i + relative clause

An Earlier Event Modifying a Noun

Level 4

Head noun + i + predicate, with role-appropriate participants and linking particles.

How It Works

Put i before the relative predicate to describe an earlier event. When the head supplies the event’s subject, leave that subject unexpressed inside the relative. An active relative can describe an actor; a passive relative can describe an affected participant, with an e phrase naming the actor.

For a location, i … ai links the event to the head while retaining the event’s subject. Compare te tama i hīkoi, “the boy who walked”, with te ara i hīkoi ai te tama, “the route along which the boy walked”. The head’s relation changes although both events are past.

Predicate i differs from object-marking i before a noun phrase. The verb has no person or number agreement. Some passive-subject relatives include ai and others omit it; this is not a general permission to insert ai freely into every subject relative.

Examples (3)

  1. Kei te moe te tamaiti i oma ki te takutai.

    The child who ran to the beach is sleeping.

    The child supplies the past relative’s subject.

  2. Kua pakaru te kapu i hokona e Hana.

    The cup that Hana bought has broken.

    The cup supplies the passive subject.

  3. He whānui te marae i hui ai ngā whānau.

    The marae where the families met is spacious.

    Ai links the gathering to its location.

How It Connects

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

i + relative clauseLevel 4An Earlier Event Modifying a Noun

Learn This First

Describe a noun through an earlier event while tracking whether the head supplies an actor, an affected subject or a circumstance. Introduce the illustrated location link with i ... ai within this lesson, without treating ai as freely insertable.