ki te + condition
If an Event Happens
Give the condition after ki te, then its consequence.
How It Works
In an affirmative verbal condition, ki te directly precedes the predicate. Participants retain the roles appropriate to that predicate. The consequence has its own construction: ka can introduce an event and me advice. Passive conditional predicates are also supported. Neither the opening nor the verb base changes for subject person or number.
The illustrated negative pattern is ki te kore + subject + e + verb. Its subject precedes the verb.
Compare Ki te haere koe, “If you go,” with E hiahia ana koe ki te haere, “You want to go.” The latter contains an action complement. In ki te kura, “to the school,” a noun phrase instead identifies a destination. Shared words do not make these constructions interchangeable.
Examples (3)
- Ki te pakaru te waka, ka tōmuri mātou.
If the vehicle breaks down, we will be late.
An open condition precedes its consequence; mātou excludes the addressee.
- Ki te tae mai a Hine, ka tīmata te hui.
If Hine arrives, the meeting will begin.
Arrival conditions the start.
- Ki te kore koe e whakaae, me kōrero anō tātou.
If you do not agree, we should talk again.
A negative condition leads to advice.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Introduce an open condition with ki te before its predicate, followed by an independently formed consequence. Teach ki te kore plus subject plus e as the illustrated negative pattern without asserting that the condition will occur.
- ka + verbAn Event in Context
The consequence examples use ka to present an event within the setting established by the condition.
Level 1 - me + verbWhat Someone Should Do
Advice provides the separately formed response in the negative-condition example.
Level 2 - ki te + verb complementAn Action After Wanting or Learning
The established action complement makes the lesson's comparison between wanting to go and making going a condition directly understandable.
Level 3
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice ki te + condition in Bubblegum
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