First Lessons in Maori
§ 60. Interrogative Verbs
§ 60. Interrogative Verbs.
—The interrogatives aha, what, and pehea, of what nature, may be used as verbs; aha, to ask what a person is doing, or what is being done; and pehea, to ask how a person is acting, or in what way a thing is being done. In rendering into English another word will often be needed to complete the sense.
For other interrogative sentences see § 41.
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E aha ana ia? what is he doing?
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I ahatia te kuri? what was done to the dog?
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I peheatia e ia te waka i mānu ai? How was the canoe [treated] by him that it floated? or, How did he get the canoe afloat?
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Ka pehea koe a tona taenga mai? How shall you [act] on his arrival?
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I pehea mai ia ki tau ki? How did he [answer] what you said?
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Me pehea tenei? How is this to be [treated]?