Kotahitanga #8: Whatever Takes the Edge Off

KOTAHITANGA | COLUMN | TE AO MĀORI | RONGOA / DRUGS

Written & illustrated by Hirimaia Eketone (they/them) | @hiri_music | Te Ao Māori Editor

Kia ora e hoa ma. Kei te pehea koe? Au? He tino tino tino tino TINO ngenge au.

The Kotahitanga column has always been about encouraging more Te Reo kōrero in local scenes. Making the effort to bring reo Māori to you, so you don’t have to seek it out yourself. However, sometimes your wairua needs a little boost, and however you choose to find and experience that is all up to you. I don’t think any of the reo we are learning will be applicable to any form of drug other than the high you get from learning new kupu, so with that said, let’s learn some more phrases, shall we?

We’ve covered sentence structure, explored the depths of pet names, covered how to ask for things and how to describe our feelings. To expand on this a bit further, I want to go into some specific extra verbs and adverbs we can add to the kite. 

“Tino”- adjective, very

Example: “He tino tino wera au” I am very very hot.

“Haere mai”- adverb, welcome/come here

Example: “Kia ora, haere mai e hoa ma!” Hello, welcome my friends!/Come here my friends!

“Ataahua”-  adjective, beautiful

Example: “He ataahua koe” You are beautiful!

“Homai koa”- Please give it here

Example: “Homai koa ki te pukapuka” Please give me the book.

We have a few issues left this year to cram in some more reo as exam season closes in and some of you get close to graduating. Make sure you are making time for your hinengaro, your wairua and your overall wellbeing, especially as it gets colder and colder. He tino makariri au!

Until next time whanau,

Mā te wa!