Understanding verbs

Question 1

List the 11 most common experience verbs. Which of the two are generally excluded from the ‘ki’ rule?

Answer 1

pīrangi(tia)	desire / want
maumahara(tia)	remember
kite(a)	see, find
rongo (rangona)	hear, smell, taste
hiahia(tia)	want / desire / wish
mōhio(tia)	know
whakapono	believe
tūmanako	desire, hope for
aroha(ina,tia)	love
mauāhara(tia)	hate, loathe

Experience verbs usually take ‘ki’. There are two exceptions: kite takes ‘i’ and rongo varies between ‘i’ and ‘ki’:

Question 2

What are the four types of verbs in te reo Māori and what are their key differences?

Answer 2

1. Transitive verbs require two participants: the agent and the patient. ‘Trans’ means ‘across’: the action passes from the agent (the doer of the action) to the patient (the ‘done-to’ or receiver of the action).
2. Experience verbs describe experience or perception
3. Unlike transitive verbs, intransitive verbs only require one participant, and the action does not pass from one participant to another. Intransitive verbs don’t have passive forms. In commands, intransitive verbs take the active form.

Kei te moe au.
I am sleeping.

Kei te haere au.
I am going.

4. Stative verbs describe a ‘state’ of something rather than an action or experience.
   Tense + Stative Verb + Patient + i + Agent
   Kua + mahue + au + i + te pahi

Statives can be used with the following sentence starters – Kua, ka and I. They cannot be used with the following sentence starters
kei te or I te.