If somone asks you ‘Kei te pēhea koe?’, “E pēwhea ana koe? or sometimes if they’re from the East Coast area you may also hear ‘Kai te aha koe?’ – they are asking ‘How are you?’
To express how you feel at the moment, in te reo Māori, you can use the phrase
‘Kei te __________ ahau.
and just pop an emotion or feeling word in the gap (see the images at the bottom of the page for some to feelings and emotions to choose from).
If someone asks you ‘Kei te pēhea a ________? (with someone’s name in the gap, they are asking how someone else is. You can use the same sentence structure as your answer above, but just swap ‘ahau’ (I) for ‘ia’ (he, she).
‘Kei te __________ ia. S/he is __________
Sometimes you’ll want to ask how more than one person is – ie. you and so and so. There is a special way to say ‘and’ between people’s names in te reo Māori. Firstly you think about how many people total you are asking about and you choose the pronoun that matches that, put that first. ‘You’ is included so you don’t need to add a ‘koe’ as well.
Kōrua – you 2
Koutou – you 3 or more
And then you just put ‘ko’ in front of any personal names that follow.
Kei te pēhea kōrua ko Sam? How are you and Sam?
Kei te pēhea koutou ko Sam ko Abbey? How are you and Sam and Abbey?
And do the same if you’re answering.
Māua – us 2
Mātou – us 3 or more
Kei te ngenge māua ko Sam. (We) Sam and I are tired.
Kei te pōrearea mātou ko Sam ko Abbey. (We) Sam, Abbey and I are annoyed.
If you’re not including yourself or the person you’re speaking to, you’ll need to use ‘rāua’ or ‘rātou’ instead. This time put one person’s name first, then ‘rāua’ or ‘rātou’ depending on the total number of people you’re referring to, and again remember to put ‘ko’ in front of any names following the pronoun.
Rāua – them 2
Rātou – them 3 or more
Kei te pēhea a Sam rāua ko Abbey? How are (they) Sam and Abbey?
Kei te pēhea a Sam rātou ko Abbey ko Josephine? How are (they) Sam and Abbey and Josephine?
Kei te pai māua ko Pāora. Paul and I are fine.
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