FOOTNOTES:[75]Mr. G.W. Griffin, United States' Consul at Auckland, whose valuable reports upon the various commercial products of New Zealand have been recently printed by authority of the New Zealand Government, is the author of a very interesting paper upon the economic uses of this tree.
[75]Mr. G.W. Griffin, United States' Consul at Auckland, whose valuable reports upon the various commercial products of New Zealand have been recently printed by authority of the New Zealand Government, is the author of a very interesting paper upon the economic uses of this tree.
[75]Mr. G.W. Griffin, United States' Consul at Auckland, whose valuable reports upon the various commercial products of New Zealand have been recently printed by authority of the New Zealand Government, is the author of a very interesting paper upon the economic uses of this tree.
TheMaori alphabet is composed of fourteen letters, namely:—
Consonants.
H, K, M, N, P, R, T, W, NG.
Vowels.
A, E, I, O, U.
Diphthongs.
aa, ae, ai, ao, au, ee, ei, ii, oo, ou, uu.
The Parts of Speech.
The Article.
Teis the definite article,ngais its plural; as,te whare, the house;nga whare, the houses.
The indefinite articles areheandtetahi, a, an, or some; the plural oftetahiisetahi, ashe kuri, a dog;tetahi hoe, a paddle;etahi waka, canoes or some canoes.
The Noun.
The noun has two numbers, the singular and the plural, the plural being formed by the articlengaprefixed to the singular; as,Te tamaiti, the child;nga tamaiti, the children.
Adjectives.
The adjective does not precede the noun, as in English, but is placed immediately after it; as,he rakau roa, a tree long.
Pronouns.
The personal pronouns are:—
Possessive Pronouns.
Tahu, mine or my.Ta taua,ta maua,ta tatou, orta matou, ours.Tau, thine or thy.Ta korua, orta koutou, yours.Tana, his.Ta raua, orta ratau, theirs.
Relative Pronouns.
In the Maori there is no distinct form.
Demonstrative Pronouns.
Interrogative Pronouns.
There are three, viz.:—
Wai, who;Aha, what;teheaorehea, which.
Verbs.
These are of three kinds, active, neuter, and causative, each of which admits of the passive voice.
The passive is formed by adding to the active one of the following terminations:—a,ia,tia,hia,kia,ria,na,ina,ngia.
The causative verb is formed by the prefixwhaka.
Tenses.
The present tense is formed bykabefore the verb, or byebefore andanaafter it.
The past tense is formed by the prefixi.
The future tense is formed by the prefixka,e, andtera.
Adverbs.
FOOTNOTES:[76]It may be set down as a general rule, to which there are, however, some few exceptions, that Maori words are always accented on thefirstsyllable, but compound words, or words which have the dissyllabic root doubled, have a secondary accent on the second portion of the word.
[76]It may be set down as a general rule, to which there are, however, some few exceptions, that Maori words are always accented on thefirstsyllable, but compound words, or words which have the dissyllabic root doubled, have a secondary accent on the second portion of the word.
[76]It may be set down as a general rule, to which there are, however, some few exceptions, that Maori words are always accented on thefirstsyllable, but compound words, or words which have the dissyllabic root doubled, have a secondary accent on the second portion of the word.