Wanting an Action

Level 5

Compare pīrangi ki te + action with pīrangi kia + predicate and participant.

How It Works

With pīrangi, ki te introduces an intended action whose participant is understood from the containing clause. A kia clause can explicitly identify the participant in the desired event. Compare wanting to swim with wanting Mere to go to a shop.

The desire predicate takes its own aspect marking, such as e ... ana. The desired event follows its selected complement construction. Neither verb changes to agree with participant number. The event can involve cessation or a state change without a deliberate human actor.

This ki te action-complement construction excludes passive complements. A desired passive can instead occur in an appropriate kia clause. The restriction belongs to the analyzed complement construction; it is not a prohibition applying to every occurrence of ki te. Distinguish this complement from conditional ki te, which introduces an “if” setting.

Examples (3)

  1. E pīrangi ana au ki te kauhoe.

    I want to swim.

    The person desiring is the understood swimmer.

  2. E pīrangi ana au kia haere a Mere ki te toa.

    I want Mere to go to the shop.

    Kia introduces an event with a separately named participant.

  3. Kei te pīrangi ngā tamariki kia mutu te ua.

    The children want the rain to stop.

    The desired cessation has no deliberate human actor.

How It Connects

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

Wanting an ActionLevel 5

Learn This First

Compare desire for one's own action with desire for an event involving another participant or a nonhuman change. Preserve the selected complement structure and keep its restrictions distinct from conditional ki te.