ai

Linking Back with Ai

Level 4

Head noun + i/e + predicate phrase + ai + remaining participants.

How It Works

Ai commonly links a relative event with a time, place, instrument or reason. It follows the predicate phrase, including directionals such as mai, and precedes remaining participant phrases. A time head supplies “when”; a place supplies “where”; an instrument supplies “with which”. Ai does not change for person or number.

Past i … ai identifies an earlier event. E … ai can describe an event yet to occur and also has present or habitual interpretations in suitable contexts. Compare te wāhi e hui nei ngā kaiako, “the place where the teachers are meeting now”, with te wāhi e hui ai ngā kaiako āpōpō, “the place where the teachers will meet tomorrow”.

Ai belongs to particular relative patterns rather than every noun modifier. Progressive e … ana circumstance relatives use a different pattern without this additional link.

Examples (3)

  1. He paki te rā i hoki mai ai tōku tuakana.

    The day when my older sibling returned was fine.

    The day supplies time; tuakana refers to an older sibling of the same gender.

  2. Kua ngaro te pene i tuhia ai te ingoa.

    The pen with which the name was written has gone missing.

    The pen supplies the instrument; the name is the passive subject.

  3. He iti te whare e noho ai mātou āpōpō.

    The house where we will stay tomorrow is small.

    The house supplies location; mātou excludes the listener.

How It Connects

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

aiLevel 4Linking Back with Ai

Learn This First

Extend the familiar past relative to heads naming times, places, instruments and reasons. Recover the relation from the head and event, then read ai after the predicate phrase; e ... ai also allows contextually prospective or habitual readings.