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Lesson 4 of 10

Counting to ten in Maori

One to ten, for prices, platforms, rooms and how many beers. Play the ten Maori words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.

The Church of the Good Shepherd beside Lake Tekapo in New Zealand
Counting to ten
10 words · 20 seconds each · 8 of 10 to pass
What it meansHow to say it
Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

All 10 Maori phrases in this lesson

TahiTA-hee
One

Tahi is used when counting. When you mean one of something, it becomes kotahi, as in kotahi te pia.

RuaROO-a
Two

Counting runs tahi, rua, toru, whā, rima. For people there is a special form: tokorua, two people.

ToruTOR-roo
Three

Tokotoru is three people, as in a table for three.

WhāFAH
Four
RimaREE-ma
Five
OnoOR-nor
Six
WhituFEE-too
Seven
WaruWA-roo
Eight
IwaEE-wa
Nine
TekauTEH-ko
Ten

Eleven is tekau mā tahi, ten and one, and twenty is rua tekau, two tens.

Where Maori is spoken

Next lesson: Shops and hotels →