(c) When a possessive pronoun is associated with the noun; ho mai toku kakahu, give me my garment.
Note.—It is, however, highly probable that the singular possessive pronouns, (vid. page 29.) are compounded of the article te, and the plural form oku, &c., and that oku, aku, ona, &c., are compounded of o and a, and the personal pronouns ahau, koe, ia: these pronouns assuming the forms of oku, ou, ona, &c., when in connection with o, and a; in the same way as they adopt the form of mona, nona, &c., when in combination with the prepositions mo, no, &c., &c. (vid. our remarks on noku and maku page 22, and tenei, &c., page 31.) Sometimes, indeed, we find the singular possessive pronouns thus resolved; e. g., kei tenei taha oku, on this side of me. If it had not been for nei the speaker would have said toku taha. The nei however attracts the te, and thus resolves toku into its component parts.
15. He differs in its uses from te tahi and e tahi.
(a) He, of itself, often implies the verb substantive. (Vid. rule 3).
(b) He is very seldom found after a preposition. It is almost always found in the nominative case after the substantive verb; e. g., he tangata tenei; he kino kau koutou.
Thus it would not be correct to say, I kainga, e he kuri, it was eaten by a dog; hei tiki i he rakau, to fetch a stick. It should be e te kuri, i te tahi rakau.
Note.—He is sometimes found after ma and na, e. g., nana i homai he paraikete i mahana ai au. We believe, however, that this exception to rule (b) is only apparent, and that he waka, here, is the nominative case. (Vid. Verbs.)
16. A. A strange use of a is sometimes met with in Waikato. When two nouns follow each other in apposition, a is sometimes prefixed to the latter; e. g., Ka noho atu tera i te kai mana a te kahawai, he indeed will remain away from the food for him!—the kahawai!
E hoe ana ki Akarana, ki te kai mana a te paraoa, he is paddling to Auckland for food for himself—flour.
Sometimes it occurs in sentences like the following, Na wai tenei haere a te po? Whose going is this, (I mean,) in the night? i. e., who ever goes by night?