kāore ... i te

Negating an Ongoing Action

Level 2

Kāore au i te pānui i te nūpepa. — I am not reading the newspaper.

How It Works

Place kāore first, the subject second, and i te before the verb phrase. Retain normal marking on complements. Names normally keep a, and the predicate does not inflect for person or number.

Compare Kei te pānui au i te nūpepa. — I am reading the newspaper — with Kāore au i te pānui i te nūpepa. — I am not reading the newspaper. The later i te nūpepa is an object phrase.

The same negative frame can deny a past ongoing activity when the context establishes that time. Contrast Kāore au i pānui i te nūpepa inanahi. — I did not read the newspaper yesterday — which denies a past event. Negative e ... ana is another supported ongoing frame; these references do not prescribe every choice between them.

Examples (4)

  1. Kāore au i te pānui i te nūpepa.

    I am not reading the newspaper.

    The two i te sequences belong to different phrases.

  2. Kāore a Maia i te tunu kai.

    Maia is not cooking food.

    Tunu kai forms the activity phrase after i te.

  3. Kāore ngā manu i te waiata.

    The birds are not singing.

    The plural subject leaves the verbal frame unchanged.

  4. Kāore kōrua i te whakarongo ki te reo irirangi.

    You two are not listening to the radio.

    Whakarongo retains its ki complement.

How It Connects

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

kāore ... i teLevel 2Negating an Ongoing Action

Learn This First

Keep i te together after the negative subject. This ongoing negative can describe present or past circumstances, so its initial i must not be read as independently fixing past time.