Note 11 — Chapter VII · OF THE VERBS.[11]
Reading edition
There are many things connected with this subject that will, no doubt, often appear strange to the European reader; and he will frequently have to be careful lest he be misled by theories derived from occidental grammars. In those languages the verb is a leading word in the sentence, and by it exclusively is the office of affirmation or predication performed.
In Maori, on the contrary, a pure genuine verb is by no means of frequent occurrence: almost any word denoting a thing, or quality, is capable of sustaining that office; and predication is as frequently implied as expressed. In considering, therefore, the Maori verbs, we shall have to examine, not only those words which have been invested with the properties belonging to that class; but also those forms in which no mark of predication is expressed. The term predication we have adopted, for want of better, to denote those functions which are peculiar to the verb, and which are sometimes described by grammarians under the terms "affirmation" and "assertion."
[12] We have adopted the term "sentence" in preference to "proposition," lest the student should be led into perplexity by conceiving that we used the terms simple and compound in the same senses as those in which they are used by logicians.
From our examples he will see that we should call a sentence simple, even though the subject and predicate be complex terms.
By noticing whether, when the sentence is translated, one or two verbs are introduced, and whether either of them is dependent in time on the other, the student will easily make the distinction that we are desirous of establishing. The importance of this distinction will be seen in our examples of a compound sentence. For, in the first e-ana, which is present in a simple sentence, is now past; in the second, kua is future, though it strictly belongs to the past tense; in the fourth example this same particle stands for the pluperfect potential.
[13] We may here mention that, in speaking of actions done by members of the body, Maori never supposes the individual, but rather the member, to perform the act. Thus, such expressions as "lift up your head," "open your mouth," "stretch out your leg," would not be rendered, as we have heard some speakers express it, by "huaia ake to matenga," "hamamatia to waha, &c.," but rather "kia ara ake to matenga," "hamama tou waha," "wharoro tou waewae."
We have, indeed, occasionally heard a native say, wheterongia, (whaterongia, Ngapuhi) tou arero, titahangia; but these phrases are very rare.
[14] Lowth.
[15] N.B.—When we have occasion to speak of this class of words by themselves, as distinct from neuter verbs, we shall denominate them participial adjectives.