Te Reo Māori Lessons

#1: Hello - kia ora

Saying hello in te reo Māori.

#2: Hello friend! - kia ora e hoa

Greeting a friend using "e" as the particle of address.

#3: Hello friends! - kia ora e hoa mā

Greeting more than one person using mā.

#4: Hello sir! - tēnā koe

Use of tēnā koe as a more formal greeting than kia ora.

#5: Hello to all of you! - koutou

The plural personal pronoun koutou.

#6: Goodbye! - haere rā, e noho rā

Saying goodbye - if you are leaving or staying.

#7: I'm good - kei te with adjectives

Kei te means "at the moment". It can be used with an adjective to say how you are now. "Kei te pai" means "at the moment, I am well", and "kei te ora koe" means "you are well now".

#8: I'm tired - adjectives

What an adjective is. Kei te ora ahau (I am well(. Kei te ngenge ahau (I am tired).

#9: I'm very sick - tino, āhua

Use of tino and ahua to mean "very" and "somewhat".
"Kei te tino pai" means "I am very well and "Kei te āhua ora koe" means "you are somewhat well".

#10: You are all beautiful - koutou

More adjectives. Using koe with an adjective. Kei te ātaahua koe.
Personal pronouns: ahau, koe, koutou.

#11: I am hungry and tired - hiakai, hiamoe

#12: How are you? - Kei te pēhea koe?

The question "how are you? Kei te pēhea koe?"
And you? Me koe?
Āe, kao, auē!

#13: That person is going - kei te with verbs

Simple sentences that describe someone doing something in the present.

#14: I'm not crying. You're crying. - koutou, rātou, rātou, mātou

Plural personal pronouns, including "us but not you".

#15: I'm coming. You're going. - haere mai, haere atu

Direction markers: ake (up), atu (away), iho (down) and mai (towards the speaker).

#16: The dog is running - kei te + verb + noun

Simple sentences in the present tense with a verb and a noun as a subject.

#17: The big man is crying - nouns + adjectives

Simple sentences with a noun and an adjective. Unlike in English, the adjective follows the noun (the house big, the cer red). For example: "Kei te oma te tāne nui" (the big man is running).

#18: The sheep are standing - plurals

Usually, nouns don't change in the plural.

#19: Your armpit smells delicious - pronunciation - keke vs kēkē

Māori pronunciation.

#20: The women are singing - plural nouns like wāhine

A handful of words change their forms in Māori by lengthening the vowel: wahine becomes wāhine.

#21: The happy children are playing - tamariki as a plural

A handful of words change slightly in the plural (eg, wahine becomes wāhine). The exception to the rule that words in Māori don't change in the plural is the word for child (tamaiti) which because tamariki is plural.

#22: The bird is flying to the tree - ki to indicate direction towards

Using ki to indicate direction.

#23: The children are running from the house to the school - i to Indicate direction from

Indicating direction from using i.

#24: I am reading the book - i to identify the object of the sentence

The object of a sentence (a book being read, a cake being eaten) is marked by "i" in a sentence.

#25: I love the woman - ki to identify the object of the sentence

Some verbs, such as arohoa, take "ki".

#26: The children are running in or through the house - i meanig in or through or by

#27: I am reading the book to the children in the house - i and ki in the same sentence

We can have both i and ki in the same sentence. (I am reading the book to the children, the woman is singing the song to the people.)

#28: Rangi is reading the book - a - personal particle

Using 'a' as a personal article before a name.

#29: I love you - use of a before personal pronouns

ki a au, ki a koe, but not ki a ahau.

#30: We two (not you) are going - māua, tāua, rāua

Dual pronouncs: me, not you; you and me, those two, you two.

#31: The family were playing the game - past tense using i and i te

#32: Rangi was sick but now he is well - conjunctions: ēngari, ā

A conjunction joins two phrases together to make a longer sentence. In te reo Māori, two common conjunctions are ā (and) and engari (but)
.

#33: I am going, I was going, I went. - past tense: i te

#34: The students listened and learned - ka as a future tense marker

#35: The children played and then they learned - ka as a past tense marker

#36: A police offer chased a thief - tētahi and ētahi

"a" and "some"

#37: I have danced - kua

The tense marker kua is translated with "has" or "have".

#38: Those birds near you are beautiful - tēnei, tēnā, tērā, ēnei, ēnā, ērā

Instead of using "the" or "a", we can use words like "this" or "those". In te reo Māori we have tēnei (this near me), tēnā (that near you) and tērā (that over there) amd the plurals ēnei, ēnā and ērā.

#39: This is a motorbike - categorizing sentences with "he"

Sentences that start with he are called "categorizing sentences" and put something into a class or category. For example "he pene tēnei" means "this is a pen", or, literally "in the category of pen this is".

#40: Rangi is sad now but is a happy person - the difference between kei te to show temporary situation and he to show characteristic

#41: That motorbike is yellow - colours

#42: I am eating your apple, you are eating my apple - neuter singular possessives: taku, tō, tana

How to say "my", "your" and "his/her".

#43: We are going to his house - Neutral plural possessives: aku, o and ana.

#44: The brother was walking to the sister - Older and younger siblings, brothers and sisters

#45: I have a cup of tea - Possession using he... taku

In te reo Māori, He X ahau means “I am X,” not “I have X.”
To say “I have,” you must use possessives like tāku (one thing) and āku (more than one).
Some people and family words also change in the plural by lengthening the vowel, like tuakana → tuākana.

#46: The man's dog is eating the woman's cat's food - Simple possessives using a and o (the house of Sarah)

#47: The woman is sleeping at the man's house - things in the 'o' category: where you live

#48: Rangi's bed is big - O category: your body and things associated with it, such as a bed

#49: His car is red - Tōna and tāna- belonging to him or her

#50: Our car is yellow

#51: Our tomato is red - All the singular personal possessives in the a and o categories

#52: Your horse is fast

Pets are in the a category, and modes of transport are in the o category. WHhich category a horse is in depends on whether its a pet (tāu hōiho) or ride it (tōu hōiho).

#53: My tummy is sore - All the possessive pronouns in the o category

#54: Their mothers are angry

#55: The chair my father made is good

#56: The ladies of the court of King Karaticus

#57: I love my boss

#58: My wife meets my girlfriend

#59: Everything in the o category

#60: My mother is cake baking - the gerund

#61: Their father was, is or will be shouting

#62: Have you heard the bird that is singing in the morning? - e... ana as a subclause

#63: You should talk to your mother - me

#64: She is always swimming in the sea - Use of "ai" as habitual action

#65: Brian is a father, Brian is my father - he versus ko

#66: Mere is a girl, Mere is the girl - ko

#67: Tararua is a mountain (ko) - Ko versus he

#68: Colonel Musard in the ballroom wirh the dagger - He versus ko

#69: Who is the woman singing? - ko wai?

#70: What is it that they are wanting? - He aha?

#71: I am supermarketing - Kei as a locative

#72: Where were the children? - Kei hea? I hea?

#73: The cat is on the table - Kei runga

#74: The spoon is to the left of the plate - Runga, raro, mua, muri

#75: The family are eating at the beach - tātahi

#76: Mua the moa and Muri train station - mua, muri

#77: In the future, the children will tidy their room - ā for the future

#78: Rangi has been to Taupō on his friend's helicopter - mā runga

#79: I went to the shop in order to buy food - ai, he aha ai?

#80: Why did Mere drive to the supermarket? - he aha... i... ai?

#81: What has happened to cause you to cry now? - He aha ____ i ____ ai? in the present

#82: Why will their dog eat our cat's food? - he aha ___ e ___ ai?

#83: Why are the children laughing? - He aha ____ e ____ nei?

#84: Why is the baby sleeping? - he aha te take e ____ ana ____?

#85: Which is the right road? - ko tēhea?

#86: 86. You're eating what?! - kei te aha?

#87: How many pens are there? - e hia?

#88: Five golden rings - counting people and things

#89: 2025 - counting over 9

#90: Sarah came first in her ceramics class - Ordinal numbers

#91: Let there be one cup of sugar (kia) - kia

#92: Chop the vegetables - Commands using passives

#93: Tidy your room! - commands using the passive

#94: Cause the book to be open! - whaka-

The causative prefix whaka-

#95: The cake was eaten by me - passive sentences

#96: Rangi is reading. The book is being read. - active and passive sentences

#97: Is Rangi helping Mere, it is Mere helping Rangi? - active and passive sentences

#98: I am being eaten by the cake. - i and e in active and passive sentences

In an active sentence, the agent, or the person doing the action, is indicated with "i". In a passive sentence, the one doing the action is indicated with "e". This can help us identify who is doing what to whom in a sentence like "Mere is being helped by Rangi".

#99: Give me those! - hōmai and hōatu

Give something to be issuing hōmai and give something to someone else using hōatu.

#100: That aforementioned thing - taua, aua

Using taua and aua to refer to something or things you have previously talked about.

#101: We are arguing. No we're not! - Negative kei te

Kāore subject i te verb.

#102: I did not go, I was not going, I am not going - Negating past tense with kāore subject i verb

The past tense marker i is negated with kāore... I. Fur example, i kai ahau (I ate), becomes kāore au i kai.

#103: The mother is watching the children who are not playing - Negating e.. ana with kāore... e... ana...

E... ana sentences are negated with e
Kāore subject e verb ana. For example: Kāore au e kai ana (I was not, am not, or will not be eating).

#104: He will not drive his car at night - Negating ka with kāore... e

Ka is negated with kāore subject e verb. For example: ka kai au (i will eat) becomes kāore au e kai (I will not eat)

#105: I have not yet eaten crocodile meat - negating kua wirh kāore anō... kia

Kua is negated with Kāore ano... kia (eg kāore anō au kua kai, i have not eaten yet) and had the meat that the subject had not done the action yet.

#106: Pop quiz - negating verbal sentences

#107: The children are eating, however their food is not healthy - on the other hand, however, heoi anō

Heoi anō means "on the other hand, however".

#108: We're off to see the wizard because of the wonderful things he does - nā te mea - because

Conjunctions joining positive and negative sentences. Nā te mea means "because".