We meet together for a new lesson on the determiners and demonstrative pronouns this, that, these, those in Tahitian, this, that, that over there.
This, that, these, those in Tahitian
First, here is the basic vocabulary of this lesson.
In Tahitian, we locate an object or a person in relation to the enunciator or his interlocutor (compared to me who speaks, or you to whom I speak).
| Tahitian | English |
| Teie | This, close to me |
| Tera | That, close to you |
| Tena | That over there |
How do I use teie, tena, tera?
2 ways
We use teie, tena, tera in two ways:
- as a determiner
- as a pronoun
Let’s illustrate with examples:
| Tahitian | English | Correspondence |
| Teie fare | This house | Determiner |
| E fare teie | This is a house. | Pronoun |
Difference between determiner and pronoun
A quick reminder of English grammar:
- A determiner accompanies a name. It is in front of a name (possibly with an adjective). Example: this house
- A pronoun is put in place of a name (or a nominal group). It is usually in front of a verb. Example: this is a house
In Tahitian:
- The determinant is before the name
- The structure of the sentence being VERB – SUBJECT – COMPLEMENT , the pronoun is placed after the verb
Particle e and presentative ‘o
In the pronoun position, the particle e and the presentative ‘o are often used in Tahitian to accompany teie, tena, tera.
We have already used them in previous lessons:
| Particle | Detail |
| E | Zero-aspect particle because it does not give any indication of the degree of achievement of the action
Gives information on the nature, the essence of a thing, of a person |
With the example:
| Tahitian | English | Matching |
| E fare teie. | This is a house. | Present simple tense |
And also ‘o:
| Presentative | Detail |
| ‘O | Precedes a proper noun that is mostly in the subject position or when presenting someone or something |
With the example of short dialogue:
| English | Tahitian |
| Who are you? | ‘O vai ‘oe? |
| I’m Hina | ‘O Hina vau |
| I’m Mere | ‘O Mere au |
Teie, tena, tera in 3 space-times
To locate an object or person in relation to the one who talks or the other person (compared to me talking, or you to whom I speak), we use 3 space-times nei, na, ra:
- Teie in the space-time of the nei
- Tena in the space-time of the na
- Tera in the space-time of the ra
We already know the space-time of the nei and the ra, we add that of the na. And also, let’s clarify our definitions. In green, what we already know.
| Tahitian | English |
| Nei | Here and now, close to me
This is the place and the moment of the present tense, we speak of space-time of the nei This is the space-time of the enunciator (the one who speaks) |
| Na | There, close to you
This is the place and moment of the present tense of the other (to whom I speak), we speak of space-time of the na This is the space-time of the co-enunciator (the one I’m talking to) |
| Ra | There, somewhere else, at another time
The place and the moment where the action takes place, do not coincide with the present (the “nei”), we speak of space-time of the ra Beware, the “ra” is not the space-time of the past |
Dialogue
To illustrate this lesson, here is a short dialogue. In green, the words we already know.
| Tahitian | Tahitian |
| I teie po’ipo’i | This morning |
| Tē haere nei ‘o Hina e ‘o Mere i te fare toa | Hina and Mere goes to the store |
| E Hina, ‘o vai tena? | And Hina, who is she? |
| ‘O Mere teie, to’u hoa | It’s Mere, my friend. |
| Tē ‘imi ra māua i te huero totora na te tamarii i te fare | We are looking for chocolate eggs for children at home |
| E huero ‘ute’ute teie, e tano? | These are some red eggs, does it fit? |
| Aita, tē vai ra te û ê? | No, is there another color? |
| E huero nīnamu tera, e tano paha tera?
E tē vai ra te huero re’are’a i ‘o |
That’s blue eggs over there, maybe they’re right for you?
And there are also yellow eggs there |
| E tano roa, e rave māua i te mau û ato’a | It fits very well, we take all colors |
Vocabulary
With this dialogue, the new vocabulary words are:
| Tahitian | English |
| E | And, together, with, in the company of |
| Ê | Yes, different, strange, foreign |
| Te fare toa | The store (toa of the English store) |
| Te hoa | The friend |
| Te huero | The egg, the seed, the tablet |
| Totora | Totora |
| ‘Imi | Search |
| Tano | Fit, convene, agree, go well to, be adapted |
| Rave | Take, seize, get hold of, act, do |
| Vai | Exist, be, stay, last |
| Paha | Perhaps, no doubt, eventually |
| I’o | There |
| I’o nei | Here |
| Te û | The color, the dye |
| ‘Ute’ute | Red |
| Nīnamu | blue |
| Re’are’a | Yellow |
Also, we have the construction tē vai nei:
| Grammar rule : tē vai nei / tē vai ra |
In Tahitian, we translate there is by :
|
And then what?
Finally, with this lesson, we learned how to say this, that, these, those Tahitian with teie, tena, tera. We also learned 24 words and vocabulary expressions.