How to use "He - Te - Ngā" | MAORI LANGUAGE LESSON FOR BEGINNERS 

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HE - TE - NGĀ
I'll admit, this was one of the harder videos to make...and I can really appreciate why people struggle with the differences between the two!
In case you don't/can't watch the video I'll provide a write up below:
Te and Ngā are used to define SPECIFIC things
Te, being singular
Ngā, being plural
Eg.
The shop = te toa
The shops = ngā toa
*Note - this is just one way to use "te". There are quite a few other rules to using te (check out maoridictionary.co.nz to see more)
I also finally realised why "te" is so confusing!
Te can also be included with other words to create their own little phrases. Eg.
Kei te
Ki te
I te
The tricky thing here is (and it's not really seen in English hence why it's probably so tricky!) is that all these phrases can't be dissected in to two separate words...one without the other renders the phrase meaningless (or not meaning what it's supposed to)
For example, we can use "kei" to mean the location of something. If you add te xxx after it you have a phrase that looks like:
Kei te toa - at the shop
The actual break down of the sentence is:
Kei / te toa
At / the shop
Compare that too:
Kei te oma ia - he is running
Kei te / oma / ia
Is / running / her
Hopefully that explains it well enough to make sense!
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"He" - In general it means NON-SPECIFIC things...a bit like "a" in English. Eg.
He toa - A shop
He pōtae - A hat
"He" is also tricky depending what word comes next.
in the video I've broken it down in to two separate things:
1.
He + adjective + noun (specific noun using "te")
is used to describe a specific noun. Eg:
He + pai (good) + te pōtae (the hat)
The hat is good - notice we're talking about THE hat, not A hat
2.
He + noun + adjective
is used to describe a non-specific noun. Eg.
He + pōtae + pai
A good hat - notice were talking about A hat, not THE hat
Let me know what you think, and if it makes sense!