kāore ... i

Negating an Earlier Action

Level 2

Kāore ngā tamariki i kauhoe inanahi. — The children did not swim yesterday.

How It Works

Start with kāore, followed by the subject and i + verb phrase. The verb does not change for singular, dual or plural subjects. Names normally retain their personal article a; ordinary pronoun subjects generally have none.

Compare I tunu a Rangi i te ika. — Rangi cooked the fish — with Kāore a Rangi i tunu i te ika. — Rangi did not cook the fish. The first i in the negative introduces the past predicate; the second marks its object.

Retain i te when denying an ongoing activity. Use kāore anō ... kia for “not yet.” Established alternatives such as kīhai ... i occur in regional and narrative usage and should not be treated as spelling errors.

Examples (4)

  1. Kāore ngā tamariki i kauhoe inanahi.

    The children did not swim yesterday.

    Inanahi specifies the past day.

  2. Kāore a Rangi i tunu i te ika.

    Rangi did not cook the fish.

    The two occurrences of i introduce the predicate and object respectively.

  3. Kāore māua i kite i a Hemi.

    We two, excluding you, did not see Hemi.

    Māua is the subject; i a introduces the personal object.

  4. Kāore te pahi i tae mai inanahi.

    The bus did not arrive yesterday.

    Mai remains within the verb phrase.

How It Connects

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

kāore ... iLevel 2Negating an Earlier Action

Learn This First

Teach the past denial with the subject after kāore and i before the action. Ordinary complement marking remains intact, and denying an earlier event does not itself express not yet.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.