Maori Pronunciation Guide

If you’re keen to learn Maori and show off your new Maori language skills, this guide will get you started! Maori words can look like tongue-twisters, but if you master a few simple rules and check out our basic Maori-English dictionary you’ll be fine.

Note that Maori words do not take an ‘s’ when they become plural and that each syllable is stressed equally. The Maori alphabet consists of 15 letters.

The vowels are pronounced as follows: A – as in ‘bar’; E – as in ‘egg’; I – as the ‘ee’ in ‘free’; O – as in ‘or’; U – as the ‘o’ in ‘to’. There are long and short versions of each vowel: the long may be denoted with a macron.

The eight consonants – H, K, M, N, P, R, T and W – are pronounced as in English. The two additional consonants are: ‘WH’ – pronounced like the ‘f’ in ‘far’ and ‘NG’ – pronounced like the ‘ng’ in ‘sing’.

The Maori word for 'water': a common component of place names, e.g., Waikato (flowering water) and Waitomo (water flowing through a hole).

Authority or power, although it can also mean reputation or influence.

The hongi, a traditional Maori greeting, is an integral part of the powhiri (welcoming ceremony). Noses are pressed together and the ha, or breath of life, is exchanged and intermingled.

Te Reo The Maori language.

Whanga The Maori word for 'bay' can often be found in place names, such as ‘Whanganui’ or ‘Whangarei’. Te Whanganui-a-Tara is a Maori name for Wellington, translating to ‘the great harbour of Tara’.

Time to Practise!
Test your Maori language skills on the world’s longest place name (located in Hawke’s Bay): ‘Taumata whakatangi hangakoauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu’. In English it means: ‘The hilltop, where Tamatea with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau to his beloved’.