Afrikaans to Māori: make ons, julle and hulle more precise
Ons is missing two decisions that Māori pronouns make
Afrikaans ons can include the listener or exclude them. It can refer to two people or a larger group. Māori distinguishes both: tāua means the speaker and listener as a pair, while māua means the speaker and another person, excluding the listener. Larger groups use a different set.
Before translating Ons gaan saam, decide who is going together. If the recipient is invited to accompany the sender, make that inclusion explicit in Afrikaans. If the sender and a sibling are travelling without the recipient, identify those two people. Otherwise the Māori pronoun can change an ordinary travel report into an invitation, even if the rest of the sentence correctly describes going somewhere.
Julle and hulle also need the size of the group
Afrikaans julle and hulle distinguish second-person and third-person groups without special dual forms. Māori distinguishes two people from three or more in both sets. A message addressed to two colleagues can therefore need a different pronoun from a message to the whole department.
Use julle twee when exactly two recipients matter, rather than leaving the translator to infer the number from a previous conversation it has not seen. Similarly, hulle twee makes a pair explicit. This is useful in task allocation: a pronoun intended for two named helpers should not accidentally address everyone present, while an announcement to a larger team should not narrow its scope to a pair.
Hy and sy can share a Māori pronoun
Māori ia does not distinguish Afrikaans hy from subject sy. A translated paragraph can consequently lose a gender cue that helped an Afrikaans reader track two different people. The translation is not necessarily incorrect merely because the same target pronoun appears for a man and a woman.
If the source alternates between the two people, repeat the relevant name at the change of actor. Keep ownership references clear too: Afrikaans sy before a noun means his, rather than the subject she. The target must identify the possessor from the complete phrase, so translating isolated sy can conceal precisely the distinction needed for the Māori construction.
My and ons do not determine the number of possessions
Māori possessive forms can distinguish a single possession from several possessions, as well as using a/o categories. Afrikaans my stays unchanged in my ouer and my ouers; the noun carries the singular-plural contrast. The Māori possessive phrase can make that contrast visible elsewhere.
Keep the noun and its number in the input when translating a family reference. A phrase about one parent and a phrase about parents should not be reduced to an isolated possessive before translation. The a/o choice also depends on the kind of relationship, so do not replace every Afrikaans my with one memorized Māori form. Preserve meaningful macrons in the copied output, including those that distinguish the pronoun and possessive forms being used.
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