i mua i

Before an Event or Time

Level 4

Use i mua i + reference noun phrase.

How It Works

Build a temporal phrase as i mua i + noun phrase. The reference can name a meal, meeting or nominalized event. In i mua i taku haerenga, the possessive identifies my going or journey. Learn the actual noun haerenga; event nouns do not all use one interchangeable suffix.

The phrase can precede or follow the main clause. It has no person or number agreement and does not replace the main predicate's particles. Compare i mua i te tina, before lunch, with i muri i te tina, after lunch. A demonstrative can instead identify an event already mentioned.

Mua also denotes the front or a position in front of a reference. In relational phrases, i can be neutral with respect to time; it is not universally a nonpresent marker. Present location predicates commonly use kei. These examples teach temporal ordering, with the containing clause determining the event's time.

Examples (3)

  1. I horoi au i ōku ringa i mua i te tina.

    I washed my hands before lunch.

    The first i marks the past predicate; i mua i introduces the temporal reference.

  2. I mua i taku haerenga ki te kura, ka kai au.

    Before going to school, I ate.

    Haerenga names the going; the past reading assumes a past account.

  3. I kōrero ngā kaiako i mua i te hui.

    The teachers spoke before the meeting.

    The reference phrase follows the main clause.

How It Connects

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

i mua iLevel 4Before an Event or Time

Learn This First

Contrast before with the familiar after relation, then extend the reference to taku haerenga ki te kura. Learn haerenga as an established noun and keep the temporal phrase distinct from verbal past marking.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.