Māori: “We” ... Who?

Our destination is Aotearoa New Zealand, and the language we will meet is te reo Māori, the language of the Māori people.

It has an open, rhythmic sound. A small line above a vowel can completely change a word, and even the pronoun “we” needs to explain who belongs to the group.

In short, in te reo Māori, it is not enough to say:

“We are going.”

The language might reply:

“Who is ‘we’? You and me? Me and them? How many people? And, most importantly… am I invited?”

Māori or te reo Māori?

The word reo means “language” or “voice”. Te reo Māori can therefore be translated as “the Māori language”. It is often shortened to te reo, meaning “the language”.

Māori can refer to the people, their culture or their language. Originally, the word had meanings such as “normal”, “natural”, “common” or “ordinary”. After Europeans arrived, it also became a way to distinguish the original inhabitants from the newcomers.

It is important to write Māori with a macron over the ā. That small mark is not decoration: it means that the vowel is pronounced for longer.

So:

• Māori refers to the people, culture or language;

• te reo Māori specifically means “the Māori language”;

• Aotearoa is the Māori name for New Zealand.

Where does the Māori language come from?

Te reo Māori belongs to the large Austronesian language family, whose languages are spoken from Southeast Asia across vast areas of the Pacific Ocean.

More specifically, it is a Polynesian language, related to Tahitian, Cook Islands Māori and the languages of the Tuamotu Islands. It is also closely related to Moriori, the language of the Chatham Islands.

This means that similar words and structures can appear on islands very far from one another.

Languages do not need passports. They were travelling across the Pacific long before airports, wheeled suitcases and passengers who clap when the plane lands.

A small but precise alphabet

The Māori alphabet has fifteen basic units:

• five vowels: a, e, i, o, u;

• eight consonant letters: h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w;

• two digraphs: ng and wh.

A digraph is a pair of letters representing a single sound.

Ng sounds like the final sound in the English word “sing”, without an extra “g” sound. In Māori, it can also appear at the beginning of a word.

Wh is often pronounced much like English f, although pronunciation varies in some regions.

R is usually a short tap of the tongue, rather than the “r” sound used in most English accents.

The vowels have clear, fairly consistent sounds. For English speakers, this is a welcome change: the same written vowel does not keep changing its personality every three words!

There are regional differences, however. Some communities pronounce certain sounds differently, so it is always best to listen to Māori speakers rather than expect everyone across Aotearoa to sound exactly the same.

Watch the macron: you might order an armpit

Māori vowels can be short or long. A long vowel is normally marked with a macron:

ā, ē, ī, ō, ū

Vowel length can change the meaning of a word.

Here is a particularly useful example, especially if you plan to visit a cake shop:

• keke means “cake” and comes from the English word cake;

• kekē can mean “to creak”;

• kēkē means “armpit”.

So, if you want a cake, check those macrons carefully. Choosing a cake is complicated enough without having to explain that you did not mean to order an armpit with cream.

Māori uses macrons because the difference between short and long vowels can change both pronunciation and meaning.

How do you say “hello” in Māori?

The best-known expression is:

Kia ora!

It can mean “hello”, but it is also used to thank someone, offer good wishes or show approval. Its literal meaning is close to “be well” or “may you be healthy”.

It is a small expression that does several jobs. Basically, it is the Swiss Army knife of Māori greetings.

Some greetings also change according to the number of people you are speaking to:

Te reo Māori	English
Tēnā koe	Hello, to one person
Tēnā kōrua	Hello, to two people
Tēnā koutou	Hello, to three or more people
Kia ora	Hello, thank you, best wishes
Ka kite anō	See you again
Ka pai!	Good! Well done!
Kia kaha!	Be strong! Keep going!

Tēnā koe, tēnā kōrua and tēnā koutou can also be used to thank someone.

A language that wants to see the guest list

One of the most interesting features of te reo Māori is its pronoun system.

In English, we have:

• I;

• you;

• he, she or it;

• we;

• you, for more than one person too;

• they.

Māori makes some further distinctions.

It distinguishes between singular, dual and plural. This means it has special forms for talking about exactly two people.

Also, when we say “we”, we need to make clear whether the person listening is included or excluded:

Pronoun	Meaning
tāua	You and me: two people
māua	Me and one other person, but not you: two people
tātou	Me and the listener or listeners, in a group of three or more
mātou	Me and other people, but not the listener or listeners: three or more

Imagine Marco says to Laura:

“We are going out to eat.”

In English, Laura might still wonder whether she is invited.

In Māori, if the group has three or more people, choosing between tātou and mātou would immediately make that clear.

If Marco used the wrong pronoun, the argument would no longer be about grammar. It would be about someone booking a restaurant without Laura.

New Zealand's school curriculum also explains the dual forms and the distinction between inclusive and exclusive “we” in Māori.

First the action, then the person doing it

The basic Māori sentence order tends to be:

verb + subject + object

This is different from the usual English order: subject + verb + object.

For example:

Kei te ako au i te reo Māori.

This means:

“I am learning the Māori language.”

We can look at the sentence piece by piece:

• kei te introduces an action in progress;

• ako means “to learn” or “to study”;

• au means “I”;

• i te reo Māori identifies what is being learnt: the Māori language.

The sentence begins with the action: first we learn that someone is studying, then we find out who.

It is almost like walking into a room and hearing the words in this order:

“Is eating… Marco… the cake.”

That is not normal English, of course: it simply helps us imagine the word order. At least it gives us a few extra seconds to save the last slice!

Small words placed before the verb help express time and the type of action. Other sentences may have no verb equivalent to English “be”. Māori grammar does not copy English: it has its own way of organising information.

Words that reveal a way of seeing the world

Many Māori words have also become part of New Zealand English.

Te reo Māori	English
whānau	Extended family, family group
aroha	Love, affection, compassion
kai	Food
wai	Water
moana	Sea, ocean
maunga	Mountain
tamariki	Children
iwi	People, tribe
mana	Prestige, authority, influence
manaakitanga	Hospitality, care and generosity towards others

Translating these words with a single English term can be helpful, but it does not always tell the whole story.

For example, whānau does not only mean a family made up of parents and children. It can include a wider family network and, in some modern contexts, people who are very close even if they are not related.

Aroha also goes beyond a simple “love”: it can express deep affection, empathy, compassion and care for someone.

A language does not divide the world into the neat boxes of a bilingual dictionary. Sometimes a word opens a door, and behind that door we find a whole community.

Haka is not just “the rugby dance”

For many people, their first encounter with the Māori language comes through the haka performed before rugby matches.

But describing haka simply as a “war dance” is too narrow.

There are different haka connected to different occasions and communities. They can welcome guests, remember people, celebrate achievements, or express grief, unity, protest, identity or determination. They are performed at important events, weddings, funerals, welcome ceremonies, schools and cultural gatherings.

Body movements, facial expressions, rhythm and voice strengthen the message of the words. Haka is therefore not just a series of impressive movements with some text added: the words are a central part of the performance.

Even Ka Mate, made famous by the All Blacks, tells a particular story and is associated with Te Rauparaha, a chief of Ngāti Toa.

Copying a haka without understanding its context can turn something meaningful into a caricature. The best way to learn about it is to listen to people from the culture that created it.

From the main language to an endangered language

Before English became widespread, te reo Māori was the main language used in Aotearoa.

Colonisation, the movement of many families into cities and policies of assimilation caused a sharp decline. For a long time, the school system gave priority exclusively to English, and some Māori children were even punished for speaking their own language at school.

The consequences were dramatic.

In 1913, more than 90% of Māori schoolchildren spoke the language. By 1975, the figure had fallen below 5%.

When a language is no longer passed on to children, it does not only lose speakers. It risks losing an everyday connection between grandparents, parents and younger generations.

A revival that began with families

The recovery of te reo Māori did not happen by chance.

In 1972, Māori campaign groups presented Parliament with a petition signed by more than 30,000 people, calling for the language to be taught in schools.

In 1975, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week, began.

In 1982, the first kōhanga reo opened. Its name literally means “language nest”: a preschool immersion setting where children, families and elders could use te reo Māori together.

Immersion schools, university courses, radio stations and television programmes followed.

In 1987, te reo Māori was legally recognised as an official language of New Zealand.

Kōhanga reo show an important principle: saving a language takes more than keeping it in a book. People need places where they can use it to play, discuss things, tell stories, ask questions and grow.

A language needs grammar, but it also needs children who use it to ask:

“When are we eating?”

How many people speak te reo Māori today?

According to the 2023 census, 213,849 people reported that they spoke te reo Māori. It was the most widely spoken language in Aotearoa New Zealand after English.

This is an encouraging sign, and the number had increased since the previous census.

However, rising figures do not mean that every problem has been solved. There are big differences between knowing a few words, being able to hold a conversation and being able to pass the language naturally on to your children.

This is why we speak of language revitalisation: te reo Māori has returned to schools, media, music, sport, technology and public spaces, but its future still depends on real use within communities.

An old language that can talk about today

People sometimes think that an Indigenous language can only describe traditions, landscapes and life in the past.

In fact, te reo Māori constantly creates and adopts words to talk about the modern world.

It can be used to discuss science, politics, films, sport, phones, social media and space. There are news broadcasts, television programmes, apps, digital dictionaries and online content.

A living language is not a museum where nobody is allowed to move the objects.

It is more like a home people live in: it holds memories, but every day someone opens a window, moves a chair or asks where the phone charger has gone.

Why learn a few words in te reo Māori?

Learning a language does not mean taking someone else's culture as your own. It means approaching it with respect and accepting that you do not know everything.

Even a few words can help us:

• pronounce people's names and place names correctly;

• understand the history of Aotearoa better;

• recognise concepts that do not match English ones exactly;

• discover a different way of organising a sentence;

• understand that a language can regain its place after being put at risk.

Above all, te reo Māori teaches us that a language lives when people choose to use it together.

Perhaps that is why it has so many ways to say “we”.

Before speaking, it wants to know who is there, who is listening and who might be left out.

The Cassano Academy challenge

This week, try three things:

1. Say Māori slowly, making the first vowel longer.

2. Greet one person with tēnā koe and two people with tēnā kōrua.

3. Explain the difference between tātou and mātou.

And if someone asks why you are studying a language spoken on the other side of the world, you can answer:

Kei te ako au i te reo Māori.

I am learning te reo Māori.

Or you can simply say:

Kia ora!

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