328 NEW ZEALAND LANGUAGE. [PART III. 



instance, Hokianga sounds sometimes like Shokianga,hongi 

 like shoiigi, and also pushi instead of puM. 



Th and dh, as difficult letters, were also dropped in Ger- 

 man, but were retained in English. 



As regards the accent, it is, in words of two syllables, 

 generally on the first ; in polysyllabic words, generally on 

 the penultima. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE ARTICLE. 



THE definite article is te, corresponding to the. The inde- 

 finite article is e or he, or hei (probably dialectic differences), 

 corresponding to our a or an ; thus : 



te manu . . . the bird, 

 he manu ... a bird. 



Sometimes the indefinite article is expressed by e tahi or 

 tetahi, which means one or some. 



The plural of both articles is expressed by the word nga ; 

 thus : 



nga manu . . . the birds, or birds. 



In like manner, if tetahi is used, it is preceded in the 

 plural by the word nga : 



nga tetahi manu . . . birds, or some birds. 

 It will be seen in the following chapter how the different 

 cases of the article are formed. 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE. 



NOUN substantives are indeclinable ; but the singular and 

 plural numbers, and the different cases, are distinguished by 

 the changes of the article. 



