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Kei te indicates that something is happening at the moment, and kāore... i te... indicates that something is not happening at the moment:
Kei te oma au.
I am running.
Kāore au i te oma.
I am not running.
When it comes to an action in the past, for an active sentence (such as "I was running") the tense marker is i te:
I te oma au.
I was running.
We negate this sentence in exactly the same was as a sentence in the present tense:
Kāore au i te oma.
I was not running.
This means that a negation of the present tense and the past tense are identical:
Kāore ia i te waiata.
She is not singing.
She was not singing.
When one encounters a sentence like this, you will need to decide whether it refers to a past or a present situation based on the context, however, sometimes it will be unclear.
Kei te whakarongo au ki te wahine, engari, kāore ia i te waiata.
I am listening to the woman, but she is not singing.
I te whakarongo au ki te wahine, engari, kāore ia i te waiata.
I was listening to the woman, but she was not singing.
Kāore ahau i te kai i te āporo.
I am not eating an apple.Kāore ia i te tū.
He was not standing.Kāore rātou i te haere ki te moana ki te kauhoe.
They were not going to the beach to swim.Kāore ngā tamariki i te tākaro i te pāmu i te rā wera.
The children were not playing at the farm on the hot day.Kāore au i te haere ki te toa ki te hoko kai.
I was not going to the shop to buy food.Kāore mātou i te whakarongo ki te waiata i te rā whānau.
We were not listening to the song at the birthday.Kāore a Hine i te kōrero.
Hine wasn't talking.Kāore au i te mātakitaki i te kiriata me ōku hoa.
I was not watching the movie with my friends.Kāore te tama i te whana i te pōro.
The boy wasn't kicking the ball.Kāore te kaiako i te hanga i ngā mahi mō te akomanga.
The teacher was not preparing the work for the class.Kāore a Pita i te ako i te reo Māori i te kura.
Pita was not learning te reo Māori at school.Kāore a Mere i te whakareri mō te haerenga ki Tāhuna.
Mere was not preparing for the trip to Queenstown.Kāore a Rewi i te hoki mai i te mahi i te ahiahi.
Rewi was not returning from work in the evening.Kāore a Hana i te tunu i te keke mō te hui.
Hana was not baking the cake for the meeting.