We meet again for a new lesson. You want to learn how to ask and answer questions: Where do you come from in Tahitian? Where are you from in Tahitian? Where are you going in Tahitian? You’re in the right place. We will also address the directional particles mai and atu.
Dialogue
First, let’s start with a short dialogue:
| English | Tahitian |
| Where are you from? (country) | No hea ‘oe? |
| I’m from Tahiti | No Tahiti au |
| I’m from Paris, from France | No Pari au, no te fenua Farāni |
| I’m from the Marquesas Islands | No te fenua Enata vau |
| Where are you from? (start location) | No hea mai ‘oe ? |
| I come from Tahiti (start location) | No Tahiti mai au |
| Where do you come from? (step on your journey) | Na hea mai ‘oe ? |
| I come from the city (I passed through the city to here) | Na te ‘oire mai au |
| I’m from Tahiti (I passed through Tahiti to here) | Na Tahiti mai au |
| Where are you going? | Tē haere ra ‘oe i hea ? |
| I’m going to the sea | Tē haere ra vau i tai |
If you need to revise on au et vau, go to our previous lesson Introduce yourself in Tahitian – I, you, he – Vau, au – Who
No hea, na hea
Second, we can identify the questions in this dialogue.
| English | Tahitian |
| Where are you from? (country) | No hea ‘oe ? |
| Where are you from? (start location) | No hea mai ‘oe ? |
| Where do you come from? (step on your jouney) | Na hea mai ‘oe ? |
| Where are you going? | Tē haere ra ‘oe i hea ? |
In Tahitian, there are several ways to ask the questions we are interested in:
- No hea ‘oe? which translates to: where are you from? What origin are you from? What country are you from?
- No hea mai ‘oe? which translates to: where do you come from? Where were you before coming here?
- Na hea mai ‘oe? which translates into: where do you come from? Where did you pass by before here?
- Tē haere ra ‘oe i hea? which translates to: where are you going? where are you going to go (in the immediate future)?
Vocabulary
Also, following the short dialogue, we can identify vocabulary words:
| Tahitian | English |
| Fenua | Country |
| ‘Oire | City |
| Haere | To go |
| Tai | Sea |
| Tē … Ra | Grammatical construction of the future |
| Mai | Toward (particle to indicate a movement oriented towards the place where the speaker is (the enunciator) |
Directional particles: Mai, atu
Through this lesson, we can also address the directional particles mai and atu.
| Tahitian | English |
| Mai | Particle to indicate a movement to the place where the speaker is (the enunciator) |
| Atu | Particle to indicate a movement that moves away from the place where the speaker is (the enunciator) |
Below are some expressions of everyday life to illustrate mai and atu.
| Tahitian | English |
| Haere mai | Come here! (toward me) |
| Haere atu | Get out of here! Go away! (from me) |
| E haere mai ‘oe | You come to me (me is implied) |
| E haere atu vau | I come (and I leave the place where I am) |
| Hoo mai | To buy |
| Hoo atu | To sell |
| Haapii mai | To learn |
| Haapii atu | To teach |
And then what?
Finally, during this lesson, we learned to say: Where do you come from in Tahitian? Where are you from in Tahitian? Where are you going in Tahitian? And to answer them. We also learned 31 words and phrases. And of course the question I want to ask you is: And you, where do you come from (in Tahitian)? You can respond in comment. The next lesson will provide more vocabulary to answer the question.
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See you next time, for a new lesson.