kātahi ka
Then or Only Then
Use kātahi ka + predicate; the subject can also stand between kātahi and ka.
How It Works
Use kātahi with a following ka predicate for “then” or “and then”. The usual predicate-first clause can follow the two particles. An established alternative places the subject between them, as in kātahi rātou ka noho. The predicate keeps its ordinary complements and does not acquire agreement endings.
In a past story, Ka mutu te ua, kātahi ka puta ngā tamariki ki waho presents going outside as the next development. The same event framing can receive another temporal interpretation from context; ka is not an English past-tense ending.
Plain kātahi does not require “only then”. A delayed opportunity may make that interpretation useful, but the separate formations kātahi anō … ka and kātahi tonu … ka explicitly support only-just readings. Preserve their additional particles when teaching those meanings.
Examples (3)
- Ka horoi a Hana i ngā rīhi, kātahi ka noho ia.
Hana washed the dishes, then sat down.
A past narrative supplies the English time interpretation.
- Ka mutu te ua, kātahi ka puta ngā tamariki ki waho.
The rain stopped, then the children went outside.
The second event follows the rain's ending.
- Ka huaki te toa, kātahi ka hoko mai au i te miraka.
The shop opened, then I bought milk.
Hoko mai expresses buying; the opening precedes it.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Introduce kātahi ka as then or and then through successive washing, sitting and opening events. Also recognize an intervening subject; plain kātahi need not convey the only-just meanings of longer formations.
Related Patterns
Practice kātahi ka in Bubblegum
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