Exercise Four
Asking why something didn’t happen
He aha koutou i kore ai e whakarongo
Asking why something didn’t happen
To ask ‘why not’, the ai comes after kore as illustrated in the following examples:
Tauira:
He aha koe i kore ai e pōti?
Why didn’t you vote?
You will notice that the sentence is similar to asking why you did something. The difference lies in the location of kore and the introduction of e which always precedes the action. Here’s another example.
He aha kōrua i kore ai e hoki ki te kāinga?
Why didn’t you two go home?
For further explanations and examples see Te Pihinga p. 22
Whakakāhoretia ngā rerenga kōrero Māori e whai ake nei.
Negate the following sentences.
NOTE: For all exercises make sure you use commas, question marks, and fullstops where appropriate. You will also need to use macrons (ā,ē,ī,ō, and ū) when necessary, such as in kōrua or tēnā.
Kei wareware ki te whakamahi i ngā piko, ngā tohu pātai, ngā kopi me ngā tohutō i ngā wāhi e tika ana.
He aha koe i piki ai ki runga i te tuanui?
He aha koutou i haere ai?
He aha a Mere i peita ai i te whare?
He aha tō pāpā i riri ai?
He aha tōku tuahine i tangi ai?
He aha te pahi i tūreiti ai?
He aha rāua i tākaro ai?
He aha i pērā ai?