Māori phrasebook

The Māori language (te reo Māori) is cherished by the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand as a treasure (taonga) and many Pākehā (New Zealanders of "European" descent) are now learning it. Although it is an official language of New Zealand, along with English and New Zealand Sign Language, only 3.5 percent of New Zealanders (and only 21 percent of ethnic Māori) can conduct a conversation in Māori. Virtually all indigenous Māori speakers are bilingual and converse in English at least equally competently.

Māori is a Polynesian language, and has many cognates with other Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian and Samoan. A number of Māori words have been adopted into everyday New Zealand conversation, even while speaking English, and many place names are of Māori origin. Being able to correctly pronounce Māori words is a valued skill since incorrectly pronounced Māori sounds like fingernails scratching on a blackboard and will immediately identify you as a visitor to the country (or a culturally ignorant local). Even a tolerable and halting attempt at the correct pronunciation is better than a poor guess – your effort to get it right will be appreciated and accepted.

As you might expect, one hundred fifty years ago, accents, vocabularies and word constructions were as variegated as the differences between Glaswegian and Cockney Englishes are today. With many people now having lost their localisations as well as their fluency, new learners are learning less localised and more homogeneous versions.

Māori has a close relationship with the New Zealand variant of English, with many consonants and vowels sharing the same pronunciation. Many English loanwords are also present in Māori for post-European settlement concepts, such as pirihimana (police), tāra (dollar), and Ahitereiria (Australia).

An exception to this process is the native language of the Cook Islands, a completely self governing, tropical outlier of the Realm of New Zealand. Here the language is almost as different from the registers spoken in the North and South islands of New Zealand as Chaucerian English is from Californian. That said, Cook Islanders seem to find it easier to understand "mainland" Māori than the other way around.

Pronunciation guide

The New Zealand Māori language is relatively simple to pronounce.

Vowels

There are five vowel sounds, each with a long and short form:

a 

like strut (IPA: ɐ)

ā

like in palm (IPA: ɑː)

e

like dress

ē

longer version of e; roughly like ea in pear

i

like happy (IPA: i)

ī

like fleece (IPA: iː)

o

a shorter version of ō (IPA: o)

ō

like (non-rhotic) north (IPA: ɔː)

u

a shorter version of ū; roughly like in put (IPA: ʉ)

ū

like goose (IPA: uː)

There are several vowel blends: ae, ai (as in pie), ao (as in mouth), au (as in goat), ei (as in face), oi (as in choice), oe, and ou

In written Māori, the long vowels are often denoted by macrons (bars over the letters). Sometimes you will see words where a vowel letter is repeated, e.g. the Māori name for Inland Revenue is Te Tari Taake (you can probably guess why they don't spell it Te Tari Tāke). This may indicate that the vowel is pronounced "long", but modern usage is to use the macron when possible.

Thus Māori, Maaori and Maori would all represent the same word; although you will rarely see it spelled "Maaori". You may occasionally see long vowels with a diaeresis ("Mäori") or other marks instead of a macron due to typesetting limitations.

Macrons have tended not to be written when a Māori word has been a commonly used word by people speaking English (including with the word Māori), and macrons have generally not appeared on direction signs or maps; however, as more people become aware of the correct pronunciation of various Māori words and place names, and of the instructive guidance that macrons provide by indicating how words should be pronounced, the use of macrons is increasing in New Zealand society, including in official documents. Some road direction signs for Taupō (both the town and the lake) are now written as Taupō; whereas, prior to 2008, the macron was always missing.

Consonants

There are ten consonants in Māori:

h 

as in hello

k 

as in kind

m 

as in milk

n 

as in nose

p 

as in spin

r 

a flapped 'r' – as in Spanish caro ("expensive")

t 

as in time.

w 

as in window

wh 

as in five

ng 

as in sing

Syllables

Māori words are broken into syllables which end with a vowel. Place names often consist of morphemes, or words which are combined to give a larger word, e.g. wai (water) and roa (long) are combined to give Wairoa. Try to recognise these morphemes (see the list of geographic expressions below) and pronounce the name by breaking it into its components.

For example:

Akatarawa 

is said A ka ta ra wa

Māori 

is said Maao-ri (Remember to have your tongue forward when you say the r, so that you make the flap sound).

Paraparaumu 

is said Pa-ra-pa-rau-mu (commonly mispronounced Pa-ra-pa-ra-u-mu)

Whangarei 

is said Fa nga rei (Fa nga ray)

Semantics

Māori word root combinations tend to have a major root subject followed by qualifier suffixes. This means a literal translation from Māori to English produces a lot of transposed word combinations.

For example:

• Rotorua → roto "lake" + rua "two" = "two lakes" (or perhaps second lake, as Ihenga discovered Rotoiti first).
• kaimoana → kai "food" + moana "sea" = "seafood".
• tangata pūhuruhuru → tangata "person" + pūhuruhuru "hairy" = "hairy person" (from Te Rauparaha's Ka Mate haka, one of two used by the All Blacks rugby team)

Māori pronouns have singular, dual and plural forms. Therefore pronouns varies depending on whether it refers to one, two, or three or more people:

• Kei te pai ahau. → I am fine. (one person)
• Kei te pai māua. → We are fine. (two people)
• Kei te pai mātou. → We are fine. (three or more people)

Phrase list

An ordinary traveller will not need to resort to speaking Māori to make themselves understood. However an understanding of Māori words and their meanings will lead to an appreciation of the culture and enhance the travel experience.

Māori take meetings and greetings seriously. Visitors and honoured guests will often be welcomed in a formal ceremony known as a pōwhiri. While such ceremonies generally take place on a marae, it has become accepted practice that such ceremonies may also take place at conferences, important meetings, and similar ceremonial occasions. On such formal occasions, protocol will normally mean that a representative or adviser who can speak Māori will be assigned to the visitors' party to assist and explain what is happening and may formally speak (whaikorero) to introduce the visitors.

Donation 

Koha

Basics

Hello (to one person) 

Tēnā koe (Teh-NAH kweh)

Hello (to two people) 

Tēnā kōrua (Teh-NAH KAW-roo-ah)

Hello (to a group of three or more) 

Tēnā koutou (Teh-NAH koh-toh)

Hello (informal) 

Kia ora (KEE aw-rah)

Welcome

Nau mai / Haere mai (HIGH-reh MIGH)

(often used together, e.g. Nau mai, haere mai ki Aotearoa. "Welcome to New Zealand".)

How are you? 

Kei te pēhea koe?

(Kei te pēhea kōrua? to two people, Kei te pēhea koutou? to three or more people)

Fine, thank you 

Kei te pai ahau.

What is your name? 

Ko wai tō ingoa?

My name is ______ 

Ko ______ tōku ingoa.

Please 

koa (Homai koa he kaputi = Give me a cup of tea, please )

Thank you 

kia ora

Yes 

āe

No 

kāore; kāo

Goodbye (to the person staying) 

E noho rā (Eh naw-haw RAH)

Goodbye (to the person going) 

Haere rā (HIGH-reh RAH)

Goodbye (informal) 

Hei konei rā

Do you speak English? 

Kei te kōrero reo Pākehā koe?

Good morning. 

Ata mārie

Good afternoon. 

Ahiahi mārie

Good night. 

Pō mārie

I don't understand

Kaore au i te orotau.

Where is the toilet? 

Kei hea te wharepaku?

Numbers

1 

tahi (tah-hee)

2 

rua (roo-ah)

3 

toru (taw-roo)

4 

whā (fah)

5 

rima (ree-ma)

6 

ono (o-naw)

7 

whitu (fih-too)

8 

waru (wah-roo)

9 

iwa (ee-wah)

10 

tekau (teh-koh)

11 

tekau ma tahi

12 

tekau ma rua

13 

tekau ma toru

14 

tekau ma whā

15 

tekau ma rima

16 

tekau ma ono

17 

tekau ma whitu

18 

tekau ma waru

19 

tekau ma iwa

20 

rua tekau

21 

rua tekau ma taki

22 

rua tekau ma rua

23 

rua tekau ma toru

30 

toru tekau

40 

whā tekau

50 

rima tekau

60 

ono tekau

70 

whitu tekau

80 

waru tekau

90 

iwa tekau

100 

kotahi rau

200 

rua rau

300 

toru rau

1000 

kotahi mano

2000 

rua mano

1,000,000 

kotahi miriona

1,000,000,000 

kotahi piriona

Time

morning 

ata

afternoon 

ahiahi

night 

maruāpō

Clock time

one o'clock AM 

kotahi karaka i te ata

two o'clock AM 

rua karaka i te ata

midday

poupoutanga o te rā

one o'clock PM 

kotahi karaka i te ahiahi

two o'clock PM 

rua karaka i te ahiahi

Duration

_____ day(s) 

_____ rā

_____ week(s) 

_____ wiki

_____ month(s) 

_____ marama

_____ year(s) 

_____ tau

Days

today 

tēnei rā

yesterday 

tērā rā

tomorrow 

āpōpō

Monday 

Rāhina / Mane

Tuesday 

Rātū / Turei

Wednesday 

Rāapa / Wenerei

Thursday 

Rāpare / Taite

Friday 

Rāmere / Paraire

Saturday 

Rāhoroi / Hatarei

Sunday 

Rātapu / Wiki

Months

January 

Kohitātea / Hanuere

February 

Hui-tanguru / Pēpuere

March 

Poutū-te-rangi / Maehe

April 

Pāenga-whāwhā / Āperira

May 

Haratua / Mei

June 

Pīpiri / Hune

July 

Hōngongoi / Hūrae

August 

Here-turi-kōkā / Ākuhata

September 

Mahuru / Hepetema

October 

Whiringa-ā-nuku / Ōketopa

November 

Whiringa-ā-rangi / Noema

December 

Hakihea / Tīhema

Writing times and dates

Time and dates in Māori follow the same order as New Zealand English, with the date first, the month second, and the year last.

Colours

black 

pango

white 

mā

grey 

kiwikiwi

red 

whero

blue 

kikorangi

yellow 

kōwhai

green 

kākāriki

orange

parakaraka

purple 

tawa

brown 

pākākā

Transport

Directions

Where is _____? 

Kei hea _____?

... the airport? 

te taunga rererangi?

... the train station? 

te teihana rerewē?

... the bus station? 

te teihana pahi?

left 

mauī

right 

katau / matau

north 

raki; tokerau

south 

tonga

east 

rāwhiti

west 

hauāuru; uru

Eating and drinking

I'm a vegetarian. 

He kaimanga ahau.
(careful with the vowel length - He kaimānga ahau means "I'm an invalid"!)

I don't eat pork. 

Kaore he mīti poaka i te kai.

I don't eat beef. 

Kaore he mīti kau i te kai.

breakfast 

parakuihi

lunch 

tina

dinner 

hapa

I want _____. 

He _____ aku hiahia.

chicken 

mīti heihei

beef 

mīti kau

fish 

ika

ham 

poaka whakapaoa

sausages 

tōtiti

cheese 

tīhi

eggs 

huamanu / hēki

salad 

huamata

(fresh) vegetables 

huawhenua

(fresh) fruit 

hua rākau

bread 

parāoa

toast 

tōhi

rice 

raihi

beans 

pīni

salt 

tote

black pepper 

pepa

sugar 

huka

butter 

pata

One (two) beer, please 

Homai koa (e rua) he pia.

A cup of tea, please

Homai koa he kaputī.

wine (red/white)

wāina (whero/mā)

coffee 

kawhe

orange juice 

wai ārani

milk 

waiū / miraka

water 

wai

Shopping

How much is it? 

He aha te utu?

dollar 

tāra

cent 

hēneti

Place names

New Zealand 

Aotearoa ("long white cloud")

North Island 

Te Ika-a-Māui ("the fish of Māui")

South Island 

Te Waipounamu ("the greenstone (jade) waters")'

Auckland 

Tāmaki-makau-rau ("Tāmaki of a thousand lovers")

Hamilton 

Kirikiriroa ("long stretch of gravel")

Rotorua 

Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamamoe ("the second great lake of Kahumatamamoe")

Wellington 

Te Whanganui-a-Tara ("the great harbour of Tara"); Te Upoko-o-te-Ika ("the head of the fish")

Christchurch 

Ōtautahi ("of Tautahi")

Mount Cook 

Aoraki ("cloud piercer")

Milford Sound 

Piopiotahi ("one piopio [New Zealand thrush]")

Stewart Island 

Rakiura ("glowing skies")

Glossary of Māori geographical terms translated into English

Knowing a little about these terms will help you to both pronounce the name and understand what it means.

ana 

cave

awa 

river, channel

hau 

wind

iti 

small

manga 

stream (e.g. Mangawhio: in South Taranaki = blue duck stream)

maunga 

mountain

moana 

sea, large lake (e.g. Waikaremoana: in the western Hawke's Bay region = sea of rippling water)

motu 

island

nga 

the (plural form)

nui 

big, great

one 

beach, sand, soil

kohatu 

rock

papa 

flat

poto 

short

puke 

hill (e.g. Te Puke: in the Bay of Plenty region = the hill)

rangi 

sky, heavens

roa 

long

roto 

lake (e.g. Rotoiti: in the Bay of Plenty region = small lake)

tai 

tide, sea

tangi 

weep, cry

tapu 

sacred

tara 

peak, ray of sunshine

te 

the (singular form)

toka 

rock

wera 

burning, burnt

whanga 

bay, harbour (e.g. Whanganui = big harbour)

whenua 

land

Many place names have been made tautological by Europeans adding a word which is already contained in the Māori name (example: Mount Maunganui = "Mount big mountain"). However, in recent years, there has been a trend for New Zealand English speakers to drop the English geographic qualifier and refer to many geographic features by their Māori names alone. Thus, Mount Ruapehu is often referred to simply as Ruapehu. In some cases, there has been a reversion to Māori names and outdated travel information may only use the old name. For example, Mount Egmont is now almost universally called Taranaki or Mount Taranaki and Mount Cook is now officially called Aoraki/Mount Cook; these are the original Māori names. In other cases the Māori name is followed by a pluralising s where the omitted English geographic term was plural. So the Rimutakas is used in place of the Rimutaka ranges. In conversation you may hear phrases like the Waikato or the Manawatu. In these cases the speaker is talking about either the river of that name or a district or region. For example, the Waikato will refer to either the Waikato river or the Waikato region, while Waikato (without the) would probably refer to the region, though this may need to be inferred from the context.

Learning more

Māori is taught in many places around New Zealand, often as a night class. Ask at the local information centre or citizens advice bureau. The Māori Language Commission also has a list of course providers.