Ko wai ōku Tīpuna?

One of the things Māori Language Week promoted was 'Ko wai ōku Tipuna?" This means "Who are my ancestors?"

This page looks at the kupu and some of the tikanga around whānau.

The first part is words for different people in the family.

Below that is "my two cents" by me.

KO WAI Ō TĪPUNA? KO WAI ŌKU TĪPUNA?

LI: Ask and answer who ONE person is.

Tō= your, singular

Tōku= my, singular

Ask: Ko wai tō …(person)?

Answer: Ko (person’s name) tōku (person).

Example:

Ko wai tō ingoa? Ko (your name) tōku ingoa (name).

Ko wai tō matua? Ko (dad’s name) tōku matua (father).

Ko wai tō hoa? Ko (friend’s name) tōku hoa (friend).

LI: Ask and answer who TWO people are.

Ō= your, plural

Ōku= my, plural

Raua= and (2 people)

Ko wai ō hoa? Ko (one friend) RAUA ko (other friend) ōku hoa.

Ko wai ō kaihana?

Ko (first cousin) RAUA ko (other cousin) ōku kaihana (cousins).

LI: Ask and answer who THREE people are.

Ratau= and (3 or more people).

Ask the same question.

Ko wai ō kaihana?

Ko (first cousin) RATAU ko (second cousin), ko (third cousin) ōku kaihana.

This sentence structure is the same for 3 or 300. You say ‘ratau’ once, after the first person, followed by ‘ko’ to include however many people there are.

LI: Ask and answer who our ancestors are in Māori.

Ancestor: tīpuna or tūpuna (dialectal difference).

Male ancestor: tīpuna tane.

Female ancestor: tīpuna wahine.

Tīpuna implies grandparents and older. Not usually used to talk about living people. If talking about living family, you’d use whānau rather than tīpuna.

Ko wai tō tīpuna? Who is your ancestor?

Ko wai ō tīpuna? Who are your ancestors?

1 person: Ko (ancestor) tōku tīpuna. My ancestor is (their name).

2 people: Ko (ancestor) raua ko (another ancestor) ōku tīpuna.

3 or more: Ko (ancestor) ratau ko (another ancestor), ko (another ancestor) ōku tīpuna.

LI: Ask and answer who our grandparents are in Māori.

Grandfather, old man: koro, pōua (Kai Tahu), tīpuna tane, tūpuna tane

Grandmother, old lady: kuia, tāua (Kai Tahu), tīpuna wahine, tūpuna wahine

Ko wai ō tīpuna? Who are your grandparents?

Ko (paternal grandfather) raua ko (maternal grandfather) ōku pōua.

Ko (paternal grandmother) raua ko (maternal grandmother) ōku tāua.

Or

Ko (paternal grandfather) ratau ko (paternal grandmother), ko (maternal grandfather), ko (maternal grandmother) ōku tīpuna.

LI: Ask and answer who our parents are in Māori.

Parents: mātua

Father: matua or matua tane

Mother: whaea

Adoptive parents: mātua whangai

Papa and mama are not real Māori words.

Example:

Ko wai ō mātua?

Ko (dad’s name) tōku matua. Ko (mum’s name) tōku whaea.

Or

Ko (dad) raua ko (mum) ōku mātua.

(Traditionally, father’s name first, followed by mother’s).

LI: Say who our step-parents are in Māori.

You would use these kupu to say step-parents if you ordinarily call them step-parents. If you consider them to be ‘real’ parents, then use matua/ whaea.

Matua whakaangi. Whaea whakaangi.

LI: To say who our brothers and sisters (siblings) are in Māori.

There isn’t one word to for boys to say brother or girls to say sister. The good news is that it isn’t difficult to learn, as there are only 4 different words. Even better, once we learn to say who our siblings are, they stay the same, so we only need learn them once.

If you are a girl…

Any brother= tungane

Older sister= tuakana

Younger sister= teina / taina

If you are a boy…

Any sister= tuahine

Older brother= tuakana

Younger brother= teina / taina

Taina= Kai Tahu, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati porou

It is very simple. Tuakana and teina are words for siblings same gender as you.

If you are a boy, your sisters are all TUAHINE.

If you are a girl, your brothers are all TUNGANE.

One, Two, Three siblings (tōku/ ōku, raua, ratau).

Say oldest person first.

A boy says…

1 sister: Ko (sister’s name) tōku tuahine.

2 sisters: Ko (eldest sister) raua ko (younger sister) ōku tuahine.

3+ sisters: Ko (eldest sister), ratua ko (second eldest), ko (third eldest), (*) ōku tuahine.

(*) add more siblings by saying ko….., ko….., for each

LI: Say who our uncles and aunties are.

Uncle: matua kēkē

Aunty: whaea kēkē.

You can also use matua and whaea for uncle and aunty, but some people find this confusing because they’re also father and mother.

LI: Say who our cousins are.

Kaihana is a borrowed word (transliteration), which I/we would normally avoid, however, in this case we are wise to use it.

The actual Maori words for cousins are the same as those for siblings, but you would use tuakana/teina to talk about a more senior branch of a family. Seniority in Te Ao Māori isn’t necessarily based on people’s ages.

Pākeha don’t place the same emphasis on seniority or rank in families, meaning it is impossible to translate between Māori and non-Māori relationships. Transliterations are fine in this case.

If you are talking about more than one cousin, say them in order of age, eldest to youngest.

Examples:

1 cousin: Ko (cousin) tōku kaihana.

2 cousins: Ko (cousin) raua ko (other cousin) ōku kaihana.

3+ cousins: Ko (cousin) ratau ko (other cousin), ko (keep going with ko cousin, ko cousin) ōku kaihana.

LI: Ask and answer who the baby is.

Baby: piripoho, pēpe.

Youngest child: tamaiti.

‘Pēpe’ is a loan word and not a ‘real’ Māori word. In fact, we don’t think Māori actually had a word for baby.

LI: Say ‘he’ or ‘she’.

She, he: ia

Ko wai ia? Who is that?

Ko wai ōku Tīpuna- teacher notes

Tikanga

Introduce the following aspects of tikanga Māori to your students:

• The concept of whānau extends beyond parents and children to include grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, and others.
• Whakapapa is important. It defines a person and his or her links within the whānau and to other groups. It governs the relationships between them.
• Whakapapa is a much broader concept than the concept of a family tree. Through whakapapa, each person may belong to different groups: whānau, hapū, iwi, and waka.

From He Reo Ora.

This unit covers kupu for family members, as well as several “other” key areas.

• Yours and mine when talking about singular and plural items.
• What to say if you are talking about one, two or three people.
• What order to say things.
• Why some simplifications are ok, while others are not.

A note about He Reo Ora.

BE CAREFUL. It is overly simplistic in some cases.

Examples:

Transliterations. Kaihana, māmā, pāpā, pēpe… none of these are actual Māōri words. They are English words said in a Māori accent.

Taku/ toku (see note below). They use ‘taku’ for everything. “Ko ia taku mama” is not an accurate way to say who your mother is.

It matters because if we are teaching Māori, then we have a responsibility to teach Māori as Māori, rather than a Pākeha version, or what’s easier for us.

A and O.

You will notice ‘taku’ and ‘toku’ used at different times. There is a bit of science behind the difference, but basically you use A (e.g. taku) when talking about things that are inferior to you, and O (e.g. toku) when talking about things that are superior to you.

Example, if we are talking about a pencil, we’d say ‘taku pene’. If we are talking about our parents, or kaumatua (grandparent generation), we’d say ‘toku’. When talking about people younger than ourselves, we’d use ‘taku’. However, it isn’t always this simple.

Therefore, I have used O throughout in order to avoid confusion, and acknowledge importance of our whānau, no matter how they are ranked.

Dialects

There are different dialects of Māori. One early missionary learned Māori in the North Island/ Te Ika ā Maui, but wasn’t easily understood by iwi in the South.

Examples: Kai Tahu say ‘k’ instead of ‘ng’. Instead of ‘pango’ (black), they have ‘pako’. Kai Tahu have their own words for grandfather and grandmother (which you will see below).

Other iwi say ‘wh’ as f, some as ‘w’, and some as ‘h’.

Waitaha (Canterbury and south) are the only iwi who have an ‘L’ sound.

I’ve aimed to include information about dialects where I can, but recognise I have omitted some examples.

I have researched kupu and kawa online, and have spoken with people who are fluent in Te Reo Māori and knowledgeable about kawa and tikanga. Any mistakes are mine. Apologies for any errors: hope there aren’t any. Do let me know if you find any, and I will send you a chocolate fish*.

Damian Hardman

Damian.hardman@birchwood.school.nz

* No chocolate fish will be sent.