A slight elaboration on the reply that someone else already made:

There is no "the" make.

GNU make is not Berkeley make compatible.  While it is possible to
write a Makefile that works with both makes, the resulting Makefile
will not be able to use many of the features that each make offers.
Most Makefiles use such features and only work with the particular
make with which they were intended to be used.  (There are other makes
out there, as well, but you're being bit by apparently using GNU
make as if it were the system make for NetBSD.  NetBSD's system make
is derived from Berkeley make.)

If you had installed GNU make via NetBSD's package system, it would
have been called "gmake", which would have avoided the problem that
you have encountered.

Until you restore the NetBSD version of Berkeley make, you will
probably have no end of problems, as GNU make is unable to handle
the NetBSD kernel (or pkgsrc!) Makefiles that are scattered through
a NetBSD system.


-- 
  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about."  http://www.olib.org/~rkr/