From Wikitravel

The Māori language is cherished by the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Māori, as a treasure and many Pākehā are now trying to learn it. Although it is an official language of New Zealand, along with English and Sign, few New Zealanders (and only a minority of Māori) can conduct a conversation in the Maori language. All indigenous Māori speakers are bilingual and converse in English competently.

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). Many New Zealanders have trouble with some Māori place names. 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.

[edit] Pronunciation Guide

The New Zealand Māori language (Maori: Te Reo Māori) is relatively simple to pronounce.

[edit] Vowels

Each of the vowels has a long and short form:

short a 

a as u in butt

long a 

ā as a in father

short e 

e as e in pen

long e 

ē as ai in pair

short i 

i as the second i in wiki (not like the first i in wiki)

long i 

ī as ee in feet

short o 

o as o in fort

long o 

ō as o in store

short u 

a shorter version of the long u sound, in most cases, but sometimes like the u in put.  In te reo Māori, there is no y sound like the sound of the y in youth, so if you encounter a word that beginnings in u, then it will start with the oo sound, and not the yoo sound.

long u 

ū as oo in boot

[edit] Macron usage

In written Māori, the long vowels are often denoted by macrons (bars over the letters) or whatever similar characters were available to the typesetter. Sometimes you will see words where a vowel letter is repeated. 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".

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. Road direction signs for Taupō (both the town and the lake) are now written as Taupō; whereas, prior to 2008, the macron, which should have been used, was missing.

[edit] Consonants

There are ten consonants in te reo Māori: h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w, wh and ng. The first eight are pronounced as in English, although the r is said with a flap, like the beginning of a roll. It's not a long roll like the 'r's in Spanish. If you imagine a roll is like a machine gun burst, then the flap is like a single shot from the same firearm. It starts like a roll does, but quickly moves on to the rest of the word.

ng is pronounced as the ng in sing; it does not contain a hard g sound.

In most parts of the country, wh is pronounced like an English f (as in feel or font or fin); however, there are dialectical differences. For some words, the Whanganui Iwi (tribe) pronounce wh (as you would for whale or where, with minimal breath expelled, so almost like the same sound as a w). The f sound is the usual pronunciation in most regions of the country, so stick with that unless you're told otherwise.

[edit] 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 Maa o 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 ra u mu

Whangarei 

is said Fa nga rei (Fa nga ray)

[edit] 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 and rua ⇒ two = two lakes (or perhaps 2nd lake, as Ihenga discovered Rotoiti first.
• Kaimoana → kai ⇒ food and moana ⇒ sea = seafood.

[edit] Phrase list

An ordinary traveler 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.

Donation 

Koha

[edit] Greetings

Māori take meetings and greetings seriously. Visitors and honored 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.

Hello (informal or answering the telephone) 

Kia ora

Hello (to one person) 

Tēnā koe

Hello (to two people) 

Tēnā kōrua

Hello (to a group of three or more) 

Tēnā koutou

Welcome 

Haere mai (Literally means Come towards the speaker)

How are you? 

Kei te pēhea koe?

I'm good 

Kei te pai ahau

I'm great 

Ka nui te ora (Literally Life's great)

What is your name? 

Ko wai tō ingoa? (i ngo a)

My name is ______ 

Ko ______ tōku ingoa

What is his/her name? 

Ko wai tana ingoa?

His/her name is ______ 

Ko ______ tana ingoa

Good-bye (to the person staying) 

E noho rā

Good-bye (to the person going)  

Haere rā (Ha e re raa)

[edit] Basics

Please 

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

Please 

Tenā (Tēnā homai he kaputi = Please give me a cup of tea)

Thank you 

kia ora (is pronounced kee-a o-ra) (Literally, this phrase means Be well. It is more often used as a greeting than as a way of saying Thank you. Remember to try to do the flap sound.

Yes 

ae

No 

kāore

Hello means tēnā koe Well being means Kia ora As there is no word for thank you, kia ora is used No is Kāhore for the Northland tribe Nga Puhi

[edit] Numbers

1 

Tahi (tar-hee)

2 

Rua (rew-ah)

3 

Toru (toh-rew)

4 

Whā (far)

5 

Rima (ree-ma)

6 

Ono (o-noh)

7 

Whitu (fee-too)

8 

Waru (waah-rew)

9 

Iwa (ee-wah)

10 

Tekau (teh-ko)

To say numbers higher than then you must say Tekau ma *number*

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

To say 20,30,40,50 - 90 you must say *number* Tekau E.G. 20 is Rua Tekau and 30 is Toru Tekau

If you want to say any numbers in between you must say *number* Tekau ma *number*

21 

Rua Tekau ma Tahi

32 

Toru Tekau ma Rua

43 

Whā Tekau ma Toru

And so on....

[edit] 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

iti 

small

manga 

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

maunga 

mountain

moana 

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

motu 

island

nga 

the (plural form)

nui 

big

one 

beach, sand, soil

kohatu 

rock

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)

rua 

two

tai 

tide, sea

tapu 

sacred

te 

the (singular form)

toka 

rock

wai 

water (e.g. Wairoa: in Taranaki = long water)

whanga 

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

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 often 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 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.

[edit] Learning more

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

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