Exploring and using te reo in a wider context

Understanding the grammatical principles which govern the construction of phrases and sentences isn’t the same thing as fluency in a language.

Attaining fluency, for most of us, must probably be considered a long-term goal, reached only by much and frequent practice in an environment where one is encouraged and one’s mistakes may be corrected – such as (in relation to te reo Ma¯ ori) in Te Ataarangi (or ‘‘direct method’’) classes.

If one practices the language for long enough in such environments, eventually the grammatical patterns of the language should become familiar. But this does take a while.

In the short term, only a relatively limited range of sentences and grammatical constructions are memorised – a point made in the joke about a student of French being taught to say perfectly, ‘‘Ou est la plume de ma tante?’’ (‘‘Where is my aunt’s pen?’’) but never having any practical use for such a sentence!

To be fair, most courses and phrasebooks focus on potentially useful expressions – but fluency means being able to express oneself, to compose sentences according to one’s needs. Obviously, an understanding of the grammar should help here.

There are, however, various other ways of working towards a broader understanding of how te reo functions. One might, for instance, seek out passages in te reo which (so to speak) bridge the cultures, and then work out exactly how the sentences are constructed.

There are probably many verses in Te Paipera Tapu (the Bible) which are memorably familiar in English versions, even to those who may not be readers of the Bible.

This is the first line of Psalm 23: ‘‘Ko Ihowa¯ /to¯ ku hepara,/e kore/ ahau/e hapa.’’ (‘‘Jehovah/my shepherd,/shall not/I/want’’ = ‘‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’’)

Although there are many words in Te Paipera Tapu which are transliterations – exemplified here by Ihowa¯ (‘‘Jehovah’’) and hepara (‘‘shepherd’’) – the sentence constructions are exemplary te reo Ma¯ ori.

E kore is the ‘‘negation’’ with which a negative future tense clause or sentence begins (‘‘not’’, for future). The particle e introduces a verb in the future tense: e hapa (‘‘shall miss out’’).

The word Ihowa¯ is, of course, used in the national anthem: ‘‘E Ihowa¯ Atua/o nga¯ iwi ma¯ tou ra¯ /a¯ ta whakarongona/me aroha noa.’’ (‘‘O Jehovah God of us the people, carefully listen [to us] and have love and compassion [for us].’’)

David Ka¯ rena-Holmes is a New Zealand-born writer currently living in Nelson. A tutor of grammar since the 1980s, he is the author of Ma¯ ori Language: Understanding the Grammar (Pearson), and is examining te reo grammar in a series of fortnightly articles. His new book Te Reo Ma¯ ori – The Basics Explained is scheduled for publication by Oratia Books in February 2020.