So far, our sentences have included a tense marker, a verb, and an agent. Now we're going to expand this pattern by adding an object.
To add an object, we simply extend this pattern:
Tense marker
+
Verb
+
Agent
like this:
Tense
marker
+
Verb
+
Agent
+
'i' or
'ki'
+
Object
Some examples:
Kei te patu koe i te pōro
Kei te
patu
koe
i
te
pōro
(now)
hitting
you
the
ball
You (1) are hitting the ball
Ka haere rātou ki te marae
Ka
haere
rātou
ki
te
marae
(future)
go
they
to
the
marae
They will go to the marae
The object in the sentence will generally be a noun, usually with a determiner before it, such as 'te poro' or 'te marae'.
The noun tells us who or what the action is directed at – in other words, who or what gets "VERBED".
Between the subject and the object, you'll always see i or ki.
In the first example, i comes before the object. In the second example, ki comes before the object.
Which one we use depends on the verb and the meaning of the sentence.
Choosing between i and ki can be tricky for us newbies, but there are some useful rules and patterns that can help. We'll look at those next.