mehemea ... kua

A Counterfactual Result

Level 4

Mehemea introduces the condition; kua introduces the imagined result.

How It Works

Put mehemea before the condition and kua before its imagined result. These examples use i for an earlier event in the condition. Each clause retains its subject and complements; the verb has no person or number endings.

In a context where the condition was unfulfilled, the result expresses what would have happened or what state would have followed. A weather predicate such as i ua needs no expressed personal subject. Use this pattern for an earlier condition and its imagined result.

Compare Kua mahana koe, reporting established warmth, with Mehemea i mau koe i tō koti, kua mahana koe, imagining warmth from wearing a coat. Neither mehemea nor kua alone says that the condition was false. The English “would have” reading depends on the intended situation.

Examples (3)

  1. Mehemea i wehe wawe mātou, kua tae mātou ki te hui.

    If we had left early, we would have reached the meeting.

    The intended context establishes that we did not leave early; mātou excludes the addressee.

  2. Mehemea i mau koe i tō koti, kua mahana koe.

    If you had worn your coat, you would have been warm.

    The imagined result is warmth; the intended context establishes that the coat was not worn.

  3. Mehemea i ua inanahi, kua mākū te māra.

    If it had rained yesterday, the garden would have been wet.

    Read this in a context where it did not rain yesterday.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

mehemea ... kuaLevel 4A Counterfactual Result

Learn This First

Combine an earlier mehemea condition with a kua result in a context where the condition was unfulfilled. The counterfactual interpretation comes from that situation, while kua presents the imagined achievement or resulting state.