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A Few Maori Expressions

by Saaropean

Welcome / Enter! = Haere mai / Nau mai
Hi! / G’day! = Kia ora
Good-bye! = E haere rā, less formal Hei konā rā
How are you? (to 1/2/more persons) = Kei te pehea koe / korua / koutou or E pehea ana koe / korua / koutou

Look! = titiro
Listen! = whakarongo
Where is the …? = Kei whea te…?
Be careful! = kia tūpato
What is that? = He aha tēnā?
OK, good = kei te pai

yes = āe
no = kao / kaore
maybe = tera pea

The Māori language is a treasure = He taonga te reo


A few Māori proverbs:

E iti noa ana, na te aroha – Though my present be small, my love goes with it

Nau te rourou naku te rourou – Your basket and my basket

Kia mau ki to Maoritanga – Hold fast to your Maori Culture

I kakano ahau, ruia mai i Rangiatea – I am a seed, scattered from Rangiatea

Toku reo toku ohooho – My Language, my awakening

He kai a te rangatira he korero – The food of a chief is talk

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa – Let us keep close together, not wide apart

He aha te mea nui o te Ao. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata – What is the greatest thing of the world? People, people, people

Waiho ma te tangata e mihi – Let someone else acknowledge your virtues

Kia mau koe ki te kupu a tou matua – Hold fast to the words of your parent

Ahakoa iti, he pounamu – Although it is small, it is of greenstone

Whaia e koe ki te iti kahurangi; ki te tuohu koe, me maunga teitei – Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain

Noku te whenua, o oku tupuna – The land is mine, inherited from my ancestors

Toitu he whenua, whatungarongaro he tangata – The land is permanent, man disappears

He reo kihikihi – The cicada language

He toa taumata rau – Bravery has many resting places

Me he manu motu i te mahanga – Like a bird escaped from a snare

Aroha mai, aroha atu – Love towards us, love going out from us

Toku toa, he toa rangatira – My bravery is inherited from the chiefs who were my forebears

Me te koteo mau kupenga – Like the post to which the net is attached

Te toka tu moana – The rock standing in the ocean

He iti, he iti kahikatoa – Though little, it is still a Manuka tree

He iti te toki e rite ana ki te tangata – A little adze can do as much work as a man

Originally published in Babel Babble