Adjectives and verbs are modified, both in form and meaning, by the reduplication of one or both of the syllables of the root. An adjective with the first syllable of the root doubled becomes plural, thus he rakau pai—a good tree; he rakau pai pai—good trees. It is to be observed, however, that the simple form is used both as singular and plural.

The effect of doubling both syllables of the root is to diminish the intensity of the meaning of the adjective, thus: mate—sick; mate mate, sickly.

In the case of verbs, the effect of the two kinds of reduplication is somewhat different. Thus, kimo denotes winking of the eyes; kikimo—closed and kept so; kimo kimo, frequent winking.

Nouns and adjectives and verbs may all have a prefix—whaka or wha—the effect of which is to make a causal verb; thus whakatangata signifies to make a man or treat as a man; whakanoho—to cause to sit; whakamohio—to cause to know.

The usual passive terminations of verbs are a, ia, hia, kia, mia, ngia, ria, tia, whia, na, ina, and whina. Thus

• Poro becomes porou

• Waru " waruhia

• Horo " horomia

Intransitive, as well as transitive, verbs have a passive voice requiring the addition of a preposition in English to make the sense complete. Thus: noho—sit; nohia— be sat upon.

Nouns of circumstance are derived from adjectives, participles, or verbs by the following suffixes:—Nga, anga, hanga, manga, ranga, tanga, inga, the choice of termination being somewhat arbitrary. Thus:

• Mahi makes mahinga

• Noho " nohoanga

• Titiro " tirohanga

Numerals have certain prefixes—e, ko, toko, hoko, and taki.

Passive verbs sometimes have the suffix tanga. The force of the same is difficult to determine, sometimes having the same effect as ana, thus: hiko tonu ia ki nga ngarehu, apuatanga—he immediately snatched up the burning coals, and crammed them into his mouth.

The syllable nge is sometimes prefixed to personal or possessive pronouns, as nge-au, nge-ona; and sometimes it appears as a suffix to the adverbs pea and koa, thus: peange, koange, but not affecting the meaning thereof.

Well-known words may sometimes be met with in such a disguise that it is difficult, at first sight, to recognise them at all.