The following examples will shew that this rule, which seems as yet to have escaped the notice of foreigners, is worthy of attention; a ka kite i a Hone te tamaiti a Hemi, and he saw John, the son of James. The meaning of this, as it stands, is, the son of James saw John. Kei a koutou, nga tangata Maori, in the opinion of you the New Zealanders. This literally means, the New Zealanders are with you. In the first of these two sentences it should be, i te tamaiti, &c., in the second, kei nga tangata Maori. Again; kua kainga e koutou, te kura, it was eaten by you, the school. The literal meaning of this is, the school have been eaten by you. Kua kainga e koutou ko te kura, it has been eaten by you the school. As it stands, it means, it has been eaten by you and the school. Again, if we were to say, "Na Ihowa to tatou Atua, nana hoki tatou i whakaora," we should imply that our God was made by Jehovah, and that it was he who saved us. It should be, Na to tatou Atua.
There are however occasional exceptions to this rule, which it will often be useful to remember; (a) when brevity of diction is desired both preposition and article will be sometimes omitted before the second substantive; e. g., i rokohanga atu e ahau ki Mangere, kainga o te Tawa, (he) was overtaken by me at Mangere, (the) settlement of Tawa; i rongo ahau ki a Koiunuunu, hungawai o Panaia, I heard it from Koiunuunu (the) father-in-law of Panaia; na te Riutoto, whaea o Paratene, it belongs to Riutoto (the) mother of Broughton. When a pause, also, is made between the two substantives, the preposition will be sometimes omitted before the second; e. g., kei te kainga o te Wherowhero, te rangatira o Waikato, at the Settlement of Wherowhoro, the Chief of Waikato. E pa, kua kite ahau i a koe—to mamingatanga hoki ki a au! Friend, I have found you out, your bamboozling of me forsooth.
N.B.—This distinction is very similar to that which obtains in English for the regulating of the sign of the possessive case. In such sentences, for example, as the following, "for David, my servant's sake," we should always have the sign of the possessive annexed to the latter noun; because it follows the preceding one in close and unbroken succession. In the following however—"This is Paul's advice, the Christian Hero, and great Apostle of the Gentiles," the sign of the possessive is omitted; because the connexion between Paul and hero, is not so immediate as in the preceding example. So, also, in Maori; when the latter noun follows in a complementary clause, as descriptive, or explanatory of the former, and has thus a pause, or comma, intervening, it may occasionally dispense with the preposition by which the former noun is preceded.
§ 3. And we may here state, that clauses in epanorthosis will frequently reject those rules of government which they, under other circumstances, would have recognised; and that they will often rather partake of the nature of an exclamation, (vid. chapter 14, § 10, note.) Thus in the example just adduced, to mamingatanga is not in the objective case, as is koe in the clause preceding. It would appear that after the speaker had said, Kua kite ahau i a koe, he recollected himself, and exclaimed, in explanation,—to mamingatanga hoki. In a leisurely constructed sentence he would most probably have said, "Kua kite ahau i a koe, i to," &c. Again, in the first example of epanorthosis (page 104), Ka tae te hohoro o ta tatou kai, te pau! a native would not say, o te pau, as strict grammar requires; but rather puts te pau in the form of an exclamation.
§ 4. The answer to a question will always, in its construction, correspond to the question; e. g., Na wai i tango? Na Hone, Who took it? John. I a wai taku pu? I a Hone, With whom was my gun? with John.
§ 5. There is no form in Maori corresponding to that contained in the following expressions, "Land of Egypt," "River Euphrates." To translate these by "Whenua o Ihipa," &c., would be to represent Egypt, and Euphrates, as individuals possessing that land, and that river. To render them by apposition would we fear not much improve our Maori diction; (though it would certainly be more in accordance with Maori analogy.) Here, therefore, necessity must make a law for herself, and recognize the former mode of construction as legitimate. At the same time, it is desirable that it should be adopted as seldom as possible. Thus, in the following: "Mount Horeb," "Mount Sinai," &c., we should approve of "Mount" being rendered as a proper name, to which it closely approximates in English, and for which we think we may claim the permission of the original. We therefore approve of those phrases being rendered, "Maunga Horepa," "Maunga Oriwa," &c. Lastly; such forms as "the book of Genesis," &c., should never we think, be rendered by te pukapuka o Kenehi, &c.; for a native will, thereby, be led to believe that Genesis wrote the book. The difficulty, however, may be here easily obviated: for book may be altogether omitted, and "ko Kenehi" simply employed—a form, by the way, which is adopted by the Septuagint.
§ 6. The possessive case.—This case is much used in Maori. It is employed often to denote intensity; e. g., Ko to Ngatimaniapoto tangata nui ha ia! Oh, he is Ngatimaniapoto's great man; i. e., he is a very great man in that tribe.
It will, also, in some instances supersede the nominative or objective of the person; e. g., the following sentence is erroneous: kihai ahau i pai kia whakakahoretia ia, I was not willing to refuse him; this as it stands, means to despise or make a cipher of. It should have been, kia whakakahoretia tana; negative his. (request sub.)
§ 7. It is sometimes useful for denoting the time from which an action has commenced; e. g., kahore i kai, o to matou uranga mai ano, we have not eaten since we landed; Moe rawa atu ki Waitoke. Te haerenga atu o hea? We slept at Waitoke. From what place did you start? Te taenga mai o Hone, kihai i rongo. Te tononga iho o te ata, when John came here we would not listen to him; (though) he continued to ask from the break of day.
The possessive form is often used in predication; vid. syntax of verbs.