hanga aroha (ana)
1. it's heartbreaking, it's sad, it's tragic, it's heart-rending, it's pitiful - an idiom to express one's pity. It can also be used in a sarcastic manner.
He hanga aroha te reo o ēnei kaumātua rongonui (TTT 1/10/1924:120). / The voices of these well-known elders was heart-rending.
Hanga aroha ana i te mea e tamariki tonu ana rāua ka riro nei. / It was quite sad becausethe two who had died were still young.
Hanga aroha ana rā tērā. / That's sad.