Note.—A similar usage obtains in other parts of the language; e. g., ko wai, ko wai te haere? who, who is to go? ko tera tera, that is another, or a different one; he kanohi he kanohi, face to face; ko Roka ano Roka, ko ahau ano ahau? are Roka (my wife) and I different persons? lit., Is Roka Roka, and (am) I I?
Sometimes the former verb will assume the form of the verbal noun; e. g., te haerenga i haere ai, the going with which he went, i. e., so on he proceeded; na, ko te tino riringa i riri ai, so he was very angry.
Note.—The learned student need not be reminded of the remarkable parallel which Maori finds to the four last rules in Hebrew. From this cause it will be sometimes found that an exactly literal translation will be more idiomatic than another. Thus Gen. 1, 7, "dying thou shalt die" could not be rendered more idiomatic than if it be done literally: "na, ko te matenga e mate ai koe."
Of the Passive Verbs.—It has been already observed (p.p. 49, 56) that passive verbs are often used in Maori in a somewhat more extended sense than is met with in most languages. It may naturally, therefore, be expected that their use should be more frequent than that of active verbs: and such we believe to be the case,—Maori seeming to incline peculiarly to the passive mode or form of statement, especially in the secondary clauses of a sentence. Independently of other uses which they subserve, (such as often supplying a more animated style of narration, being sometimes the more convenient—as being the more loose or general—mode in which to advance a sentiment, &c.), there are two of considerable importance which may be here noticed. 1st. They are most frequently employed when the relative pronoun is understood, and are generally equivalent to the active verb with ai or nei, &c., after it; e. g., nga mahi i wakahaua e ia, the works which were ordered by him. The active form here, without ai after it, would be seldom used. Vid. also, the examples p.p. 49, 51. 2ndly. They sometimes supply the place of a preposition; e. g., he aha te mea e omakia nei? what is the matter about which it is being run? Te tangata i korerotia nei, the man about whom we were talking. The following sentence, ka korero ahau ki te whakapakoko, literally means, I will talk to the image; it should have been, ka korerotia te whakapakoko. This usage, however, does not extend to all the prepositions; and, when some of them are understood, the verb will require ai after it. The following sentence, for example, is erroneous: te tangata e kainga ana te poaka,the man by whom the pig is eaten; it should be e kai ana, or e kai nei, or e kainga ai.
Constructions will not unfrequently be found in which the active form usurps the place of the passive, and vice versa; e. g., Ko tena kua hohoro te horoi, let that be first washed; kua tahu te kai o te kainga nei, the food of the settlement has been kindled, i. e., the oven is kindled for cooking; Kei te uta to matou waka, our canoe is loading; Ko tehea te patu? which is to be killed? ko tera kua panga noa ake, that has been much longer on the fire: lit., has been thrown; taria e kawhaki te poti, let not the boat be taken away (by you) for a while; he mea tiki, a thing fetched; kua oti te keri, it is finished, the being dug; me wero e koe, it must be (or, let it be) stabbed by you; ka timata tena whenua, te tua, that land has commenced (I mean) the being felled; kei reira, a Hone e tanu ana, there John (lies) buried; Ka te arai taku ahi e koe, my fire is being stopped up by you, i. e., you are intercepting the communication, &c.; kia rua nga waka e hoe mai e koe, let there be two canoes that will be paddled here by you. The following form is not frequent:—kei te atawhaitia, it the (pig) is being taken care of; kei te takina te kai, the food is being taken off (the fire). When ambiguity might arise from the object of the action being considered as the agent, the passive form is almost always used; e. g., ka poto nga tangata o reira te kitea, when all the men of that place have been seen; ka tata tena tangata te nehua, that man is near being buried.
Neuter Verbs which assume the passive form.—Some neuter verbs assume the passive form (1) without any material alteration of meaning; e. g., ka hokia he huanga, if it is come backwards and forwards to you, it is because I am a relation.[46] (2.) Most frequently, however, they derive a transitive meaning from the change. Thus, in the example already adduced, page 50, horihori, to tell falsehoods; te mea i horihoria e koe he tangata, the thing which you erroneously said was a man. Again,—Tangi, to cry: te tupapaku e tangihia nei, the corpse which is being cried, i. e., which is the subject of the crying; he tangata haurangi, a mad person; te tangata i haurangitia nei, a person for whom another is bewildered.
[38] It is true that when kua represents the pluperfect, or the priority of one action to another, it may be frequently found in connexion with ko. But this, we think, is a further confirmation of the distinction for which we contend. For the expression "he had loved us" is clearly more definite than "he loved us,"—the former implying that that affection had been entertained before some past act,—the latter simply affirming that it was entertained, without reference to any date. Ko we defined, page 106, as the article of specification and emphasis, and it is quite natural that it should be associated with a perfect to denote a pluperfect,—its office, in such a construction, being to point out the individual who may be emphatically said to have performed the act—whose was the act which was antecedent, or past. The sentence "ko ia kua atawhai," means he is the person who was first kind. This emphatic use of the word ko has been already illustrated under the head of comparison, adjectives; the sentence "ko tenei te nui o nga rakau" meaning this is the large one of the trees; i. e., this is the one of which we may (emphatically) say, It is large. So, also, in the following,—"akuanei ko Hone kua tae," the meaning is presently, it will be John who (emphatically) has got there; i. e., John will have got there first.
[39] The student will see in this, and the other examples, that the noun, as is very usual in Maori, assumes the form of a verb. To translate literally such verbs into English is often impossible.
[40] Following is a connected view of some of the principal means by which the defect of the substantive verb is supplied or implied, in Maori: he kuri tenei this is a dog. Tenei a Hone, This is John. Tika rawa, it is very correct. Ki te whai hau i te po nei, if there be wind in the night, &c. Ki te wa hau, &c., idem. Ka ai au hei kianga mai mau, I am for an ordering for you, i. e., You find in me one that will obey, &c. Waiho, and sometimes meinga, are often used instead of ai. E ai ki tana, it is according to his, i. e., as he affirms.
The following form is worthy of notice, Rokohanga rawatanga atu e ahau, ko Raiana! on my reaching (that place) there was Lion; rokohanga atu, ko te tahi tangata o Taupo i Maungatautari e noho ana, when I got (there) there was a man of, &c. Taku hoenga ki roto ko te waka o Hone, as I was paddling up the river, lo, there was the canoe of John, &c. Some foreigners, we observe, use tera taua for this form. We have never heard anything like it in Waikato. Hei te and ki te (vid. page 62) will often, also, seem to lose their distinctive meaning in that of the verb substantive; e. g., hei te pera me tou, let it be like yours.