Introduction to Te Reo Grammer

The first challenge for me as an English speaker learning Māori was that there is no word "is" (or "was") in Māori. I tended not to notice at first but as soon as I started to try and translate English to Māori, I noticed! What does "is" mean, anyway? Māori provides different sentence structures instead of using "to be".

The first, and most simple, structure I learned is a declarative sentence. In English, these statements always have an "is" in them. In Māori, they are called "ko" sentences because they always start with the word "ko". "Ko" cannot be translated back into English, but they can be thought of as a flag saying "this sentence is a declaration".

Ko sentences
Aoraki is the mountain	Ko Aoraki te maunga
You are the teacher	Ko koe te kaiako
You are the teacher	Ko te kaiako koe

When people mihi (formally introduce themselves) in Māori, they often start with a series of "ko" sentences like this as they whakapapa (trace their ancestry) back to where they come from.

Also in mihi, you will hear "nō" sentences. The word "nō" can be translated as "from", "of" or "belonging to".

It is simple and embarrasing to mix the "nō" and "ko" sentences up as I sometimes did when I was learning. "Ko Ōtautahi ahau" means "I am (called) Christchurch".

Also amongst the first things I learnt is that the noun does not change with plurals. Instead the article changes.

Plurals
The stick	Te rākau
The sticks	Ngārākau
My stick	Tāku rākau
My sticks	Āku rākau

Action sentences
I am sitting	Kei te noho au
I am sitting	E noho ana au

The two forms are equivalent, although I think various tribes may have a preference toward one form or another.

Tenses
I am running	Kei te oma au	(Present continuous)
I am running	E oma ana au	(Present continuous)
I will run	Ka oma au	(Future)
I ran	I oma au	(Past)
I have run	Kua oma au	(Past completed)

In English, different forms of the verb "to run" were used (running, run, ran). In Māori the verb oma (to run) is unchanged.

The forms "ka" and "e.. ana" can also be used for any tense where that tense has already been introduced. This can be useful in story telling to allow more variety in sentence structure.

Tenses
Yesterday, I walked to the shop.	Inanahi, ka hikoi ahau ki te toa.
I will walk to the shop, tomorrow.	E hikoi ana au ki te toa, apopo.

This is a very quick introduction for some of the concepts I have learned of Maaori grammar.

Vocab Used on this Page
Ahau	I, me
Āku	My (a-category, plural)
Apopo	Tomorrow
Au	I, me
Hikoi	To walk
Hone	John (transliteration)
Inanahi	Yesterday
Ki	To
Maunga	Mountain
Ngā	The (plural)
Noho	To sit
Oma	To run
Ōtautahi	Christchurch
Tāku	My (a-category, singular)
Te	The (singular)
Toa	Shop