334 NEW ZEALAND LANGUAGE. [PART III. 



2. Bv the word rahi ; for instance: 

 Te kaipuka nui rawa .... 

 Te kaipuke nui rahi .... the greatest ship. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF THE VERBS. 



THE conjugation of verbs in the New Zealand language is 

 attended with little difficulty, on account of the noun sub- 

 stantive serving also to express the verb; or rather, the verb 

 is the principal word of the language, the infinitive being the 

 root from which the noun is derived ; thus : 



E karanga a call. 



E karanga ahau I call. 



But there are certain particles in the language, which, 

 although often omitted, appear to be of use in the formation 

 of the verbs, and may be regarded as auxiliary. 



These particles are ana, ano, hoki, ra, or ra ho/ft. In 

 adding one or several of these and the personal pronoun to 

 the substantive, the latter is at once transformed into a verb; 

 for instance : 



E mohio . a knowledge, or I know. 



E mohio ana ahau .... I know. 



E mohio ana ano hoki ahau . . I know. 



E mohio ano I know. 



It seems to depend greatly upon euphony which one of 

 these particles is chosen, or how many of them ; and such 

 is the simplicity of the language, that, they, together with 

 the personal pronoun, may be omitted ; and the mere root 

 serves in this case as a verb. 



Auxiliary Verbs. 



Not less simple are the auxiliary verbs to be and to have, 

 both of which are generally omitted ; for instance : 

 Kei hea koutou ? 

 Where you all ? 

 Where are vou all? 



