2. (particle) by, made by, acted on - combines with i to form a past tense emphasising who or what did the action, sometimes called the actor emphatic. This grammatical construction is only used with transitive verbs, not with intransitive verbs, with statives (neuter verbs), or with verbs in the passive.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 30-32; Te Kākano Study Guide (Ed. 1): 41-42;)