Whakatauki: He waha huka - A frothy mouth, i.e, all words, no substance. [Kohikohinga Whakatauki a Raupo, pg 114]
Atua Wahine: Parawhenuamea.
Margaret Orbell gives this account [A Concise Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend, pg. 101]:
"Parawhenuamea is generally regarded as the origin of the waters of the earth. She is the streams flowing from the mountains, and she is floodwaters, so it is not surprising that she is often regarded as the daughter of Tane and Hinetuparimaunga. Sometimes her husband is Kiwa, guardian of the ocean."Stative/Neuter Verbs - What are they and how do you use them?
Kia ora ano tatou! I wanted to dive into this topic because I still mess this up myself when speaking the reo. What are stative/neuter verbs?
Firstly, what is a verb? It's a doing word. An action word. Those new to te reo may have had a sentence like this, where the verb is kai (consumed/eat).
Ka kai te ngeru i te miraka. - The cat consumed the milk.
Now a stative/neuter verb is a word used to describe the state of something. Ray Harlow says in A Maori Reference Grammar, pg. 158:
"A number of neuter verbs express the idea of completion, for instance 'oti' - to be completed, 'tutuki' - to be accomplished, 'pau' to be used up. As neuter verbs, these words take as their subject the name of the thing completed, accomplished or used up."
He gives the following examples. You can see that the state of the work is in a completed state, and the money is exhausted, all gone.
Kua oti te mahi - The work has been completed.
Kua pau nga moni - The money is all gone.
The issue I keep messing up on is regarding the below stative/neuter structure. Harlow says, "Again, in common with the other neuter verbs, these words can also be accompanied by a comment naming the agent marked with i". (Agent is who did the action.)
Kua oti nga mahi i a ratou - The work has been completed by them.
I pau katoa nga rare i nga tamariki - The children ate all the lollies. (Literally, The lollies were all used up by the children.)
For the above examples you can indicate how it was completed or used up by modifying it like this:
Kua oti nga mahi i a ratou te tuhi. - They completed their work (essay) by writing it out.
I pau katoa nga rare i nga tamariki te kai. - The lollies were all used up by the children by them eating it. (The lollies are all gone because the kids ate them.)
If you change the order and show who did the action at the end of the sentence, Harlow pg.159 says that "...the agent phrase is not marked with 'i', but with the passive agent preposition 'e'."
Kua oti nga rihi te horoi e koe? - Has the dish-washing been completed by you?
I pau katoa nga rare te kai e nga tamariki. - The lollies were all used up; eaten by the children.