Telling the time.

To ask the time, say He aha te tāima? Here are some examples to help you answer.

Hei tauira:

Kua rima karaka. It’s five o’clock.
Koata pāhi i te ono karaka. It’s quarter past six.
Hāwhe pāhi i te waru karaka. It’s half past eight.
Hāpāhi i te toru karaka. It’s half past three.
Tekau meneti ki te iwa karaka. It’s ten minutes to nine o’clock.
Rima meneti pāhi i te toru karaka. It’s five minutes past three o’clock.

Once you understand how to answer what the time is you can extend your question.

Hei tauira:

He aha te tāima i kai ai koutou? What was the time you all ate?
Nō te ono karaka. At 6 o’clock.
He aha te tāima i oho ai ia? What was the time when he/she woke?
Nō te whitu karaka. At 7 o’clock.

From the above examples you can see that i comes before the verb. This shows that the event happened in the past. You can also see that ai follows the verb. Ai is a word that has no equivalent in English but is used to avoid repeating something that has already been stated earlier. It could be omitted but to a native speaker it is preferable to insert the ai. Because time is in the past nō te or i te is placed before the hour to answer the question.

For further explanations and exercised see Te Kākano pp. 28-29 and Te Kākano Pukapuka Tātaki p.17.

Whakautua ngā pātai e whai ake nei.
Answer the following questions.