Learn how to give commands and instructions in Te Reo Māori
NB The flashcard plugin I used here doesn’t recognize macrons so I’ve doubled any vowels that should be stressed, remember this means just to stress the syllable with that vowel, hold on to the syllable that has that vowel in it, don’t change the sound of the vowel as you would in English.
- E t u u !S t a n d u p !
- E n o h o !S i t d o w n !
- E m o e !G o t o s l e e p !
- E o h o !W a k e u p !
- E o m a !R u n !
- E k a r o !D o d g e !
- E i n u !D r i n k u p !
- E k a i !E a t u p !
- T i t i r o m a i !L o o k h e r e !
- T i t i r o a t u !L o o k o v e r t h e r e !
- T i t i r o k i t e k a i a k o !L o o k a t t h e t e a c h e r !
- H a e r e m a i ( k i k o n e i ) !C o m e h e r e !
- H a e r e a t u !G o a w a y !
- H a e r e k i w a h o !G o o u t s i d e !
- M a u r i a a t u !T a k e i t a w a y !
- H a r i a m a i !B r i n g i t h e r e !
- W a i h o k i r e i r a !L e a v e i t t h e r e !
- K a u a e p e n a a !D o n ' t d o t h a t !
- K a u a e t a n g i !D o n ' t c r y !
- T a i h o a !W a i t !
- M a r a n g a !G e t u p !
- W h a k a r o n g o !L i s t e n !
- K u h u m a i !E n t e r ! C o m e i n !
- H e k e i h o !G e t d o w n ! G e t o f f !
- P i k i a k e !C l i m b u p !
- H o k i a t u !G o b a c k !
- K i a k a h a !B e s t r o n g !
- K i a t u u p a t o !B e c a r e f u l !
- T a i h o a e o m a !D o n ' t r u n y e t !
- K a a t i t e t a n g i !S t o p c r y i n g !
- K a u a e p a t u a t e k u r i i !D o n ' t h i t t h e d o g !
- M e h a e r e k o e k i t e k a i n g a !Y o u s h o u l d g o h o m e !
- M e w h a k a r o n g o k o e k i t o o u w h a e a !Y o u s h o u l d l i s t e n t o y o u r a u n t y !
- P a t u a t e p o o r o !H i t t h e b a l l !
- P a t u a t e k i o r e !H i t ( k i l l ) t h e r a t !
- W h a n a i a t e p o o r o !K i c k t h e b a l l !
- K i a t o a !B e d e t e r m i n e d !
- K i a p a i !B e g o o d !
- K a h a e r e t a a u a k i t e t o a !L e t ' s g o t o t h e s h o p ! ( y o u a n d I )
- K a h a e r e t a a t o u k i t e t o a !L e t ' s a l l g o t o t h e s h o p !
- K a m o e t a a t o u !L e t ' s a l l g o t o s l e e p !
GRAMMAR NOTES:
1. To give commands or instructions using command words that have one long or two short vowels begin your command with the particle ‘e’.
E piki! Climb! E moe! Off to bed! E kai! Eat up!
1a. Once you add directional words such as mai (towards the speaker), atu (away from the speaker), iho ( downwards) or ake (upwards) to these commands the ‘e’ is omitted.
Piki ake! Climb up! Kuku mai! Come in! Heke iho! Get off!
2. If the command word has more than two vowels the ‘e’ prefix is not used.
Whakarongo! Listen! Taihoa! Wait! Haere mai! Come here!
3. If the command is encouraging someone to ‘be’ something, to enter a particular state, or condition or to have a particular quality then the command should begin with ‘kia’.
Be quick! Kia tere. Be strong! Kia kaha. Be careful! Kia tuupato!
4. Another way to deliver commands or instructions is to use the prefix ‘me’ which suggests that someone ‘should’ do something.
Me haere koe ki too kainga! You should go home!
5. Adding a passive ending to a verb is another way to issue a command. NB if the command is directed at a person using ‘i’ then you can’t use the passive ending. Eg Horoi i a koe. = Wash yourself. Not Horoia koe.
Whanaia te pooro! Kick the ball!
6. You can express a command as ‘let’s’ do something with ‘ka … taaua’ or ka … taatou’.
Ka haere taaua ki te toa! Let’s go to the shop! (2 incl speaker) Ka waiata taatou! Let’s sing! (3+ incl speaker)
7. Negative commands can be given using either ‘kaua e’ (don’t). ‘kaati’ (stop) or ‘taihoa e’ don’t …. yet.
Kaua e patua te kurii! Don’t hit the dog! Kaati tangi! Stop crying! Taihoa e oma! Don’t run yet!
