mate ana
1. no choice but to - an idiom used to indicate that circumtances forced someone to do something they didn't really want to do.
Karangatia ana he hui korero Māori engari mate ana te tangata ki te korero Pākehā i te tokomaha rawa o te hunga i puta ake korekore ana nei he kupu Māori kotahi nei. / A meeting to speak Māori was called, but one had no choice but to speak English because so many of the group who turned up couldn't speak a word of Māori.
