Questions

• Tone of voice
• Aē, Kāo - Yes, No
• Table of interrogatives
  • Wai - Who
  • Aha - What
  • Hea - Where
  • Nōnahea, Āhea - When
  • E hia, Tokohia - How many
  • Pēhea - Like, How
  • Tēhea, Ēhea - Which
• Rānei - Or
• He aha...ai - Why, What reason
• Nā te aha...ai - Why, What cause

Tone of voice

You can make a sentence a question by changing the way you say it. For example:

Kei te whiti te rā. (The sun is shining.)
Kei te whiti te rā? (Is the sun shining?)

Kei roto te kai i te umu. (The food is in the oven.)
Kei roto te kai i te umu? (Is the food in the oven?)

He waka tōna. (She has a waka.)
He waka tōna? (Does she have a waka?)

He inu māu. (A drink for you.)
He inu māu? (Would you like a drink?)

Aē, Kāo: Yes, No

To answer a closed question, you can use Āe or Kāo.

Kei roto te kai i te umu? (Is the food in the oven?)
Āe! (Yes!)
Kāo! (No!)

or you might answer in full:

Āe! Kei roto te kai i te umu. (Yes! The food is in the oven.)
Kāo! Kāore te kai i roto i te umu. (No! The food is not in the oven.)
or Kāo! Kei runga  te kai i te tēpu. (No! The food is on the table.)

Interrogatives - wai, hea, aha...

To request information, you can use interrogatives - wai, hea, aha (who, where, what) etc.

To answer a question like those above, you simply replace the question word (eg. wai, aha, hea etc) with the answer.  The result is usually a familiar sentence structure.

Wai - who?

Ko wai - who

Ko wai koe? (Who are you?)
Ko Tāne au. (I'm Tane).

Ko wai ngā tāngata e tū rā? (Who are the people standing there?)
Ko ngā hoa o tōu whaea rātou. (They are your mother's friends.)

Ko wai te ingoa o tōu tuahine? (What's your sister's name?)
Ko Eugénie ia. (She is Eugénie).

Nā wai - who (agent emphatic)

The agent emphatic places emphasis on the agent, in this case, the question as to who it was who performed an action.

Nā wai te poaka i puhi? (Who shot the pig?)
Nā Hōhepa te poaka i puhi. (Hōhepa shot the pig.)

Mā wai ngā kākahu e horoi? (Who will wash the clothes?)
Māku ngā kākahu e horoi. (I'll wash the clothes.)

Mā wai, Mō wai - for whom

Mā wai tēnei mahi? (For whom is this work?)
Mā Indya te mahi. (The work is for Indya)

Mō wai tēnei waka? (For whom is this car?)
Mō te wahine tēnā waka. (That car is for the woman.) 

Nā wai, Nō wai - to whom belongs

Nō wai tēnei pounamu? (To whom does this pounamu belong?)
Nōku tēnā pounamu. (That pounamu (by you) belongs to me.)

Nā wai tērā kurī? (To whom does that dog belong?)
Nā rātou tērā kurī. (That dog (over there) belongs to them (3+).)

Kei a wai - who has, with whom

This question form uses a locative structure to ask literally "with whom?" but is more naturally translated as "who has" or "who has got?"

Kei a wai ngā tīkiti? (With whom are the tickets?) (Who's got the tickets?)
Kei a Tāne ngā tīkiti. (The tickets are with Tane.) (Tane's got the tickets.)

Past and future forms can be created using the locative tense markers I and Hei rather than Kei.

Aha - what?

aha - what thing

You can replace a noun in a sentence with aha to enquire about a thing.

He aha tēnei? (What's this?)
He koha tēnā? (That is a present.)

He aha māu? (What for you? What would you like?)
He waina māku. (Some wine for me.)

Kei te titiro koutou ki te aha? (What are you looking at?)
Kei te titiro mātou ki tētahi waka tumeke! (We're looking at an awesome car!)

aha - what action

You can replace a verb in a sentence with aha to enquire about an action.

Kei te aha koe? (What are you doing?)
Kei te pānui au. (I'm reading.)

Kua aha koe i tēnei rā? (What have you done today?)
Kua tuhituhi au i ngā reta e toru. (I've written three letters.)

Ka haere koe ki te tāone ki te aha? (What did you go to town to do?)
Ka haere au ki te tāone ki te hoko i tētahi pōtae. (I went to town to buy a hat.)

Hea - where?

You can replace a locative noun or place name in a sentence with hea to enquire about location.

Kei hea te waka? (Where is the waka?)
Kei te one te waka. (The waka is on the beach.)

I hea te waka? (Where was the waka?)
I raro te waka i te whare. (The canoe was under the house.)

Kei hea koe? (Where are you?)
Kei te kāinga au. (I'm at home.)

Ka haere koe ki hea? (Where will you go?)
Ka haere au ki te kura. (I will go to school.)

E haere mai ana rāua i hea? (Where are they coming from?)
E haere mai ana rāua i Ōtepoti. (They're coming from Dunedin.)

Also see Nō hea following.

Nō hea - where from?

Nō hea koe? (Where are you from?)
Nō Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara au. (I'm from Wellington.)

But note hea - where above.

Nōnahea, Āhea - when? 

The formula for this structure is as follows:

Nōnahea + subject + i + verb + ai?
Āhea + subject + e + verb + ai?

Nōnahea and āhea are used to enquire about when an event occured or will occur. Note the use of ai to connect the action with the time in the following examples. Also note that the subject has come forward - preceding the tense marker rather than following the verb. The future tense marker is e and the past tense marker is i.

Nōnahea ia i tae mai ai? (When did he arrive?)
Nō tērā wiki ia i tae mai ai. (Last week).

Āhea tātou hui mai ai anō? (When are we meeting again?)
Ā tērā marama tātou hui mai ai anō. (Next month).

Āhea te pahi haere ai? (When does the bus leave?)
Ā te whitu karaka te pahi haere ai. (The bus leaves at 7 o'clock.)

E hia, Tokohia - how many? 

The formula for this structure is as follows:

Question: E hia + te/ngā + noun?
Answer: E + 2-9 + ngā + noun.

Question: Tokohia + te/ngā + noun (people)?
Answer: Toko+ 2-9 + ngā + noun.

Use e hia to inquire about things, and tokohia to inquire about people. 

When answering, e and toko are only used before the numbers 2-9, e.g.,

Tokohia āna tamāhine? (How many daughters does he have?)
Tokorua āna tamāhine. (He has two daughters.)

E hia ngā pāua kei roto i tōu kete? (How many pāua are in your kete?)
Tekau anake ngā pāua kei roto i tōku kete. (There are only ten pāua in my kete.)

E hia ngā ipu wai i mauria mai e koe? (How many water bottles have you brought?)
Kotahi te ipu wai i mauria mai e au. (I've brought one water bottle.)

Some people also place e and toko before larger numbers that start with 2 and 9, for example, 23.

Tēhea, Ēhea- which

Ko ēhea ngā pukapuka kua pānuitia e koe? (Which books have you read?)
Kua panui au i te pukapuka a Foster me te pukapuka a Harlow. (I've read the book by Foster and the book by Harlow.)

Ko tēhea te kapu pai ki a koe? (Which cup do you like?)
Ko te kapu iti. (The small cup.)

Pēhea - like, how

Kei te pēhea koe? (How are you?)
Kei te pai. (Good.)

I pēhea tāna waiata? (What was his singing like?)
I pai tāna waita. (His singing was good.)

Me pēhea te ako i te whakairo? (How should one teach carving?) 

Rānei - or 

He waina whero, he [waina] mā rānei? (A red or white wine?)
He waina mā. (A white wine.)

Ka haere koe ki te mahi, ka noho rānei i te kāinga? (Are you going to work or staying at home?)
Ka haere au ki te mahi. (I'm going to work.)

He aha...ai - Why, What reason

He aha ia i haere ai? (Why did he go?)
Nā tāku hāparangi ki a ia. (My yelling at him.)

Nā te aha...ai - Why, What cause

Nā te aha koe i mataku ai? (What frightened you?)
Nā te kurī au i mataku ai. (The dog frightened me.)