Te Reo Māori – Asking ‘when’ something will happen using āhea (future) and inahea (past)

Te Reo Māori – Words To Do With Time Periods – Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday

Would you like some practice using words to do with time periods in Te Reo Māori, like today, yesterday, tomorrow?

Well I hope that these flashcards and the exercise below will help you to learn and practice these very useful words.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Unlike English, te reo Māori uses different words for ‘when’ to talk about past time and future time.  For example if you want to talk about this afternoon if it hasn’t happened yet it will be ‘ā te ahiahi nei’ but if you mean ‘this afternoon’ or ‘the afternoon’ that has passed it would be ‘i te ahiahi nei’

 

Watch out for time words beginning with ‘ā‘ as that give you a clue that they refer to a future time, whereas time words beginning with ‘i’ o r ‘nō’ refer to a past time.

Positive, Motivational, Calligraphy

As the flash card program won’t recognize macrons, where a vowel should be stressed I’ve doubled the vowel to help with pronunciation.  But remember not to change the sound of the vowel, just hold on to the syllable that it appears in for a bit longer.

  • now
    inaaianei
  • right now
    inaaianei tonu
  • today
    aakuanei
  • "soon, presently, before long"
    aakuanei
  • "soon, presently, in a little while"
    aakuaraa
  • this day
    teenei raa
  • this morning (past)
    i te ata nei
  • tomorrow
    "aapoopoo, aakengokengo"
  • yesterday
    "inanahi, noonanahi"
  • "earlier, before"
    i mua ake/atu
  • just before
    i mua tata atu
  • "recently, just before"
    "inakuanei, noonakuanei"
  • immediately before
    i mua tata tonu atu
  • tonight (coming up)
    aa te poo (nei)
  • this night
    teenei poo
  • last night
    "inapoo, noonapoo"
  • this week
    teenei wiki
  • this afternoon (coming up)
    aa te ahiahi nei
  • this afternoon (past)
    i teenei ahiahi
  • this morning (past)
    i teenei ata
  • last week
    i teeraa wiki
  • last month
    i teeraa marama
  • last year
    i teeraa tau
  • next week
    a teeraa wiki
  • next month
    a teeraa marama
  • the day after tomorrow
    aatahiraa
  • next year
    a teeraa tau
  • half an hour earlier / ago
    i te hawhe haora i mua atu (o)
  • "these days, contemporary times"
    o muri nei
  • later (on)
    a muri mai
  • "forever, eternity"
    "ake tonu atu, ake ake"
  • all the time
    i ngaa wa katoa
  • everyday
    ia raa ia raa
  • in a minute
    i roto i te meneti
  • in just a minute
    i roto i te meneti anake
  • in 5 minutes
    i roto i te rima meneti
  • "ever since, from long ago"
    "mai raa anoo, mai raanoo"
  • "long ago, long since"
    noa atu
  • in past times
    i ngaa waa oo mua

 

2. Match up the correct future time words in te reo Māori to their English equivalents.

Look out for ‘ā’ at the beginning of the words = future time

Feel free to use the dictionary if you need to: https://maoridictionary.co.nz/

 

 

 

Āke tonu atu, ake ake                                                     Now

Ināianei                                                                             Tomorrow

Ā muri ake                                                                        Tonight

Ā tērā tau                                                                          Later

Ā tērā marama                                                                 Next year

Āpōpō, ākengokengo                                                      This afternoon

Ā te pō                                                                                Soon

Ā te ahiahi nei                                                                  The day after tomorrow

Ākuanei, Ākuarā                                                              Forever, eternity

Ātahirā                                                                               Next month

Ā tērā wiki                                                                         Next week

 

Show spoiler
now: ināianei, soon: ākuanei, ākuarā, later: ā muri ake, this afternoon:  ā te ahiahi nei, tomorrow: āpōpō, ākengokengo, tonight: ā te pō, day after tomorow: ātahirā, next week: ā tērā wiki, next month: ā tērā marama,   next year: ā tērā tau, forever / eternity: āke tonu atu, ake ake

 

 

2. Match up the correct past time words in te reo Māori to their English equivalents. 

Feel free to use the dictionary if you need to: https://maoridictionary.co.nz/

 

Look out for ‘i’ or ‘nō’  at the beginning of the words = past time.

 

Inapō, nōnapō                                                                          Before

I te ata nei                                                                                 Yesterday

Ināianei                                                                                      Last night

Inānahi, nōnanahi                                                                   Of ancient times

I mua ake                                                                                   Last year

I tērā wiki                                                                                   Now, immediately

I tērā tau                                                                                     Last week

Inatahirā                                                                                    This morning (past)

Inakuanei, nōnakuanei                                                           Just before

O nehe                                                                                        The day before yesterday

 

Show spoiler
Now, immediately, ināianei, Just before:  Inakuanei, nōnakuanei, i mua ake tonu, Before: I mua ake, This morning (past): I tēnei ata, i te ata nei, Last night: Inapō, nōnapō, Yesterday: Inānahi, nōnanahi, The day before yesterday: Inatahirā, Last week: I tērā wiki, Last year: I tērā tau, Of ancient times: o nehe

 

 

Mahi Kāinga – Homework

 

Let’s practice with sentences using ‘āhea’ (when for the future) and ‘inahea’ (when for the past):

 

For ‘āhea’ questions about a future time, this is the structure:

 

  1. Āhea (when – future question word)
  2. + the subject (person or thing) +
  3. + e (or I’ve also seen ka or nothing here)
  4. + verb + ai
  5. + i or ki + extra information (if needed)

 

Can you translate these ‘āhea’ questions?

 

  1. Āhea koe e haere ai? When will you go?
  2. Āhea ia e haere ai?             ______________________________
  3. Āhea a Maria e haere ai? ______________________________
  4. Āhea te kurī e haere ai? ______________________________

 

 

And for answering you just swap out the question word for the future time word  (which usually starts with ā)

 

Can you give the answers?

 

  1. Āpōpō au e haere ai.                         I’ll go tomorrow.
  2. Ākuanei ia e haere ai.             ______________________________
  3. Ā tērā wiki a Maria e haere ai. ______________________________
  4. Ā muri ake te kurī e haere ai. ______________________________

 

 

Now if you’re feeling really confident why not try to make a couple of ‘āhea’ questions and answers of your own?

 

Āhea ngā tamariki e haere ai ki te kura.  When will the children go to school?

Ākuanei ngā tamariki e haere ai ki te kura.  Soon the children will go to school.

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For ‘inahea’ questions about a past time, you will need to use this structure:

 

  1. Inahea (when? – past question word)
  2. + the subject (person or thing) +
  3. + i
  4. + verb + ai
  5. + i or ki + extra information (if needed)

 

Can you translate these ‘inanahi’ questions?

 

  1. Inahea koe i kai ai? When did you eat?
  2. Inahea ia i kai ai?             ______________________________
  3. Inahea a Maria i kai ai? ______________________________
  4. Inahea te kurī i kai ai? ______________________________

 

 

And for answering you just swap out the question word for the future time word  (which usually starts with i or nō)

 

Can you give the answers?

 

  1. Inanahi au i kai ai.             I ate yesterday.
  2. Inapō ia i kai ai.                         ______________________________
  3. Inatahirā a Maria i kai ai             ______________________________
  4. Inakuanei te kurī i kai ai. ______________________________

 

 

Now if you’re feeling really confident why not try to make some ‘inahea’ questions and answers of your own?

 

Inahea koe i kai ai i ngā pihikete?   When did you eat the biscuits?

Ināianei tonu ahau i kai ai i ngā pihiketeJust now I ate the biscuits.

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