Question about use of "e"

[angel]

Can you please help me with an example from episode six:-

"Kia ora, whaea"

Why does the word "whaea" not require an "e" before it - I thought whaea is pronounced with only two vowel sounds.

Many thanks.

[jarrod]

Tēnā koe Angel,

The word 'whaea' in fact has three vowel sounds in it (whaea). 'E te whaea' could be said when addressing an older woman. However, I've heard 'e' used in places that would go against the rule explained in the Tōku Reo episodes (for example, with the Chinese mayor of Gisborne Ming Foon - e Ming)... so I wouldn't worry too much about the use of 'e' until you've had good exposure to Māori being spoken in context, and also read Māori in context. That's the only way it'll stick and become natural to you. Use flash card software, like Anki, which can be downloaded here - http://ichi2.net/anki/download/index.html - and follow language learning methods described in websites like:
AJATT - http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com
Antimoon - http://www.antimoon.com/
LingQ - http://www.lingq.com (blog website - http://www.thelinguist.blogs.com )

You can use these methods alongside with Tōku Reo, and learn Māori a lot easier...

Hope this helps!
J

[ReeceRobinson]

Hi Jarrod,

Do you have an Anki card deck for te reo māori you can share somewhere for us to download? If not Anki then for one of the other similar apps?

[jarrod]

Kia ora anō,

I've just put my deck on the shared section on Anki, so if you click on the 'Download' button when you start Anki up, you should be able to find my cards near the bottom (titled 'Māori Sentences'). I'm not sure it will help you a lot, as some sentences are cut from any context, and some cards don't have any meanings written on the back of them. So I recommend just taking some sentences out (ones that interest you) and putting them into your own deck, and then looking up any words you don't know.

Hope this helps somewhat!

J

[ReeceRobinson]

Tēnā koe Jarrod.

Thank you very much for sharing your deck. I have just downloaded it and am looking through it now. I'm sure it will help.