Tips for Speaking Te Reo Māori

The purpose of this page is to help you break down Māori words into syllables, and know what the "Māori sounds" are.

We hope this is helpful! If you have any fresh ideas, or questions, please leave a comment, or send us an email.

Ka kite,

Damian Hardman & Amy Bathgate

maori@birchwood.school.nz
The best email to reach a real person is 
damian.hardman@birchwood.school.nz 

For some reason it won't let me make a link to my email address from here.

A HA KA MA

This is considered the Māori alphabet (te arapu) as it contains all of the sounds that feature in Māori words.

Here is a link to a A Ha Ka Ma waiata.

A HA KA MA

A ha ka ma

A ha ka ma na pa ra ta wa nga wha

E he ke me

E he ke me ne pe re te we nge whe

I hi ki mi

I hi ki mi ni pi ri ti wi ngi whi

O ho ko mo

O ho ko mo no po ro to wo ngo who

A E I O U

U hu ku mu nu pu ru tu wu ngu whu

Maori words are broken into syllables, as per the syllables in 

A Ha Ka Ma

Syllables are consonant/vowel or consonant/vowel/vowel.
Vowel blends are pronounced by saying one vowel, and joining it to another vowel.

Papaora becomes        Pa/pa/ro-a

Papanui          Pa/pa/nu-i

Mairehau              Ma-i/re/ha-u

Aranui           A/ra/nu-i

Ingoa                   i/ngo-a

Maunga         ma-u/nga

Kainga                  ka-i/nga

Here is a teaching slideshow about A Ha Ka Ma.

Here is a teaching slideshow showing you how to break down Nelson-Tasman place names.

 

The information below comes from korero.maori.nz. 

You could also visit Victoria University's page.

Whakahuatanga  - Pronunciation 

There are five vowels and ten consonants in the Māori alphabet. Listen to their sounds by clicking on the letters below. 

• five vowels: a, e, i, o, u
• eight consonants: h, k, m n, p, r, t, w
• two digraphs (two letters that combine to form one sound) : wh, ng. 

Vowels 

While there are five vowels, combinations of vowels (diphthongs) are common. You should regard these vowel sounds as a larger group of simply the five vowels alone.

A vowel can be long or short. A long sound is shown by a macron (a bar appearing over a vowel e.g. ‘ā’ in motokā). Orthographic conventions advise when a macron is used.

Vowels are pronounced as follows:

Vowel		Short	Long
a	as in	about	far
e	as in	enter	bed
i	as in	eat	sheep
o	as in	awful	pork
u	as in	put	boot

Consonants 

Māori language doesn’t have consonant clusters (consonants that appear together in a syllable without a vowel between them). 

Consonants are mainly pronounced as they are in English. The exceptions are: 

T 

Varies depending on which vowel appears after it. When succeeded by an ‘a’, ‘e’ or ‘o’, it’s pronounced with little or no 's' sound. 

When followed by an ‘i’ or ‘u’, it includes a slight 's' sound, however not nearly as much as an English ‘t’. 

R 

Commonly called a ‘rolled’ r. If you’re able to imitate the purring sound of a cat, you’ll know exactly what’s required to pronounce this consonant. Failing this, the sound you should aim for is something similar to an English ‘d’ – but softer e.g. judder. 

Digraphs 

The ‘ng’ digraph (the combined sound of two consonants) is said as it sounds in the English word ‘singer'. A common mistake is to pronounce it as it appears in the word ‘finger’. 

The ‘wh’ digraph is usually pronounced as an English ‘ f’ sound.