Tokohia? E hia? (How many - people? How many?)
This reomation focuses on counting people and pets.
Language Focus
In this reomation, you will learn how to ask the question ‘how many’ – which varies, depending on whether you are asking about people or animals/things. You use ‘Tokohia’ to ask how many people there are and ‘E hia’ to ask how many animals/things.
You will notice that counting people is slightly different from counting animals (or things).
When counting 2-9 people, there is a prefix ‘toko-’, for example, ‘tokoono ngā tamariki’ (six children).
When counting animals (or things), you’ll notice that the numbers 2-9 are preceded by ‘e’, for example, ‘e whā ngā kurī’ (four dogs).
Note the exceptions; namely one, for example, ‘kotahi te ika’ (one fish) and numbers beginning with tekau (ten), for example, ‘tekau mā toru ngā mōkai’ (thirteen pets).
Transcript and Translation
| Speaker | Māori | English |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tokohia? E hia? | How many (people)? How many? |
| Narrator | Tokohia ngā tamariki? | How many children? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua, toru, whā, rima, ono. Tokoono ngā tamariki. | One, two, three, four, five, six. Six children. |
| Narrator | E hia ngā mōkai? | How many pets? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua, toru, whā, rima, ono, whitu, waru, iwa, tekau, tekau mā tahi, tekau mā rua, tekau mā toru.Tekau mā toru ngā mōkai. | One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. Thirteen pets. |
| Narrator | Tokohia ngā mātua? | How many parents? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua, toru! Tokotoru ngā mātua. | One, two, three! Three parents. |
| Narrator | E hia ngā kurī? | How many dogs? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua, toru, whā. E whā ngā kurī. | One, two, three, four. Four dogs. |
| Narrator | Tokohia ngā kōtiro? | How many girls? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua, toru, whā. Tokowhā ngā kōtiro. | One, two, three, four. Four girls. |
| Narrator | E hia ngā ika? | How many fish? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Kotaki te ika. | One fish. |
| Narrator | E hia ngā rāpeti? | How many rabbits? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua! E rua ngā rāpeti. | One, two! Two rabbits. |
| Narrator | Tokohia ngā tama? | How many boys? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua! Tokorua ngā tama. | One, two! Two boys. |
| Narrator | E hia ngā ngeru? | How many cats? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Tahi, rua, toru! E toru ngā ngeru. | One, two, three! Three cats. |
| Narrator | E hia ngā kiore? | How many mice? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Ngā kiore? Kei hea te kiore? | Mice? Where’s the mouse? |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Kāore he kiore. | There are no mice. |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Engari, kotahi te ngeru mōmona. | But, there’s one fat cat. |
