āhea / ināhea

Asking When

Level 2

Use Āhea + subject + verb + ai? or Ināhea + subject + i + verb + ai?

How It Works

In these fronted-time questions, the subject precedes the verbal material. A named subject retains its ordinary personal article a. The past pattern includes verbal i; the future pattern shown here has no inserted ka. The verb does not acquire person or number endings.

The paired examples preserve the event and participants while changing the time inquiry. With a directional particle, keep it within the predicate before ai: hoki mai ai asks about returning toward the relevant viewpoint.

A future answer can be āpōpō, ‘tomorrow’, or an ā te clock-time phrase. A past answer can be inanahi, ‘yesterday’. An answer need not repeat the established event. NZQA also groups nōnahea with ināhea as a past-time question form; this entry teaches the assigned ināhea spelling.

Examples (4)

  1. Āhea te hui tīmata ai?

    When will the meeting begin?

    The question seeks a future time.

  2. Āhea a Hana hoki mai ai?

    When will Hana return?

    The name has a; mai precedes ai.

  3. Ināhea te hui i tīmata ai?

    When did the meeting begin?

    The past pattern includes verbal i.

  4. Ināhea a Hana i hoki mai ai?

    When did Hana return?

    This is the past counterpart of the future return question.

How It Connects

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

āhea / ināheaLevel 2Asking When

Learn This First

Teach the complete fronted-time questions: subject before the action, ai linking the action to the unknown time, and verbal i in the past pattern. Introduce this question-specific ai role locally rather than requiring later relative clauses.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.