!