Reporting What Someone Said
Choose between quoted words and attributed content.
How It Works
A quotation presents words in another speaker's voice. A nominal reporting frame such as Ko te kī a Mere identifies whose statement follows. Inside that quotation, au refers to Mere. The reporting frame and quoted clause retain their own participant structures.
Quoted āpōpō refers to tomorrow from the quoted speaking situation. It need not mean tomorrow from the narrator's present. Choose Māori temporal and aspectual marking for the intended viewpoint rather than imposing automatic English tense backshift.
E ai ki identifies the source of a proposition. Compare the quotation “I am tired” with an attributed statement that a shop has closed: the latter reports content without claiming exact wording. Attribution identifies a source without guaranteeing truth. Recasting quoted words requires deliberate choices about person, time and direction. The examples illustrate these two approaches rather than a paradigm covering every speech-reporting verb.
Examples (3)
- Ko te kī a Mere, “Kei te ngenge au.”
Mere's statement is, “I am tired.”
Au identifies Mere within the quotation.
- Ko te kī a Ria, “Ka hoki au āpōpō.”
Ria's statement is, “I will return tomorrow.”
Āpōpō supplies future reference from Ria's quoted speaking situation.
- E ai ki a Hemi, kua kati te toa.
According to Hemi, the shop has closed.
The source phrase attributes content without presenting a direct quotation.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Keep the reporting frame and quoted voice distinct. Introduce attribution as another way to report content, while explaining that recasting person and time requires deliberate viewpoint choices rather than automatic English tense backshift.
- te ... a / oA Possessor After the Noun
Postnominal possession helps learners read te kī a Mere as Mere's statement in the nominal reporting frame.
Level 2 - inanahi / āpōpōYesterday and Tomorrow
Understanding tomorrow as a relative day prepares learners to locate quoted āpōpō from the quoted speaking occasion.
Level 2
Related Patterns
- e ai kiAccording to
Introduces an attributed source.
Level 5 - Keeping Distinct Voices in a Text
Develops reference within quoted voices.
Level 6 - Changing the Reference Time
Explains reference times different from the narrator's present.
Level 6 - Tracking People Across a Text
Tracks participants between reporting and reported content.
Level 6
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Reporting What Someone Said in Bubblegum
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