Tēnā koutou - Hello everyone.

Thank you for joining me on my journey to learn Te Reo. Last Monday we looked at how to get bossy. I’ve been practising by telling my mokopuna: Hoihoi! Be quiet – you’re too noisy! and E kai! Eat up!

This week, we will take a look at commands that encourage people.

These kinds of commands encourage the person on the receiving end to achieve something. ‘Kia’ is the word used to show it is an encouraging command.

We’ve all heard Kia kaha! Be strong!

Other common encouragements include:

Kia tūpato!   Be careful!

Kia tere!   Be quick!

And one for the kids:

Kia tau!   Settle down!

Let’s look at some different ways of using commands. Last week we learned E oma! Run!

You can also describe the way you want someone to do something.

E oma!       Run! 

Kia tere te oma! Run fast!

A couple of commonly used encouragements that I can use include:

Kia kaha te mahi!   Work hard!

Tāria te wā!      Be patient!

Of course, there are times when you want to say DON’T do something. Just put the negative ‘Kaua e …’ in front of the verb you want to use.

Kaua e hoihoi!      Don’t be noisy!

Kaua e tatari!      Don’t wait!

Kaua e oma!      Don’t run!

Last week we learned: Pātai ki a ia! Ask him/her! The negative of that is Kaua e pātai ki a ia! Don’t ask him/her!

It’s pretty straightforward in terms of how you put it all together. I’m guessing it’s just going to take a lot of practise, and patience. 

Kia pai te wiki! Have a great week!

And if you want to know more, check out te wiki o te reo Māori here 

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