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.
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.
- nowinaaianei
- right nowinaaianei tonu
- todayaakuanei
- "soon, presently, before long"aakuanei
- "soon, presently, in a little while"aakuaraa
- this dayteenei raa
- this morning (past)i te ata nei
- tomorrow"aapoopoo, aakengokengo"
- yesterday"inanahi, noonanahi"
- "earlier, before"i mua ake/atu
- just beforei mua tata atu
- "recently, just before""inakuanei, noonakuanei"
- immediately beforei mua tata tonu atu
- tonight (coming up)aa te poo (nei)
- this nightteenei poo
- last night"inapoo, noonapoo"
- this weekteenei wiki
- this afternoon (coming up)aa te ahiahi nei
- this afternoon (past)i teenei ahiahi
- this morning (past)i teenei ata
- last weeki teeraa wiki
- last monthi teeraa marama
- last yeari teeraa tau
- next weeka teeraa wiki
- next montha teeraa marama
- the day after tomorrowaatahiraa
- next yeara teeraa tau
- half an hour earlier / agoi 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 timei ngaa wa katoa
- everydayia raa ia raa
- in a minutei roto i te meneti
- in just a minutei roto i te meneti anake
- in 5 minutesi roto i te rima meneti
- "ever since, from long ago""mai raa anoo, mai raanoo"
- "long ago, long since"noa atu
- in past timesi 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
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
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:
- Āhea (when – future question word)
- + the subject (person or thing) +
- + e (or I’ve also seen ka or nothing here)
- + verb + ai
- + i or ki + extra information (if needed)
Can you translate these ‘āhea’ questions?
- Āhea koe e haere ai? When will you go?
- Āhea ia e haere ai? ______________________________
- Āhea a Maria e haere ai? ______________________________
- 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?
- Āpōpō au e haere ai. I’ll go tomorrow.
- Ākuanei ia e haere ai. ______________________________
- Ā tērā wiki a Maria e haere ai. ______________________________
- 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:
- Inahea (when? – past question word)
- + the subject (person or thing) +
- + i
- + verb + ai
- + i or ki + extra information (if needed)
Can you translate these ‘inanahi’ questions?
- Inahea koe i kai ai? When did you eat?
- Inahea ia i kai ai? ______________________________
- Inahea a Maria i kai ai? ______________________________
- 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?
- Inanahi au i kai ai. I ate yesterday.
- Inapō ia i kai ai. ______________________________
- Inatahirā a Maria i kai ai ______________________________
- 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 pihikete. Just now I ate the biscuits.
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