Māori Grammar

All 501 Grammar Rules

1. A and o categories intro - a, o

2. A chair to sit on is o category, if you make the chair is it a category - a, o

3. A sentence with no subject - kei te kai i te tina

4. A strong or emphatic negative. - Nō hea, nō whea

5. ā to indicate the future - ā

6. About someone - mōku, mōu, mōna...

7. About, approximately - tōna; āhua; pea

8. Above, underneath, outside of - runga ake, raro iho, waho atu, roto atu

9. Absolutely don't - kaua rawa!

10. Absolutely! - ehara ehara!

11. According to... - E ai ki.../E ai ki tā... /Ki tā

12. Accordingly, as a result - heoi (anō)

13. Achieved the state of... - kua...

14. Actually - kē

15. Adding another description of the same person or thing - ki … ki …; ko … ko …

16. Adectives after a noun

17. Adjectives (statives)

18. adjectives used as nouns - te pai

19. Adverbs - slowly, happily

20. After that... - i muri

21. Afterwards, shortly after, much later - nō muri mai, nō muri tata mai, nō muri noa mai

22. Again - anō

23. Agreeing, disagreeing with a negative question - āe, kao

24. Ai at the end of a sentence - ai

25. Alike in what way? - rite pēwhea nei?

26. All - katoa

27. All of a sudden - Mea ake

28. All we have to do... - heoi anō tā tātou... he...

29. Allowed to do something - āhei

30. Almost/just about - kua/i tata...

31. Also - hoki

32. Ana without e - ana

33. And abrupt siggestion with tātoy in a reversed order sentence - tātou

34. And also, moreover - ...ka mutu

35. And others - mā

36. And so on, et cetera - ki hea, ki hea; ko wai atu

37. And then... - ka... ai

38. And then... - kātahi ka...

39. Another, a different - tētahi atu

40. Answering a question using the same sentence structure

41. Answering this with that (but not today) - tēnei -> tēna tēna -> tēnei tēnei rā -> tēnei rā

42. Answering when (in the future)

43. Answering when (in the past)

44. Anything in a negative sentence - … i te aha

45. As a result - me te aha

46. As though, as if - me te mea nei

47. Asking 'are you a...?' - He... ?

48. Asking 'when was?' When did something happen? - Nōnahea, inahea

49. Asking 'when' with ai - ā hea... ai?

50. Asking who - i... wai? ka... wai?

51. Asking who - Ko wai...?

52. Aspect markers

53. At least; better than nothing - mā te aha

54. Away - atu

55. Be careful! - Kia tūpato!

56. Be careful... lest! - kia... kei...

57. Be waited for - tāria

58. Because - he... nō...

59. Because - nō te... ai

60. Because - nōnā

61. Because - i te...

62. Behold! - anā

63. Being afraid or worried that … - kei …

64. Being afraid something might not happen - kei kore … e …

65. Being in a resulting state - ma-

66. Belonging to a place - nō

67. Belonging to a time with derived nouns - nō te...

68. Belonging to the past - nō

69. Bigg's nucleus - *

70. By means of - ki

71. By what route or transport? - mā hea … ai

72. Called, named - hua, tapa, kī; ko, he

73. Carefully - āta

74. Categorizing sentences - he

75. Certainly, almost certainly, no doubt - Kāore e kore

76. Colours

77. Combining words to make a new word (compounds) - wharenui; Rātapu; manawanui

78. Command with e! - e!

79. Commands using the passive - Tāpirihia, Tīkina...

80. Commands with body parts - titiro!

81. Commands without e or the passive - Homai! Whakarongo!

82. Comparatives (better than...) - pai ake...

83. Complex phrases (the good woman; running quickly)

84. Complex sentences with multiple constituents

85. Complex sentences with subordinate clauses - nei, na, ra, ai

86. Complex stative sentences (the bread has all been consumed (by eating))

87. Conjuctions - because - nā te mea

88. Conjunctions - and - ā

89. Conjunctions - but - engari

90. Conjunctions - however - otirā

91. Conjunctions - on the other hand, however - heoi anō

92. Continuous agent emphatic - Nō... e...ana

93. Could you please make me... - Tēnā mahia mai he... māku.

94. Counting 1-10

95. Counting over ten

96. Days, Weeks, Months and Years - *

97. Decimals - ira

98. Declarative sentences

99. Definitives - te, ngā, tā, tō, tēnei...

100. Describing classes of things (horses are swift) - te

101. Determiners intro (articles, possessive particles, t-class particles)

102. Did not - kore... ai

103. different - kē

104. Different from... - rerekē

105. Direct objects

106. Direction - ...ai

107. Direction markers - mai, atu, ake, iho

108. Direction markers with adverbs - tonu mai, kā atu, rawa mai...

109. Discourse markers - although - ahakoa

110. Do you have any...? - He... ?

111. Do you not have any? - Kāore āu...

112. Does not have to; there is no obligation - ehara i te mea me …; hei aha … ai

113. Doing something a specified number of times - e toru aku haerenga

114. Doing something to one another - tau-

115. Doing something while going with haere - haere

116. Don't even think about... - kei noho... ka...

117. Don't... just yet! - Taihoa... e

118. Down - iho

119. e as a particle of address - e

120. E without ena for future time - e

121. Each - ia

122. Each other, one another - tētahi ki tētahi; tētahi i tētahi; tētahi mō tētahi

123. Established possession - nāku, nōku...

124. Everything in the o category - o

125. exactly (with numbers) - pū ānō

126. Exclamations - Hā! Ēhara! Taihoa! Aue!

127. Expressing a wish with ki te and kia - hiahia ki te, hiahia kia

128. Family relationships - brother to a girl - tungāne

129. Family relationships - father - papa

130. Family relationships - mother - mama, whaea

131. Family relationships - older sibling of the same sex - tuakana

132. Family relationships - oldest - mātāmua

133. Family relationships - parents - matua, mātua

134. Family relationships - sister to a boy - tamahine

135. Family relationships - younger sibling of the same sex - teina

136. Family relationships - youngest - pōtiki

137. far side, near side - kō atu, kō mai

138. First - mātua

139. Food wanting, food sick - hiakai, hiamoe

140. For a period of time - mō te …

141. For the purpose of - hei

142. For what reason? - nā te aha ai?

143. Fortunately; thanks to someone being there - me kore ake …

144. Fractions - hau-; haurua; hauwhā

145. Freely - noa

146. Frequently, often - auau

147. Future agent emphatic - māku

148. Future categorising sentences - hei

149. Future locative - hei

150. Gerund phrases (fence building, bread baking, dishes washing...) - tunu parāoa...

151. Greetings - Tēnā koe, tēnā koutou

152. Habitual action - ai

153. Has just... - kātahi anō...

154. Have been doing something for a long time - kua roa … e … ana

155. Having something - whai; whairawa; whai tikanga

156. Having something with you - kei a …; i a …

157. He meaning a or some - he

158. Hei for future location in time - hei

159. here, there by you with ko... - kō ,konei, tonā, korā

160. Horses can be in the a or the o category - a, o

161. How are you? - Kei te pehea koe?

162. How is...? - E pēwhea ana, he pēwhea?

163. How long? - e hia tō … roa; pēhea te roa …

164. How many are needed? - Kia hia

165. How many are there? - E hia? Tokohia?

166. How... - tō... hoki, te hoki

167. How? - Me pēhea?

168. I am able... - Ka taea e...

169. i and e in active and passive sentences - i, e

170. I and ki overview - i, ki

171. I don't like... - Ehara... i te pai...

172. I have no... - Kāore aku...

173. I have... (possesion) - he... aku

174. I like... - He pai ki a au...

175. I thought mistakenly - pohēhē

176. I thought mistakenly - Pēnei au...

177. I was forced to... - ...mate... ki...

178. Identifying the agent in a passive sentencre - e

179. Identity sentences - ko...

180. Idioms of time - i te atapō...

181. Idioms with locatives - i muri iho, ki roto...

182. If - ka... ana

183. If (using mehemea) - mehemea, mehe, mēnā

184. If and when - e or e ka

185. If not... - ki te kore...

186. If there were not - Mehemea kāore (he)

187. If using ki or mehemea - ki, mehemea

188. If... (using me) - me

189. If... then.. - ko... ko...

190. In case... - kei

191. In order not to... - kia... kore ai

192. In order to - kia... ai

193. In order to - he aha ai

194. In order to - kia... (without ai)

195. In, on, by, under... - kei runga...

196. Indeed - koa

197. Intensifier - rawa

198. intensifier - tino

199. Intensifier - ia

200. Intensives - 'anō’, ‘hoki’, ‘rā’, and ‘tonu'

201. Interjections - kātahi anō, e hoa! inana

202. Interrogatives (asking questions)

203. Into - ki roto

204. Intransitive verbs

205. Irregular adverbs that precede the verb - mātua, āta, āhua

206. Is it OK if... ? - Ka pai taku...?

207. Isn’t it? Don’t they? - nē; nē rā; nē hā

208. It carried on like this... - Pēnei tonu...

209. It is becoming... - E... haere ana

210. It is easy or difficult to do something - he māmā te …; he uaua te …

211. It is nothing; it does not matter - ehara i te aha

212. It looks as though - te āhua nei

213. It was as if - ānō nei

214. It won't be long before... - kāore e roa...; kāori i roa...

215. Just that, nothing more - noa iho

216. Ka used to indicate the past - ka

217. Kāhore as a negation - kāhore

218. Kei te versus he (temporarl versus characteristic) - kei te, he

219. Kei... - Don't...

220. Ki before the second verb (to do something) - ki

221. Kia for second verb after a passive - kia

222. Kia... ai with passives - Kia ai

223. Kia... ai with statives - kia... ai

224. Kite takes kia rather than ki - kia

225. Kīwaha

226. ko as a noun emphatic - ko

227. ko versus he - the difference between a ko a d a he sentence - ko, he

228. Last week, last month, last year - tērā

229. Let there be a certain amount - kia

230. Let there be... - kia...

231. Like this, like that - pēnei, pēna, pēra

232. Locatives - runga, raro, rōto, waho...

233. Locatives - kei, i, hei

234. Locatives (at the moment, something is somewhere) - kei te

235. Locatives - past (something was somewhere) - i te

236. Locatives as the subject preceeded by a - a waho (outside)

237. Locatives: in front and bedind, past and future - mua, muri

238. Locatives: left and right, above and under - raro, maui

239. Lucky, fortunate - nōku te whiwhi

240. Mau

241. Mea (so-and-so)

242. Mild imperatives (You should be...) - kia

243. Mood

244. Mora

245. Negate anything - ehara i te mea...

246. Negating adjectives - kāhore, kore

247. Negating counting people - Kāore e toko...

248. Negating counting things - Kāore e...

249. Negating future categorising sentences - hei

250. Negating future locatives - Kāore... hei...

251. Negating he with characteristic - Kāore

252. Negating māku possessives - ehara... mā...; ehara... mā

253. Negating nāku possessives - Ehara i...

254. Negating passive sentences - Kāore... e...

255. Negating possession with ehara - Ehara

256. Negating possession with Kāhore - Kāhore

257. Negating statives - kāore i... i ahau...

258. Negating t possessives - kāore i a...

259. Negating the future agent emphatic - ehara mā..

260. Negating the inceptive tense with ka - e kore... e

261. Negating the past agent emphatic - ehara i...

262. Negation of locatives - kāore...

263. Negations

264. Negations - kīhai

265. Negations of 'me' - We shouldn't... - Kaua... (passive) e...

266. Negations of e... ana... sentences - kāore... e... ana...

267. Negations of identity sentences - ehara...

268. Negations of kua (I haven't yet...) - Kāore ano... kia...

269. Negations of the future (I will not go) - Kāore... e...

270. Negations of the past tense - Kāore... i...

271. Negations of the past tense - Kāore... i te...

272. Negations of the present tense (I am not working) - Kāore... i te...

273. Negative active commands - Don't! - Kaua e..., kāti...

274. Negative passive commands (Don't be...) - Kaua... e...

275. Negative questions - Ehara rānei?

276. Negative tē - tē

277. Neutral plural possessives - aku, ō and ana

278. Never mind the... No worries! - Hei aha te..., Kia ahatia!

279. No i when using commands with the passive

280. No longer; not going to after all - kua kore … e …

281. No sweat to you... - Mō te... he painga i a koe...

282. Nominaliztion, noun endings - -nga

283. Not allowed - kāore... e āhei

284. Not here - kāore i konei

285. Not that - kaua ko.. tēnei, tēnā, tērā

286. Not to, not with, not against - ...kaua ki...

287. Not with someone, not at a place - kaua i...

288. Nothing could be done - kāore i taea te pēhea

289. Nouns

290. Now (interjection) - nā

291. Numbering people - tokorua, tokotahi...

292. Numbering things - e rua, e toru...

293. Numbers: taki the distributive prefix (in groups of) - taki-

294. o category for friends, a category for partners - a, o

295. o category: house and home - o

296. o category: parents and superiors - o

297. o category: things associated with the body - o

298. o category: water and medicine - o

299. Of using ā - waiata-ā-ringa = action songs

300. Of using nā/nō - nā, nō

301. On the other hand - Ke atu

302. One of, some of - tētahi o …; ētahi o …

303. Only - anake

304. Or... - ...rānei

305. Ordinal numbers (First, second, third...) - tuatahi, tuarua...

306. Other - atu

307. Over there - āra

308. Particles in the postposed perophery - rawa, tonu, kē, noa, pea, koa

309. Particles overview

310. Passive agreement

311. Passive sentences - tikina...

312. Past - specifying a particular time - i te

313. Past agent emphatic - nā - agent emphatic

314. Perhaps - Tērā pea

315. Personal Pronouns

316. Personals

317. Placenames - kei Pōneke

318. Plural possessive pronouns - a, o

319. Possessives - 'a' class - ā, tāku...

320. Possessives - 'o' class - ō, tōku...

321. Possessives - belong to him or her - tōna, tāna

322. Possessives - belonging to us, them, you all - tā rātou, tō mātou, tā koutou...

323. Possessives - m and n class overview - mā, nā, mō, nō

324. Possessives - neuter - taku, tō...

325. Prepositions - ko, me, ma, ki, i...

326. Price of things, money - He aha te utu o

327. Pronouns - dual - kōrua

328. Pronouns - dual - rāua

329. Pronouns - dual, exclusive of listener - māua

330. Pronouns - dual, inclusive of listener - tāua

331. Pronouns - plural - koutou

332. Pronouns - plural - rātou

333. Pronouns - plural, exclusive of listener - mātou

334. Pronouns - plural, inclusive of listener - tātou

335. Pronouns - singular - koe

336. Pronouns - singular - au, ahau

337. Pronouns - singular - ia

338. Questions with intonation

339. Reduplication - mate, mamate, matamate

340. Reflexive pronouns - ake, ki a ia

341. Reflexive-Intensive Pronouns and Possessive Pronouns - anō, ake

342. Refusing to do something - Kāore a Hōne mō te haere

343. Reporting whether something is true - mehemea; āe rānei … kāore rānei

344. Reporting who, where or what someone asked - pātai; wai, hea, aha

345. Saying - kī, mea

346. Saying goodbye - Haere rā! E noho rā!

347. Seeing that (reason for an action) - inā hoki

348. Sentences with a subclause - e... ana

349. Sentences with a subclause i or kua - i, kua

350. Sentences with a subclause kei te, i te - kei te, i te

351. Sentences with i - i

352. Sentences with ki - ki

353. Sentences with parts missing in casual conversation

354. Sentences with two possessives - a, o

355. Serves you right! - kaitoa

356. Should with a passive 'e' - me... e...

357. Simple possessives - a and o

358. Simple sentences - present tense with an adjective - kei te

359. Simple sentences with a noun + adjectiive

360. Simple sentences with a subject

361. Simple sentences: future tense - ka

362. Simple sentences: past completed tense - kua

363. Simple sentences: past tense - i te

364. Simple sentences: past tense - i

365. Simple sentences: present tense - e... ana

366. Simple sentences: present tense with a verb - kei te

367. Simple sentences: you should - me

368. So something can happen... - ...e taea ai hoki tērā...

369. So that something can happen for someone else - kia

370. Some - tētahi, ētahi

371. Soon afterwards - muri iho

372. Specifically - ai

373. Stating and reaching an age - tau; pakeke; ka

374. Statives - mate, ngaro, mau...

375. Statives with 'i' - i a, i te, i ngā

376. Statives with whaka-

377. Stopping an activity - mutu …

378. Strong assertions - koia tērā! koia nei!

379. Subclause after a possessive - He aha tā rātou e hiahia ana?

380. t possessives - tāku, tōku

381. Talking about more than one person - ...rāua ko..., rātou ko...

382. Talking about you and other poeple - māua ko, mātou ko

383. tātahi - at the beach as a locative - tātahi

384. Telling time - kara

385. Tense markers - ka, i, kua, kia, me, e kai

386. That (near you) - tēnā, te... nā

387. That (over there) - tērā

388. That aforementioned thing - taua, aua

389. That is to say - arā

390. That's the reason... - koirā te take...

391. The article - te, ngā, he

392. The causative prefix - whaka-

393. The day before yesterday, etc - inatahīrā, inaoake...

394. The predicate

395. The prefix kai- - kai

396. The pseudo-passive - he mea...

397. The reason for an action - hei

398. The reason for an action - ...ai.

399. The reason why something happened - nā... i... ai

400. The reason why something is happeneing - nā... e... nei

401. The reason why something will happen - mā... e... ai

402. The use of 'e' - e

403. There is no... - Kāhore he...

404. There is, there are - he …

405. There was - tērā

406. there wasn't any... absolutely no... - Kāore kau...

407. There were lots of... - te maha a te...

408. There's no one better than... - Kāore i...

409. There, at the previously mentioned place - reira

410. Thereat - e... ai (instead of e... ana) - e... ai

411. Therefore - nā reira, nō reira

412. These - ēnei

413. This - tēnei, te nei

414. This and that - tēnei, tēnā, tērā

415. This and that thing over there - Te... nei, te... nā, te... rā

416. This could have happened to you - Me... ai...

417. This here - nei

418. This is just like that - he rite tonu

419. This week, this month, this year - i tēnei wiki, i tēnei marama...

420. this, or that with e (instead of e... ana) - e... nei, e...nā, e.. rā

421. Those (near you) - ēnā

422. Those (over there) - ērā

423. Through (one thing/action), (a second thing) will be achieved. - Mā te... ka...; mā... e... ai

424. through, by way of - rā

425. To achieve this, one must … - e … ai … me …

426. To be unable - Kāore... taea...

427. To like - rata

428. To see whether; in the hope that - me kore e …

429. To whom? - ki a wai

430. Together - tahi

431. Towards - whalamua, whakarunga...

432. Towards - mai

433. Transitive verbs

434. Travelling by means of - mā runga

435. Two adjectives for the same thing - he mea

436. Unrealised possession - mā, māku

437. Until - kia

438. Up - ake

439. Up to - tō

440. Use of 'a' as a personal article - a

441. Uses of tonu - tonu

442. Using "ai" instead of ka - ai

443. Using 'i' to indicate direction away from something - i - i

444. Using 'i' to indicate location - i

445. Using 'i' to mark the object of the sentence - i

446. Using 'i' to mean 'in', 'by' or 'at' - i

447. Using 'ki' to indicate direction towards something - ki

448. Using 'ki' to indicate location - ki

449. Using ai to link two subclauses

450. Using ai to mean whom - ai

451. Using ai to specify a location - ai

452. Using ai to specify a time - ai

453. Using at to mea n that which - ai

454. Verbs

455. Verbs that take 'i' (kite, etc) - i

456. Verbs that take 'i' or 'ki' - i, ki

457. Verbs that take 'ki' - ki

458. Via - mā

459. Wait a while - taihoa

460. What a... - kātahi te...

461. What are you doing? - He aha tāu mahi?

462. What happened to...? - ahatia?

463. What is happening at the moment? - kei te aha?

464. What is this for? - hei aha?

465. What? - He aha?

466. What? - ko te aha?

467. When - Kia

468. When I was young - I a e tamariki ana

469. When in the future - ana and ina

470. When, whenever - ka... ana, ka...

471. When... - ka... ka; kia... ka

472. When? (in the future) - Āwhea? Āhea?

473. Where is something from? - Nō hea ma?

474. Where? - kei hea?

475. Which - Ko tēhea?

476. While - i... ka...

477. While - kei... ana

478. While at the same time/and in addition - me te... anō

479. While... - i... e... ana, ka...

480. Whilst... - Nōna e... ana...

481. Who did? - Nā wai?

482. Who didn't? - Ko wai kāore...

483. Who is going to... - Ki a wai te...?

484. Who will? - mā wai?

485. Whose? - nā wai; nō wai

486. Why aren't... - he aha... e kore nei e...

487. Why did? - He aha... i... ai?

488. Why didn't... - He aha... i kore... ai e

489. Why is, what is the reason? - He aha te take... e... ana

490. Why not? - nā te aha i kore ai?

491. Why will? - He aha... e... ai?

492. Why won't... - He aha... e kore ai e...

493. Why... now? - He aha... e... nei?

494. With, if, like, as - me

495. Without - -kore as a suffix - -kore

496. Words that are both verbs and nouns - waiata, kai

497. Words that can be 'a' or 'o' categories - o, a

498. Words that change in the plural - wahine, wāhine

499. You forgot to... - Ka mahue tō...

500. You go on ahead - hoatu koe

501. You’d better watch it! - Ākuanei!