Active Sentences

Active sentences are constructed using the following form:

Tense + verb + subject + i/ki + object.
Kei te + haere + au + ki + te hui.

Kei te haere au ki te hui.
I am going to the meeting.

In English the form of the verb changes depending on the tense, for example, go, going, went etc. In Māori only the tense marker changes, the verb always stays the same. Take for example the verb haere which means go.

	Tense marker	Example
Past perfect	Kua	Kua haere au. I have been / have gone.
Past	I	I haere au. I went.
Present	Kei te	Kei te haere au. I am going. Kei te noho au i Pukerua Bay. I am living in Pukerua Bay.
Continuous	e (verb) ana	E haere ana au. I am going. E noho ana au i Pukerua Bay. I live in Pukerua Bay.
Future	Ka	Ka haere au. I will go.

Notes

e (verb) ana - continuous tense

This tense is called a continuous tense because it can denote a verb-ing word in any tense.

I tērā tau e ako ana ia.
Last year she was studying.

Note that (was) which precedes the verb (study) is past tense, e (verb) ana can be used in past tense situations like this. Kei te is only ever used for present tense.

Ka - future tense, or next action

Ka is not limited to indicating future action: it can also be used to indicate that something happens next, for example,

Ka hoki mai ia.
He will return.

I muri i te hui, ka hoki mai ia.
After the hui, he returned.