How Do You Say Onehunga, Whangamomona, Kahikatea, and Nguru?

Te Reo Māori — the Māori Language

The visitor to New Zealand will become immediately aware of the Māori language as the vast majority of place names are of Māori origin. At first, visitors may be puzzled by the seemingly impossible- to-pronounce names. In fact, Māori has a logical structure, and, unlike English, has very consistent rules of pronunciation.

Māori consists of five vowel sounds: A E I O U

(‘a’ as in ‘car’)

(‘e’ as in ‘egg’)

(‘i’ like the ‘ee’ in ‘tee’)

(‘o’ as in ‘four’)

(‘u’ like an ‘o’ in ‘to’)

There are eight consonants in Māori similar to those in English – ‘h’, ‘k’, ‘m’, ‘n’, ‘p’, ‘r’, ‘t’, and ‘w’.

There are also 2 different consonants- ‘wh’ and ‘ng’.

Many Māori pronounce the ‘wh’ sound similar to our ‘f’. The ‘ng’ is similar to our own ‘ng’ sound in a word like ‘sing’, except that in Māori, words can start with ‘ng’

Kia ora = Gidday!

An attempt by a visitor to use Māori greetings will almost certainly elicit a delighted response from both Māori and Pakeha (European) New Zealanders.

Kia ora – Hello

Kia ora tatou – Hello Everyone

Tena Koe – Greetings to you (said to one person)

Tena koutou – Greetings to you all

Haere mai – Welcome

Nau  mai – Welcome

Kei te pehea koe? – How’s it going?

Kei te pai – Good

Tino pai – Really good

Haere ra – Farewell

Ka kite ano – until I see you again (Bye)

Hei konei ra – See you later

Below is a simple and short video of how do you say goodbye in Maori