(c.) It is used in the plural number, e. g.
- He uwha kau aku poaka, my pigs are all females.
- He tini oku kainga, my farms are many.
§ 5. A great many uses of the indefinite article are shared by he with te tahi. We shall mention here a few of them.
- Ho mai te tahi maripi, give me a knife.
- Tahuna mai te tahi rama, kindle a light.
N.B.—Te tahi exactly corresponds with the definition given by Bishop Lowth of the English article a. "It determines it (the thing spoken of) to be one single thing of the kind, leaving it still uncertain which." A similar use of the numeral one we find in French, sometimes in Hebrew, and more than once in the New Testament; (vid. Mat. xxi. 19, and Mark xiv. 51.)
We need not look abroad for parallel instances; our indefinite article an being, as every etymologist is aware, the Saxon article, which signifies one.
(b.) Etahi may be considered as corresponding to the partitive article des of the French. It determines the things spoken of to be any number of things of the kind, leaving it uncertain how many, or which, of the things they are. It closely resembles the adjective some of English, and we enumerate it here among the articles because it only differs from te tahi (which is clearly an article) in being its plural; e. g.
- Maku e tahi ika, give me some fish.
§ 6. A[4] is a regular attendant on the personal pronouns; e. g.
- a koe, you; ki a ia, to him.