[31] The Abbé Talleyrand.
CHAPTER XIII.
OF THE SYNTAX.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Before we proceed to the consideration of the Syntax of Maori, it will be necessary 1st. to explain some terms which we shall be obliged to employ, and 2ndly, to make a few remarks on the general features of Maori sentences. Some further remarks on this subject, we shall reserve till we come to treat on the verbs.
The subject of a proposition is that concerning which anything is affirmed or denied. The predicate is that which is so affirmed or denied of the subject. Thus, in the following sentence, Kua mate a Hone, John has died, Hone is the subject, and mate is the predicate.
Note.—We can scarcely recognize the verbal particles as copulas. We believe that their exclusive use is, to denote time.
Propositions, or sentences, we divided (page 37) into simple and compound. Another division is here necessary; viz., into complex and incomplex. An incomplex proposition is that whose subject and predicate are simple terms; e. g., He hoiho tenei, this is a horse.
A complex proposition is that which contains some qualifying, or otherwise modifying, term in connexion with either subject or predicate; e. g., I mate a Hone ki reira. Ki reira, here, qualifies the predicate mate. He tokomaha nga Pakeha i Akarana, many are the foreigners in Auckland. Nga Pakeha i Akarana is the subject, and tokomaha the predicate.
He aroha no te Atua i ora ai tatou. This placed in due order, is "I ora ai tatou, he aroha no te Atua," we having been saved was a love of God. Here, I ora ai tatou is the subject.
Ko tou utu tena mo to hanganga i te whare? Is that your payment for your having built the house? Here, we conceive, ko tou utu mo to hanganga i te whare is the subject, and tena the predicate.