Kei te hiakai ahau (I'm hungry)
Scenario
Paora the pūkeko is hungry. He rubs his puku (stomach). From the sky (as it were) drops some food, but he likes none of these foods. He provides reasons why. However, interestingly, he does like toast. Children might like to predict what topping he would like. Yes – it’s worms on toast!
Language Focus
There are some very useful language structures in this reomation – specifically how to:
- express hunger
- ask about another person’s likes
- state one’s dislikes (using a negative)
- describe simple reasons for dislikes
- state one’s likes.
Notice the compound word ‘hiakai’ (hungry). It is derived from ‘hia’ (to want) and ‘kai’ (food). Notice too the conjunction ’engari’ (but).
Transcript and Translation
| Speaker | Māori | English |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Kei te hiakai ahau | I’m hungry |
| Paora te pūkeko | Kei te hiakai ahau. | I’m hungry. |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | He pai ki a koe ngā rēmana? | Do you like lemons? |
| Paora te pūkeko | Kāore e pai ki ahau te rēmana. He kawa! | I don’t like lemons. (They’re) sour. |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | He pai ki a koe te tīhi? | Do you like cheese? |
| Paora te pūkeko | Kāore e pai ki ahau te tīhi. | I don’t like cheese. |
| Paora te pūkeko | He haunga! | (It’s) smelly! |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | He pai ki a koe te tōhi? | Do you like toast? |
| Paora te pūkeko | Āe. He pai ki ahau te tōhi engari he tino reka ngā noke! Mmmmmmmm. He tino reka! | Yes. I like toast but worms are very delicious. Mmmmmmm. Very delicious. |
