nō hea
Asking Where Someone Is from
Use Nō hea + subject? Answer with nō and the relevant source.
How It Works
Form Nō hea + subject?. The question word hea occupies the source position after nō. An ordinary pronoun follows directly; a named person normally takes personal a. The frame remains unchanged for singular, dual, and plural subjects and needs no verbal tense particle.
Answer by replacing hea with a source: Nō Ōtepoti au, “I am from Dunedin.” A short source phrase can suffice when the subject is understood. Context determines whether the answer concerns home, regional origin, or affiliation; the question does not automatically demand a birthplace.
Compare Kei hea koe?, “Where are you?” and E haere ana koe ki hea?, “Where are you going?” Each preposition establishes a different relationship. Someone may come from one place, currently be in another, and be travelling to a third.
Examples (3)
- Nō hea koe?
Where are you from?
Hea questions the addressee's origin.
- Nō hea a Hine?
Where is Hine from?
The named subject takes a.
- Nō hea ēnei manuhiri?
Where are these visitors from?
The frame also accommodates a plural subject.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Ask about an unknown source with Nō hea plus the subject. Practice answers about home or affiliation and keep that relationship separate from present location and travel destination.
- nō ...Source and Origin
An origin statement supplies the source position replaced by hea and the answer pattern that restores a named source.
Level 3 - kei heaAsking Where Something Is
The familiar location question makes hea recognizable and provides a concrete comparison between current whereabouts and origin.
Level 1
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice nō hea in Bubblegum
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