Table of Contents

Contents
Preface............................................................................................................. 7
Introduction................................................................................................... 8
Part 1 The written form of the sounds of te reo Maori
1 Pronunciation and the written form of te reo Maori..................... 16
Part 2 Discovering the new grammar
2 Sentences, phrases, words................................................................. 28
3 Verb phrases and noun phrases....................................................... 34
4 Classification of words....................................................................... 39
Part 3 The new grammar
Section A: Base words
5 Action verbs......................................................................................... 52
6 Stative verbs........................................................................................ 61
7 Some further verb constructions...................................................... 67
8 Common nouns................................................................................... 71
9 Personal nouns and personal pronouns.......................................... 76
10 Location nouns.................................................................................... 83
Section B: The particles and determiners
11 The particles: an overview................................................................. 88
12 Particles that precede the base words in a phrase......................... 92
13 Determiners....................................................................................... 115
14 Notes on the a and o categories of 'belonging to'......................... 123
15 Particles that follow the base words in a phrase.......................... 129
Section C: Further points and other constructions
16 Variations in sentence construction............................................... 145
17 Negatives........................................................................................... 150
18 Asking questions.............................................................................. 158
Bibliography.............................................................................................. 165
Index to main entries for all the particles.............................................. 167

About the Author

David Karena-Holmes has been a tutor of Maori grammar at schools and institutions in New Zealand since the 1980s. This is his third book on the subject. He contributes a fortnightly column on te reo in the Nelson Mail., and his poetry and other writings have been widely published. David lives in Whakatu/Nelson.