Simple Active Sentences
This section introduces simple active sentences, such as "The child is eating".
What you will learn
Learn how to describe actions that are occurring, did occur, have occurred, or will occur.
Active Sentences
An introduction to active sentences. These sentences are widely used and follow an easy, recognisable pattern.
Present: Is ... verb-ing
Using Kei te ... to describe what is happening now. 'The dog is running', 'The woman is working', 'The child is listening', ...
Present: E ... ana
A variation of the present tense that also pops up in other sentence structures and is sometimes used to describe habitual action. Usage varies across different iwi.
Past: verb-ed
We use I ... to describe what has happened, at some point in time, in the past. 'The girl cried', 'The horse ran', 'The teacher spoke', ...
Past: Was ... verb-ing
Using I te ... to describe what was happening, over some period of time, in the past. 'The dog was swimming', 'The man was walking', 'The cat was sitting', ...
Recent Past: Has ... verb-ed
Kua ... describes what has just happened or a change in state. 'The teacher (just) arrived', 'The baby has gone to sleep.', ...
Future: Will ... verb
What will happen is described with Ka .... 'The child will swim', 'The cat will sleep', 'The bird will sing', ...