mai, mai
1. for ages, from way back, long standing, it goes way back - an idiom to indicate a long length of time. Less commonly each mai is followed by a phrase.
Kua mōhio noa atu te Māori, mai, mai, mai rā anō, ko te hinengaro o te tamaiti kua tīmata kē te hikohiko, te ohooho i te wā tonu o te tōhuatanga (Rewi 2005:43). / Māori have known for a long time that the mind of a child has already begun to be active at the time of foetal development.
Koinā tō rātou āhua mai, mai, he noho noa iho i konā kore noa iho ai. / That’s what they’ve been like for ages, sitting there doing sweet nothing.
Kāore rawa i wareware i a au tēnei aituā, mai i muri mai, mai i muri mai (HP 1991:38). / I have never forgotten this accident from so long ago.
Synonyms: tāukiuki
mai
1. (particle) this way - indicates direction towards the speaker, or to the person (or thing) who is central to the utterance. Follows ordinary verbs, statives and location words. Like the other three directional particles, atu, iho and ake, it always follows manner particles (i.e. kau, kē, noa, rawa and tonu) if they are present in the phrase.
(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 27, 120; Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 63-64;)
Kua hoki mai ngā kuaka. / The godwits have returned.
Ka whakanohoia te mōkai kākā ki te take o te taki, e tūtata tonu mai ana ki te whare o te tangata, ko tētehi pito o te turuturu e uru tonu mai ana ki roto i te whare (JPS 1895:136). / The decoy kākā is deposited at the foot of the taki (kākā snare), quite close to the man's hut, one end of the turuturu (support pole) entering right into the hut.
2. (particle) from, since - indicating an extension in time or space. It marks the point from which the time or place is measured.
(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 64;)
Mai i Te Pakanga Tuarua o Te Ao ki nāianei. / Since the Second World War until now.
E mōhio ana te Kōti Whenua Māori nō tōna whānau ngā pānga nui ki ngā whenua mai i Maketū ki Tauranga, ā, mai i Ōkawa ki Te Rotoiti (TTR 1994:143). / The Māori Land Court knew that her extended family owned the lands from Maketū to Tauranga and from Ōkawa to Rotoiti.
3. (particle) Used with verbs to indicate a perception or attitude towards the speaker.
Ka pātai atu au mehemea ka taea e rātou te tunu mai i aku kai. / I asked if they could cook my food.
4. (particle) Used in narrative to indicate direction towards the main character.
I moe iho a Kupe i te pō ka kite i te atua, i a Io, ka tohutohungia mai ki a ia me whiti mai ia i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ki te whenua tērā e whakakitea ki a ia. / Kupe slept that night and saw the atua, Io, who instructed him to cross the Pacific Ocean to the land that had been revealed to him.
5. (particle) including, both - when referring to different kinds of people or things using nouns followed by mai but without a determiner.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 97;)
Kī tonu te wharepuni i te tāngata, Pākehā mai, Māori mai. / The sleeping house was full of people, both Pākehā and Māori.
6. (particle) Used in time expressions, seemingly for emphasis. This usage includes future time expressions.
(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 121;)
I rongo au i muri mai i haere ia ki Tīpene kura ai. / I heard that after that he went to school at St Stephen's.
Hei te Paraire e heke mai nei tīmata ai te wā whakanui i te koroneihana o Kīngi Tūheitia ki runga i te marae o Tūrangawaewae. / On this coming Friday the celebration of King Tūheitia's coronation begins on Tūrangawaewae marae.
tiki mai
1. (verb) (tīkina mai) to come and get, take away.
Nāna hoki mātou ko ōku hoa i atawhai, ā tae noa ki te rā i tū mai ai he kaipuke ki te tiki mai i a mātou (TTT 1/6/1926:414). / He took care of my friends and me until the day that a ship arrived to come and get us.
See also tiki
mai rānō
1. (particle) ever since, from that time, from long ago, for a long time, right from, from as long ago as, since - a variation of mai rā anō.
E ai ki te kōrero, mai rānō i te taenga mai o te waka o 'Mātaatua' ki Aotearoa, kātahi anō ētahi o ngā iwi o Mātaatua ka hui ngātahi (TTR 2000:232). / It was said that this was the first time that the tribes of Mātaatua had gathered together since the arrival of the 'Mātaatua' canoe.
Synonyms: mai rā anō, rā anō, rānō
nama mai
1. (loan) (noun) accounts receivable.
I roto i āna mahi o ia rā, whakamahia ai e Te Taura Whiri ētahi hanga whakanao pūtea. Koia ērā ko ngā pūtea pēke, ngā nama mai, ngā nama atu, me ngā tōpūtanga moni (Te Taura Whiri 2006:16). / In its everyday operations the Commission is party to financial arrangements in the form of bank accounts, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accruals.
noa mai
1. long ago, long since, a long time after - sometimes indicates that something took place quite some time ago or a long time after something else. With this meaning it occurs after muri.
Kāore ia i haere ki te marae i a ia e tamariki ana. Nō muri noa mai nei, nō te taipakeketanga ka hurikiko mai ki tōna hapū, ki tōna whānau nui tonu (HJ 2015:45). / She didn't go to the marae when she was a child. A long time later when she was middle aged, she turned to her subtribe and wider extended family.
Synonyms: kē, tāukiuki, noa atu, whāioio, neha, aua atu (rā), noa ake
mai anō
1. (particle) since way back, from long ago.
Ki tōna whakaaro, mai anō i ngā tau o te pakanga, ka tae mai ki te tau 1918, i tāmia ai te motu e te mate rewharewha, kātahi anō te taonga i tipu ake i Aotearoa, he mea waihanga mai e ngā tāngata o Aotearoa mō ngā tāngata katoa o tēnei motu (TTR 1998:1). / In his opinion, since the years of the war until the 1918 influenza epidemic, finally there was was something original from New Zealand, something by New Zealanders for New Zealanders.
