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Grammar of the New Zealand Language

Of Affirmation

Of Affirmation.

Maori is very well supplied with affirmative and negative particles, all of which differ by very slight shades of meaning from each other, and the uses of which will be best learned by practice.

  • Ae,* yes.

  • Ina, idem.

  • Aana, idem.

  • Koia, idem.

  • Ae ra, idem.

  • Ae ra hoki, yes truly, &c.

  • Ae ra pea, idem.

  • Koia ha hoki, idem.

  • Ae ko, yes (you are correct).

    page 83
  • Koia pea, yes, perhaps; (sometimes used ironically for a negative) yes indeed!

* Ae, and ina do not always strictly imply affirmation; e. g., Kahore he kete? He kete ano; ae ra, tikina atu. Is there no basket? There is a basket; yes, then, go fetch it. The word answer in Hebrew, and that corresponding to it in the Greek Testament and Septuagint, affords, we think, a parallel to this use of ae. (vid. Parkhurst's Greek Lexicon, by Rose.) It is putting a command, &c., into the form of an assent to some previous sentence.—N.B. Ina is often used to denote energy, certainty, &c.; e. g. ina ka riri au, certainly, in that case, I will be angry.