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Simple sentences: present tense — e... ana

E … ana is a verbal structure where the verb appears between e and ana. It indicates continuous or ongoing action but does not specify time. The action may be past, present, or future, with context determining when it occurs (e.g., E kōrero ana rātou – they speaking).

Now, a verb, you may or may not remember, it's a doing word

Run, laugh, jump, fart, walk, talk, cry

And a verbal sentence is a sentence with a verb

I am running

You are laughing

He is jumping

The dog is barking

And in te reo Māori, a verb sentence begins with a tense marker that indicates when the action was happening

So the dog was barking

The dog is barking

The dog will be barking

And we have had five tense markers so far

Kei te

I te

Kua

And ka

Kei te haere atu ahau

I am going

I te haere atu ahau

I was going

I haere atu ahau

I went

Kua haere atu

I have gone

And ka haere atu

I will go,

But in a story that I'm telling in the past, it can also mean and then I went.

But there is another tense marker

E ana

Now, there are three things about e ana

The first thing is that it has two words... e and ana, and that the verb comes between them

So while we say

Kei te oma au

I te oma au

I oma au

Kua oma au

And ka oma au

We say

E oma ana au

The verb goes between the e and the ana

Secondly, e ana indicates continuous action running or barking or talking

Thirdly, it doesn't tell us when the Acton happened. It could be in the past. It could be happening in the future. Kt could be happening right now. We don't know.

E haere atu ana koe

Could mean you are going out you were going or you will be going.

How do we know? We don't.

So the best translation of e haere atu ana is probably "you going"

When are you going? Don't know.

E kōrero ana rātou

They were speaking

They are speaking

They will be speaking

One of the above

E moe ana tā tātou kurī

Our dog was, is or will be sleeping.

Again, the best transaction is probably "our dog sleeping" with when that is it was is... no one knows.

E kanikani ana ngā tamariki

The children dancing

E tangi ana koe

You crying

E umere ana tō rāua pāpā

Their father shouting

Was he shouting, is he shouting, will be be shouting? I don't invite but I hope he stops

E tākaro ana te tama

The boy playing

E hīkoi ana ngā wāhine

The women walking

And

E kai ana ngā tamariki

The children were eating

They are eating

They will be eating

How can you afford to have them?. You can't!

Video

Vocabulary

ā • āe • ahau • āhua • ake • ake, ake, ake • āku • āna • ātaahua • atu • au • āwangawanga • e hoa mā • e tū • engari • haere mā raro • haunga • hiahia • hiainu • hiakai • hiamoe • hīkoi • hoa • hōhā • hōiho • hou • i • ia • iho • iti • ka • kaha • katoa • kau • keke • kēkē • ki • kia • Kia kaha! • kia ora • kino • koe • koro • kōrua • koutou • kōwhai • kua • mā • mai • māua • māuiui • ngenge • noho • nui • ō • oma • ora • pai • pango • pēhea? • rā • rātau • rāua • rūma moe • taku • tama • tamaiti • tamariki • tana • tātou • tāua • tere • tino • tō • wāhine • waiata • whaea • whero

Grammar

Simple sentences: present tense — e... ana

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