(2.) Kia is almost always prefixed to the passive verb; ki te very seldom; e. g., Tikina atu kia tirohia is fetch it to be seen. Tikina atu ki te titiro is fetch him to look at it. The following sentence is erroneous:—arahina ki te patu, led to be killed. It should be kia patua, or e arahina e patua ana.
Sometimes, before neuter verbs, either kia or ki te will be employed; e. g., I mea ahau kia, (or ki te) haere.
Kia will most frequently be used when the former of the two verbs is in the passive voice. Verbs following adjectives, by which ability, habit, &c., are denoted, will take ki te; e. g., uaua ki te mahi, strong to work; e kino ki te tahae, is displeased at thieving.
Between the uses of kia and ki te there may be often a very material difference; e. g., e riri ana ki teata noho means that he is angry at the stopping quiet,—i. e., that he wishes for war; e riri ana kia ata noho, means that he is repressing (them) that they may stop quiet; ka tohe ki a maua kia waru i te kai i te ra tapu, they pressed us to scrape food on the Sunday. If it had been, Ka tohe ki te waru, &c., the speaker would have implied that they (the persons toheing) persisted in scraping, &c.
Some foreigners seem remarkably careless in the use of this particle. We subjoin a few instances in which it has been omitted, or introduced erroneously. Ko tana hanga kia korero, his custom was to speak, &c.; it should be, he korero. E kore ahau e ahei kia mea atu; it should be, ahei te mea atu. Ko te aroha e whakahauhau ana i te tangata hei mahi; it should be, ki te mahi. Whakatika hei patu; it should be, whakatika ki te patu, or whakatika atu, patua.
It may be here observed that (1) some verbs have a partiality for certain particles; e. g., hua noa ahau, or, ka hua ahau, I thought; e kore e ahei te patu. (2.) Some verbs very rarely take any verbal particle into connexion with them. Of this sort are heoi, or heoti, kati, taihoa, penei (in that case), and, sometimes, rokohanga, or rokohina.
(3.) Many constructions will be met with in which the verbal particle is omitted. (a.) A common adverb of quantity or quality following the verb will often cause the verbal particle to be dispensed with. (b.) It is also omitted in constructions like the following:—meake haere; whano mate; kei te ata haere ai; taihoa maua haere atu; &c. (c.) In animated discourse, the common verb will sometimes be used without any kind of auxiliary; e. g., kaiponu noa ia, kaiponu noa, tangohia e au. Withhold it, withhold it as he might, yet I took it away.
AI.—The Aborigines sometimes appear to vary in their use of this particle; some introducing it into sentences in which others would omit it. These instances, however, may, we believe, be reduced to one class:—viz., to that in which ai is used in connexion with kia.
When kia is prefixed to a verb which is merely an explanation, or some other enlargement of the meaning of a preceding one, it will seldom take ai after it; as may be seen in our examples of kia, (rules d and e). But when the intention, cause, &c., are to be specifically denoted, then ai will be used. Thus, in the following sentence, haere kia kite, go to see, kite is a plainly natural effect of haere, and ai, therefore, is omitted. If, however, some unusual act is to be done that he might see, then ai, most probably, would be employed; thus, e piki ki runga ki te rakau kia kite ai koe, climb up the tree that you may see. The distinction is the same as that between the two following in English:—go and see; climb that you may see. Again, in the last example of kia (rule e), na koutou i aki mai kia tata, "nearness" is a natural effect of "pressing forward," even though they had no specific intention of being near: ai, therefore, is not used. If, however, the speaker wished to say ye pressed forward that I might be angry, he would employ ai; kia riri ai ahau; because here we have two acts, not necessarily connected, and one specifically performed to produce the other.
The following are a few out of the many instances that might be adduced of the erroneous introduction, and erroneous omission, of this particle:—e kore koe e pohehe me ratou, kia roa ai taku korerotanga, you are not ignorant (as they are), that I should be long explaining it to you; it should be, e roa ai. As it stands it means, you will not make yourself "pohehe," in order that, &c. Aua e whakaara ake i tetahi rakau kia tu ai, erect not any stick that it may stand; it should be rakau, tu ai. Kihai i tonoa kia uia ai matou, he was not sent to question us; it should be, ki te ui i a matou. Ko nga mutunga o ia waiata, o ia waiata, kia whakahuatia ai tenei waiata, at the end of each song let this chant be repeated. As this stands, its meaning is, in order that this chant may be repeated; it should be, kia whakahuatia tenei, &c., or ka whakahua ai. Ka puta te kupu o Hone kia haere atu ai ratou, when John speaks, let them proceed; it should be, me haere, &c., or ka haere. A wrong use of this particle may often seriously misrepresent the meaning of the speaker. For example, if we were to say, e inoi ana ahau kia murua ai oku hara, we should mean, I pray that (in consideration of my prayer) my sins may be forgiven. Prayer, here, is made the immediate and effective means by which this end is obtained. If a Native were to say, "E inoi ana ahau kia homai ai tetahi paraikete," absurd as would be the remark, it would mean that the blanket is to be given to him, not as a favor, or as due on other grounds, but simply as a reward for his asking. The Bible tells us of another consideration, by which pardon is obtained, and prayer answered; and, therefore, in such passages as the above, we must carefully abstain from ai. Koia nga tamariki a Hone i haere tahi me ratou; it should be, i haere tahi ai. E kore ia e poka ke i tana i mea; it should be, i mea ai; te tangata i he ai, the man who had committed the offence. In Waikato this will mean, the man through whom they had erred; it should have been, te tangata nona te he.