āu / ōu
Your Plural Possessions
Āu and ōu mean your for more than one possessed item.
How It Works
Āu pene means your pens in the a category. Ōu hoa means your friends in the o category. These are not pronouns for a group of addressees.
The neutral determiner ō can also precede a noun. For two or more possessors, use a separate pronoun after ā or ō, as in ō kōrua hoa.
Examples (3)
- Kei hea āu pene?
Where are your pens (one addressee)?
- Kei te kura ōu hoa.
Your friends are at school (one addressee).
- He pai ōu kākahu.
Your clothes are nice (one addressee).
How It Connects
Learn This First
Teach plural possessions belonging to one addressee, rather than possessions whose owners are a group of addressees. Include neutral ō before a noun and treat the separate-pronoun multiple-possessor pattern as a later comparison.
- tāu / tōuYour with a and O Possession
The singular second-person forms establish one addressee as possessor and the category contrast retained in āu and ōu.
Level 2 - āku / ōkuMy Plural Possessions
First-person plural possession establishes that the number change concerns the possessed items, preparing the corresponding second-person change.
Level 2
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice āu / ōu in Bubblegum
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Māori lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.
