Demonstratives
Demonstratives are important to learn so that we can create grammatically correct sentences in Māori. For example if we wanted to say "This is a book" then we need the following formula:
HE + NOUN + DEMONSTRATIVE
He pukapuka tēnei.
This is a book.
Demonstratives specify a particular 'thing'. In some instances they specify the 'location' of a particular 'thing'.
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One thing
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More than one
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this/these by me
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tēnei
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ēnei
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this/these by you
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tēnā
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ēnā
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that/those over there
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tērā
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ērā
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Note that we simply remove the 't' to make the demonstrative plural.
nei, nā and rā (known as deitic or locative particles) refer to a specific location: nei = here (by me), nā = by you, rā = over there/ at a distance. Te is the Māori word for the (singular), and if we look at the demonstratives we can see that all the singular forms have te + nei/nā or rā.
More examples of the use of demonstratives.