whaka-

Making or Causing

Level 3

Hoki means return; whakahoki can mean returning something or taking someone back.

How It Works

Write whaka- together with its base. The hyphen identifies the prefix in analysis. With hoki, “return,” it forms whakahoki, expressing an action that causes someone or something to return.

Compare I hoki a Mere ki te kāinga., “Mere returned home,” with I whakahoki a Hēmi i a Mere ki te kāinga., “Hēmi took Mere home.” The derived predicate adds Hēmi as actor; Mere now follows personal object marking i a.

Other formations have conventional meanings and complements: whakarongo ki te kaiako means “listen to the teacher,” while whakaae ki tō tono means “agree to your request.” Ordinary clause particles still frame these verbs, which have no person or number endings. Learn established words rather than generating arbitrary combinations or assigning one meaning to every word beginning with these letters.

Examples (4)

  1. I whakahoki a Hēmi i a Mere ki te kāinga.

    Hēmi took Mere home.

    The causative introduces a causer and a personal object.

  2. Kei te whakahoki au i te pene.

    I am returning the pen.

    The affected item follows object i.

  3. Kei te whakarongo ngā tamariki ki te kaiako.

    The children are listening to the teacher.

    Whakarongo takes a ki complement here.

  4. Ka whakaae au ki tō tono.

    I will agree to your request.

    This English future reading assumes a prospective context.

How It Connects

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

whaka-Level 3Making or Causing

Learn This First

Introduce causative derivation through hoki and whakahoki, tracking the added causer and changed participant roles. Learn other whaka- words with their conventional meanings and complements.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.