It was great to hear so many people trying te reo through the week.

It seems a lot of us are giving Te Reo a go. It was wonderful to hear Kia ora! and Mā te wā! when I was out and about - and wonderful to hear your feedback.

A word on pronunciation

One of the comments I got during the week, was that it would be good to know how to pronounce words properly.

I met up with a wonderful friend for coffee - she is well-known to many of our school students as Whaea Mary-Anne. As she talked, I reflected on how lovely it was to hear te reo Māori as it should be spoken. I resolved to focus on better pronunciation of words. (Continue reading below)

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There is a wonderful online Māori dictionary, I will put the link at the end of the article. If you type in a word and click the speaker icon, you can hear it spoken. I use this website all the time.

I have found the key to correct pronunciation is to master the sounds of the five vowels: a, e, i, o and u. 

a is pronounced as in the English word cut

e is pronounced as in the English word egg

i is pronounced as in the English word key

o is pronounced as in the English word paw

u is pronounced as in the English word shoo

Each vowel can also have a long sound, this is when you see a macron or line over the vowel, as in Māori.

ā is pronounced as in the English car

ē is pronounced as in the English pear

ī is pronounced as in the English eel

ō is pronounced as in the English pour

ū is pronounced as in the English roof

How are you?

After saying Kia ora! , the first question you probably want to ask someone is ‘Kei te pēhea koe?’ or ‘How are you?’ 

Te reo expert Scotty Morrison says we might hear differences in dialect, but ‘Kei te pēhea koe?’ seems to be pretty universal.

Just as when you say hello, do a quick count of how many people you are talking to. Use koe for one person, kōrua if you’re asking two people how they are, or koutou for three or more people in a group.

Most people will respond with ‘Kei te pai’, ‘I am well’, but there are other responses you can use to describe how you are feeling.

Kei te tino pai - I am very well.

Kāore i te tino pai - I am not very well.

Kei te hiakai - I am hungry.

And there are some more colloquial-style responses that Scotty Morrison uses in his videos and podcasts:

Hēoi ano - So-so

Te mutunga kē mai o te pai! - Couldn’t be better!

Each day this week, I am going to pick one phrase and just use it.

So, keep practising with me this week. It doesn’t have to be perfect - you’ve just got to give it a try.

Check out the Māori dictionary here