nā / nō ownership
Asking Whose It Is
Nā and nō can identify ownership or source.
How It Works
Nā wai tēnei pene? asks whose pen this is. Nō wai tēnei whare? asks whose house this is. A response can use a combined singular form such as nāku or nōku.
These words have other constructions too. Actor-emphatic nā ... i highlights who did something, and temporal nō ... ka organizes an event sequence. The ownership reading comes from the complete nominal frame.
Examples (3)
- Nā wai tēnei pene?
Whose pen is this?
- Nō wai tēnei whare?
Whose house is this?
- Nāku tēnei pukapuka.
This book is mine.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Introduce ownership questions and answers through complete nominal frames, including combined nāku and nōku. The lesson distinguishes ownership from later actor-emphatic and temporal uses without requiring those extensions first.
- a / o possessionChoosing a or O Possession
Possessive categories guide the ownership contrast between the pen question with nā and the house question with nō.
Level 2 - wai / ahaAsking Who and What
Wai as a question about a person prepares learners to request the unknown owner within nā wai or nō wai.
Level 1
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice nā / nō ownership in Bubblegum
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