Exercise Five
Saying ‘the other’ or ‘the others’
He tangata pukumahi tētahi, he tangata māngere tētahi.
Saying ‘the other’ or ‘the others’
A good way of saying ‘one . . . and the other’ in Māori is the repetitive use of tētahi. Have a look at the following examples.
| He aha ngā kara o ngā motokā? | What colour are the cars? |
| He mā tētahi, he whero tētahi | One is white and the other is red. |
| He nui tētahi, he iti tētahi. | One is big and the other is small. |
| He paru tētahi hāte, he mā tētahi. | One shirt is dirty and the other is clean. |
You will notice from the last two examples that a noun may, or may not, follow tētahi it depends on how much detail you want to put into the sentence. When plurals are involved tētahi is simply changed to ētahi, as in the following examples.
| He aha te kara o ngā pereti? | What color are the plates? |
| He pango ētahi pereti, he kōwhai ētahi. | Some plates are black, the others are yellow |
| He kererū ētahi, he kāhu ētahi. | Some are pigeons, and others are hawks. |
For further explanations and examples see Te Pihinga pp. 93.
Whakakīa ngā āputa o ngā rerenga kōrero Māori e whai ake nei. Whakaarohia mehemea ko te kupu ‘tētahi’, ko te kupu ‘ētahi’ rānei.
Fill in the gaps of the following Māori sentences. Decide whether to use tētahi or ētahi.
Kei wareware ki te whakamahi i ngā piko, ngā tohu pātai, ngā kopi me ngā tohutō i ngā wāhi e tika ana.
He porohewa
Some were bald, the others were fair-haired.
Kei te moe
Some kids are asleep, the others are mucking around.
Ko tōku whaea
One is my mum and the other is your mum.
He whero
Some apples are red, others are green.
Kei te haere
Some people are going and others are staying.
Kua mate
One tree died and the other lived.
He roa
One of my arms is long the other is short.
He āhua nui
Some are quite big and others are a quite wide.