Again, we meet for a lesson to learn how to say the articles: a, the in Tahitian.
To be more specific, we will learn how to say:
- a in Tahitian
- the in Tahitian
- the singular and plural in Tahitian
- the masculine and the feminine in Tahitian
The articles in Tahitian (a, the)
First, you’ll find the table of articles. And yes, bluntly! Let’s get to the heart of this lesson.
| Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Te the
|
Nā, taunā the both | Te mau the (plural) |
| Te hōê a (one) | Nā both | Te mau (plural)
Te hōê mau (plural) |
| Te tahi a (general) | Nā both | Te tahi mau (general – plural)
Vetahi mau (general – plural) |
Examples
Secondly, we will see examples for articles.
Example with the
To better understand the mechanism, below are examples with basic words that are already part of our vocabulary.
| Tahitian | English |
| Te tiare | The flower |
| Te mau tiare | Flowers |
| Te fare | The house |
| Te mau fare | Houses |
| Te metua | The parent |
| Nā metua | The parents (understood the couple, the father and the mother, we use Nā because there are 2 people) |
| Te mau metua | Parents (several couples of parents, fathers and mothers) |
| Te taata | A person, a human being
People |
Nā metua, Te mau metua
Tahitians will gladly translate the parents (2 people) by Te mau metua. Word by word, that’s understandable. Grammatically, Nā metua is more appropriate. I advise you not to correct the grammatical sentences of one and the other. I advocate Tahitian speaking, more than only grammar. In the books, you will see Nā metua and also Te mau metua according to the authors. And generally speaking, you’ll hear more often Te mau metua. Both are used.
Example with a
Let’s continue our examples to illustrate a in Tahitian.
| Tahitian | English |
| Te hōê tiare | A flower (in the sense, quantity = 1) |
| Nā rima | Hands (Nā because 2 hands) |
| Te mau tiare | Flowers |
Same with te tahi.
| Tahitian | Englishnom |
| Te tahi taata | A certain person |
| Te tahi mau taata | Some people |
Small vocabulary break
So, some of us (we will say, Te tahi taata… for those who follow well our lesson) take coffee breaks. In Tahitian and Co, we take vocabulary breaks. Do you like it? I love it.
For those who join us on this lesson, the vocabulary words are as follows.
| Tahitian | English |
| Te fare | The house |
| Te metua | The parent |
| Te taata | The person |
| Te tiare | The flower |
| Te rima | The hand |
The singular, the plural, the masculine and feminine in Tahitian
In writing this title, I feel like I’m starting a philosophy course on the masculine and the feminine. Well, this is not the case, we are in a Tahitian lesson on grammar.
You have noticed that nouns do not match gender and number.
So let’s try to explain it in English:
- in Tahitian, a noun has no gender: it is neither male nor female
- for a male noun in English, the associated article is “Te,” “Te hōê ,” “Te tahi”
- for a female noun in English, the associated article is “Te,” “Te hōê ,” “Te tahi”
- If a noun is plural,
- the associated article is “Te mau”, “Te hōê mau,” “Te tahi mau”
- and above all, the noun has no plural mark (like a noun that takes an “s” in English)
The mark of the masculine and the feminine
Also, in Tahitian, to specify the masculine, we use Tāne. For the feminine, we use Vahine.
| Tahitian | English |
| Te metua tāne | The father |
| Te metua vahine | The mother |
| Terii tāne | Mr. Terii |
| Terii vahine | Ms. Terii |
And then what?
Finally, we have just added 33 words and phrases to our vocabulary list. And besides, we learned how to say a, the in Tahitian. And we now know how to identify and use the singular and the plural, the feminine and the masculine. See you soon for a next lesson.