Maori Unpacked, Appendix One, A note on Three kinds of berbs
Appendix One
A Note on three kinds of verb
There are various ways to look at the verb. Biggs in Let's Learn Maori suggested that there is a two part division; statives and universals.
One way to look at these is with the passive in mind.
Statives are inherently passive.
Universals can be made into passives.
Universals may be divided into verbs of movement which do not, as a rule take the passive and the rest which do.
Verbs of movement have a regular usage of i and ki wherein i means from and ki means to. This is set out in the note on i and ki.
It might also be the case that when verbs of movement are made into gerunds they take the o category.
With these distinctions in mind it may be profitable to say that there are three kinds of verb in Maori; statives, universals and verbs of movement. Kenneth Hale's work in this area is very useful..
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