wai / aha
Asking Who and What
Wai asks who; aha asks what.
How It Works
Ko wai? asks for a person’s identity. He aha tēnei? asks what kind of thing this is. Kei te aha koe? asks what someone is doing.
Keep the particles with the question. A question about the person who performed an event may use the actor-emphasis frame nā wai i. The word wai alone does not replace every complete English who-question.
Examples (3)
- Ko wai koe?
Who are you?
- He aha tēnei?
What is this?
- Kei te aha koe?
What are you doing?
How It Connects
Learn This First
Introduce wai and aha within three familiar frames for identity, classification and activity. Keep their surrounding particles intact; actor-emphatic questions are a later construction rather than a prerequisite for these introductory questions.
- ko + nameNaming an Identity
The identifying ko frame supplies the basis for replacing a known identity with wai in Ko wai koe?
Level 1 - he + nounIntroducing a Kind of Thing
The classifying he predicate explains why He aha tēnei? requests the kind of thing rather than a person's identity.
Level 1 - kei te + verbAn Action Happening Now
The ongoing activity frame supports Kei te aha koe?, where the unknown information is what the addressee is doing.
Level 1
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice wai / aha in Bubblegum
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