nei, loc.part. Here and/or now, near or concerning this place/time, of current concern.

1. In nominal phrases.

Ko tēia nei te puka tā‘au i ‘apai ei?
Is this one here the book which you took?;

I tēia ‘ua nei i ‘aere atu ei.
He has just this very minute left;

Ka ‘aere koe ā tēia nei?
Are you going right now?;

Nā tāku tamaiti nei i ‘akakite mai.
It was my son here that told me. (N.B.

Tēia nei
is frequently written as one word:

teianei au mate ravarai,
all these present tribulations (Rom. 8.18).)

2. In verbal phrases, esp. in the constructions tē (verb) nei and e (verb) nei, usually translatable by the English present continuative.

Tē kata nei rātou.
They are laughing;

Kāre au e tanu nei i te pia.
I‘m not planting any arrowroot;

Tē ‘apai nei au i tēia pi‘a ‘ei ‘a‘ao i te ika marō.
I‘m taking these boxes to pack the dried fish in;

Kua kimi i‘o nei māua iā koe.
We’ve just been looking for you;

i tēia au marama i topa ake nei,
during these recent months;

I kite nei au iā koe ki ‘ea i te Varairē ra?
Now where was it I saw you last Friday? (See āinei, akenei, konei, nakōnei, ākonei, pēnei, tēianei.) [Np. *nei.]