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First Lessons in Maori
§ 55. Agent Emphatic
§ 55. Agent Emphatic.
—When special emphasis is to be laid on the agent an irregular construction is used, the preposition na being placed before the subject for past time, and ma for future. In sentences of this kind the subject, being the most emphatic member of the sentence, stands first, and the object either before or after the verb, but without any transitive preposition, the verb being in the active. This construction is not properly used with neuter verbs.
Examples.
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Naku i pupuri tena tangata, or Naku tena tangata i pupuri, I detained that man, i.e., it was I who detained him.
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Ma Horo e hanga he whare mou, or Ma Horo he whare mou e hanga, Horo shall build a house for you.