1. Ko is never used before appellatives without either te, te tahi, and its plural e tahi, or one of the possessive pronouns intervening, and it is almost always found to occupy the first place in the sentence; e. g.,
- ko taku tamaiti, this is my child.
- ko e tahi kua kitea, some were seen.
2. In this position a very common use of it is, to imply the verb substantive.
3. The article he, it will be seen, does not require its help for such a purpose; e. g., he rakau tenei, this is a tree; he mate toku, a sickness is mine, i. e., I am sick.
4. All the functions of a (vid. page 13) are performed by ko, when the noun, &c., to which it is prefixed, precede in the sentence; e. g.,
- Ko koe te haere, you are the person that is to go.
- Ko runga kau i kainga, the tops only were eaten.
5. Sometimes it will be found in other parts of the sentence, (a) when the terms, of which the sentence is composed, are convertible,[33] or are intended, at least, to be represented as similar; e. g., ko te timunga atu o konei ko te pakeketanga o waho, the ebbing of the tide from here is low water outside.
- Me he mea ko Pahuru ko Ngakete, if Pahuru had been Ngakete, &c.
- Ko au ra ko ia, I and he are (one.)
(b) Sometimes, also, when there are two subjects of which the same thing is affirmed, ko will be prefixed to both; e. g.,
- Ko Kukutai ko te Wherowhero, rite tahi raua, Kukutai and Wherowhero, they are equal both of them.