This group of words includes:
People’s names
The names of some houses, canoes and weapons
The months of the year
When a personal noun is the agent in a simple action verb sentence, we place a new article in front of it:
'a' (the 'personal') article
In all of the sentences we have seen so far, when the agent has been a common noun, we have always put 'te' or 'ngā' or 'he' right before the noun.
If we use 'personal noun' as the agent, we do not put 'te' or 'ngā or 'he', instead we put 'a'.
The determiner 'a' marks a personal name when it is the agent of a sentence.
Here is a selection of example sentences containing the personal nouns ‘Maia’, ‘Te Aroha’, ‘Marama’, ‘Wiremu’ and ‘Rangi’
Note that ‘a’ is placed before the personal noun in each example
I waiata a Maia
I
waiata
a
Maia
(past)
sang
Maia
Maia sang
I te moe a Rangi
I te
moe
a
Rangi
(past
+'ing')
sleeping
Rangi
Rangi was sleeping
Kua hīkoi a Te Aroha
Kua
hīkoi
a
Te Aroha
('has')
walked
Te Aroha
Te Aroha has walked
Kei te kai a Wiremu
Kei te
kai
a
Wiremu
(now)
eating
Wiremu
Wiremu is eating
E tū ana a Rangi
E
tū
ana
a
Rangi
(now+
'ing')
standing
Rangi
Rangi is standing
Ka kōrero a Marama
Ka
kōrero
a
Marama
(future)
speak
Marama
Marama will speak
When a name starts with ‘Te’, like ‘Te Aroha’, the word ‘Te’ is part of the name, and we place ‘a’ in front on it.