Once you know how to say hello and goodbye, you probably want to be able to say how you are. And one of the simplest sentences you can say is: "I am good".

The order of words in Māori is different from the order of words in English. In English we say: "I am good", but in Māori we would say: "At the moment, good, I".

There are lots of examples of where the order of words is different in other languages. For example, in English we say "the blue sky" or "the strong woman" or the "fast car". But in many languages, French, Spanish, Irtalian, IUrish, Arabic, Hindi, Swahili - and Māori - it is said the other way round: "the sky blue", "the woman strong", "the car fast".

So we can't assume that how things are said in English is going to be how things are spoken in another language. So what we can't do it to take an English sentence and simple relace each of the English words with a Māori word. That won't work. We can't say "ahau kei te pai" - "I am good" - because that's not how it is said in Māori.

We need to learn the sentence structures and the way of thinking in Māori, and use that.

So, to say "I am good" in Māori we say:

Kei te pai ahau.
At the moment, good, I.
I am good.

We say this, in te reo Māori with the sentence:

Kei te pai ahau.
I am good.

Kei te means "at the moment". This is called a tense marker and indicates when somethng is happening.

The word pai means "good". You may have heard this when people say ka pai! ("It's good!)

The word ahau means "me", or "I".

So kei te pai ahau means: "at the moment, good I am".

You can also say:

Kei te pai au.
I am good.

The words au and ahau mean the same thing and you can use either one.

Whenever I go to the supermarket and the person at the checkout says: "How are you?" I always reply by saying: Kei te pai ahau! I am good thank you!"

Instead of saying you are good, you can also say that you are well. The word for well or healthy is ora. This is a common word - Health New Zealand is called Te Whatu Ora, and there are other agencies with names like Whānau Ora (Healthy Famnilies) and Kāinga Ora (Healthy Homes).

And, of course, you certainly would have heard people say: 

Kia ora!
Be well!

So, you could say:

Kei te ora ahau.
I am well.

There are many different ways to be and many ways to express how you are.

A very common response to kei te peahea koe? is:

Kei te ngenge ahau.
I am tired.

You can modifty this sentence in two ways. You can say that you are somewhat good by adding ahua:

Kei te ahua pai ahau.
I'm sort of good.

Kei te ahua ora ahau.
I'm kinda well.

Kei te ahua harikoia au.
I'm sort of happy.

Or you can say you are really good by adding tino:

Kei te tino pai.
I am really good.

Kei te tino ora au.
I am really well.

Kei te tino harikoa ahau.
I am really happy.

Kei te tino riri au.
I am really angry.

nui – big, large
iti – small, little
hou – new
tawhito – old
tere – fast
– slow
pai – good
kino – bad
ātaahua – beautiful
kaha – strong
ngoikore – weak
wera – hotpōturi 
mātao – cold
roa – long
poto – short
haunga – smelly

When we are talking about one person, we use one of the singular personal pronouns. In English, they are: I, you, he and she, and: me, him and her.

In te reo Māori the singular personal pronouns are: au or ahau, koe and ia.

When you are talking about yourself, you can either use the word au or the word ahau - they both mean exactly the same thing.

For example, you can say;

Kei te pai ahau
I am good.

Or: 

Kei te pai au.
I am good.

They are the same.

The Māori word for you, when you are talking to just one person, is koe. 

This pronounced like "queer" without the "r" on the end. 

You can say:

Kei te pai koe.
You are good.

And you also ask this as a question:

Kei te pai koe?
Are you good?

You have probably heard the word koe in the expression:

Tēnā koe!

This is a formal greeting which literally means "there you are!". If you meet a friend, you will probably say kia ora, but if you meet someone for the first time, or someone important then you will probably say tēnā koe. And the koe part means "you".

You can alse use the word koutou to say that you all are a certain way:

Kei te pai koutou.
You are (all) good.

Kei te ora koutou.
You are (all) well.

The word hiahia means "to want". This can be added to another word, like moe (sleep), kia (food) and wai (water):

Kei te hiamoe ahau.
I am tired (literally: I am sleep wanting).

Kei te hiakai ahau.
I am hungry (literally: I am food wanting).

Kei te hiawai ahau.
I am thirsty (literally: I am water wanting).

In the same way, the word mate (sick, dead) can be added to a word:

Kei te matemoe ahau.
I am exhausted (literally: I am sleep sick).

Kei te matekai ahau.
I am starving (literally: I am food sick).

Kei te matewai ahau.
I am parched (literally: I am water sick).

You have also probably heard people ask:

Kei te pehea koe?
How are you?

Kei te means "at the moment".
Pehea is the word for "how".
Koe is the word for "you" when you are talking to just one person.

If someone asks you: Kei te pehea koe? you can answer with:

Kei te pai ahau.
I am good.