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Loan words

Historical loan words

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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

1. (particle) used before verbs to make an emphatic statement.

Kei āpōpō te teretere nei ū mai (NM 1928:163). / Tomorrow the party is certain to arrive (W 1971:409).

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te

1. (determiner) the (singular) - used when referring to a particular individual or thing.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 13-14, 44;)

Anei te ongaonga. / Here is the stinging nettle.

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2. (determiner) the - when referring to a whole class of things or people designated by the noun that follows.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 48; Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 125;)

Kī tonu te wharenui i te tamariki. / The meeting house was full of children.

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3. (determiner) Mr, mister, sir - used before people's names to show respect. When used this way it begins with a capital letter.

(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 190-191;)

Kei Te Wharehuia, tēnei te mihi atu mō tō āwhina mai. / Wharehuia sir, thank you most sincerely for your help.

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Synonyms: Mita


4. (determiner) Used in front of another verb following a stative.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 58, 99-100;)

Kua oti i a au tāku pukapuka te tuhi. / I have finished writing my book.

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5. (determiner) Used in front of another verb following taea.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 75-76;)

Ka taea e ia tēnei waiata te whakamāori. / She will be able to interpret this song.

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6. (determiner) Used before the names for the days of the week.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 30;)

Ā te Rātapu mātou haere ai ki Poihākena. / We go to Sydney on Saturday.

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7. (determiner) Sometimes used before numbers with a following noun.

I tāwāhi a Pita mō te rima tau. / Peter was overseas for five years.

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8. (determiner) Used before ordinal numbers including those using tua-.

(Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 12;)

I piki a Tāne-nui-a-rangi ki te tuangahuru mā rua o ngā rangi. / Tāne-nui-a-rangi climbed to the twelfth realm.

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9. .

1. (negative) not, no, none - a negative placed before the verb it negates, used most commonly in formal speech in modern Māori.

taea hoki te pēwhea. / Nothing can be done.
Inā ko te pura o te kanohi kia āta tirohia, ā kāti tirohia, kore noa iho ai i konā kore noa iho ai. / If you’re going to look them in the eye, look them in the eye, but don’t just sit there doing nothing.

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Synonyms: kore, kore noa iho, kārekau, kāhore, āna, ehē, horekau, kāore, kāre, e, kāo, kaua, hore, karekau, hore kau, kāore kau


2. (particle) instead of - used with . Sometimes ai is also added.

Kei te haere ia ki te kēmu, mahi ai i ana mahi. / She is going to the game instead of doing her work.

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1. (stative) be exhausted.

1. (verb) to make a sharp explosive sound, break wind, fart.

Ka te rākau, meāke e whati (W 1971:409). / The tree made a sharp noise and soon it will snap.

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2. (stative) crack, fart.

Te whakairinga o te kupu te whakapiringa o te tangata

1. The place where words are suspended te place where people come together: the wharenui or ancestral house (the words are suspended or hung in the carvings and kōwhaiwhai).

Nau mai e ngā iwi kia noho pūāhuru tātou i te pūmahana o te whakairinga o te kupu o te whakapiringa o te tangata / come hither people so we may sit close together in the warmth of the ancestral house.

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Rangihiwinui, Te Keepa Te

1. (personal name) (?-1898) Muaūpoko; leader, militarist and land assessor, he was a government supporter who fought in the Wanganui, south Taranaki and Ōpōtiki campaigns against Tītokowaru and Te Kooti.

Kura Te Au, Te

1. (location) Tory Channel - the channel that separates Arapaoa island from the mainland in the Marlborough Sounds.

te hanga a te

1. there were lots of, many - an idiom used to comment on the abundance of something.

I reira te hanga a te wahine e purei poka ana. / There were lots of women there playing poker.

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Synonyms: tuarea, mahamaha, te mahi a te ..., tini, tokomaha, pio, maha, tuauriuri, marea, wene, mahi, hia, takitini, nui

Taniwha, Te Horetā Te

1. (personal name) (?-1853) Ngāti Whanaunga; leader who, as a boy, met Captain Cook at Whitianga.

(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 134;)

... te tī, ... te tā

1. all directions, all over the place, hither and thither.

I taetae mai rātou i te tī, i te tā. / They arrived from all directions.

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te mahi a te ...

1. abundance of, lots of, many, heaps of, in droves - an idiom to comment on an abundance of people or things.

Hoki rawa mai, kua pau ngā hua te kai i te mahi a te tamariki. / When they eventually returned, the many children had eaten all the fruit.
Ānini ana tērā, te pīnati, i te mahi a te kōhimuhimu, te taiaroa e rērere haere nei. / I've got a headache from so much gossip flying around the place.
I hora te mahi a te kai. / Food was in abundance.
Nā konā i mimiti haere ai te kōrerohia o te reo Māori, kātahi ka pā mai Te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao, me te aha, ka riro te mahi a te tāne me ō rātou reo tangatanga ki te reo Māori i te māra a Tū-mata-uenga (Rewi 2005:51). / As a consequence, the speaking of the Māori language declined, and then the Second World War occurred and as a result many men, along with their fluent language, were lost on the killing fields of war.

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Synonyms: tokomaha, mahi, ngerongero, ngero, tuarea, mahamaha, te hanga a te, tini, pio, maha, tuauriuri, marea, wene, hia, takitini, nui

Horetā, Te Taniwha, Te

1. (personal name) (?-1853) Ngāti Whanaunga; leader who, as a boy, met Captain Cook at Whitianga.

(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 134;)

tē taea te aha

1. nothing could be done, nothing can be done, nothing can be done about it - an idiom to say that a problem is insurmountable, unavoidable or can't be rectified.

Ka mania a ia ki roto i te wai. Ka whakamātau tōna hoa a Rāhera ki te hopu i a ia; tē taea te aha (Te Ara 2017). / She slipped into the water. Her friend Rāhera tried to grab her, but nothing could be done.

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Synonyms: e taea te aha, e kore e taea te pēhea, kāore (hoki) e taea te pēhea, ūā ana, kāore (hoki) e taea te pēwhea, e taea (hoki) te pēhea, e taea (hoki) te pēwhea

kua tē te koito

1. run out of oomph, exhausted, used up, not working - an idiom used to indicate that a person has run out of energy or something no longer works.

Kātahi rā te wiki roa. Kua tē te koito! / What a long week. I’m buggered!

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Tari o te Ora, Te

1. (loan) Department of Social Welfare.

Kooti, Arikirangi Te Turuki Te

1. (personal name) Coates, (?-1893) Rongowhakaata; leader, military leader, prophet and founder of the Ringatū faith.

(Te Kākano Study Guide (Ed. 1): 52-53; Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 85-86; Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 229-234;)

I te wā o te tangata rongonui i tū ai (arā o Te Mākarini) hei Hupiritene o Ahuriri i tū ai ngā hē a Te Kooti (TW 10/8/1878:397). / At the time that the celebrated man (that is Mr McLean) was appointed Superintendent of Hawke’s Bay, Te Kooti was committing his evils.

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Panekiretanga o te Reo, Te

1. Institute of Excellence in the Māori Language.

See also Temara, Pou

tini o te hakuturi, te

1. (noun) mythical forest guardians.

Kātahi anō a Rātā ka kite atu e haere mai ana te iwi rā, arā, te tini o te hakuturi; ngā manu whai parirau, me ngā ngārara ngōkingōki katoa o te ngahere (TWK 2:18). / Then for the first time Rātā saw those folk coming, that is the mythical forest guardians; the birds with wings, and all the creepy-crawly beings of the forest.

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Synonyms: hakituri

Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga, Te

1. Ministry of Education.

I noho wātea tonu ia ki te āwhina i ngā tari kāwanatanga, arā, i te Tari Toko i te Ora, i Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga me te Kaporeihana Whare (TTR 2000:232). / He was always free to assist government departments, such as Social Welfare and Education, and also the Housing Corporation of New Zealand.

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