Adding a Clause to a Noun

Level 4

Head noun + modifying clause, using the strategy appropriate to the noun’s role.

How It Works

The noun being described is the head; its relative clause follows it. Māori has several relative strategies rather than one word corresponding to every English “who”, “which” or “where”. In a subject relative, the head supplies the subject left unexpressed inside the relative. A passive predicate allows an affected thing to supply that subject while an e phrase names the actor.

Compare te tangata e whakatika ana i te waka, “the person repairing the vehicle”, with te karāti i mahi ai te tangata, “the garage where the person worked”. The first head supplies the person acting; the second supplies the location and retains an expressed subject.

Actor-emphatic relatives retain an actor-reference form such as nāna. These strategies cannot be exchanged mechanically. Articles and particular noun forms express number; relative predicates have no person or number agreement.

Examples (3)

  1. Kei waho te tangata e whakatika ana i te waka.

    The person repairing the vehicle is outside.

    The person supplies the omitted subject.

  2. Kua ngaro te pōtae i hokona e Maia.

    The hat that Maia bought has gone missing.

    The hat supplies the passive subject.

  3. Kei te tatari au ki te wahine nāna i whakarite te kai.

    I am waiting for the woman who arranged the food.

    Nāna retains the actor reference.

How It Connects

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

Adding a Clause to a NounLevel 4

Learn This First

Identify a head noun and determine its role in the following event description. Compare actor, affected-subject and actor-emphatic strategies, introducing circumstance links locally without assuming one universal relative pronoun.