kei + verb

A Warning About an Event

Level 4

Precaution + kei + predicate + subject: take care, lest something happen.

How It Works

Put warning kei directly before the predicate naming an unwanted event. An expressed subject follows; a recoverable subject can remain understood. A preceding instruction or desired state supplies the precaution. This short warning frame needs no added tense particle before the predicate, which takes no person or number ending.

Kia āta haere, kei taka koe advises careful movement because falling is possible. In Kia tūpato ki te pēke, kei ngaro, the bag is the understood subject of the warning. English can use “lest” or “or … might”. Compare Kei te pēke te moni, “The money is in the bag”: kei there introduces a location. A warning anticipates a possibility rather than asserting a present location or reporting a completed event.

Examples (3)

  1. Kia āta haere, kei taka koe.

    Go carefully, or you might fall.

    The warning includes an explicit subject.

  2. Kia tūpato ki te matapihi, kei uru mai te ua.

    Take care with the window, or the rain might get in.

    The entering event has an explicit subject.

  3. Kia tūpato ki te pēke, kei ngaro.

    Be careful with the bag, lest it be lost.

    The bag remains understood as the warning’s subject.

How It Connects

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

kei + verbLevel 4A Warning About an Event

Learn This First

Follow a precaution with kei directly before the unwanted predicate. Express its subject when needed or recover it from the precaution, as with the bag; the warning anticipates a possibility rather than asserting a location.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.