Te mahi kai (Preparing food)
Scenario
Bossy Jenny is giving Sam instructions on what she needs to make a sandwich. We see Sam ‘flying’ off screen to find what Jenny needs. Sam looks hungrily at the finished product – piled high with yummy fillings, but it is not for him! The students might like to suggest who it’s for.
Language Focus
The reomation is simple and repetitive. Jenny instructs Sam to pass/give her different items, for example, ‘Homai he pereti’ (Give me a plate), and Sam obliges. As he presents her with the required items, he says ‘Anei ...’ (Here’s ...).
Notice the indefinite article ‘he’ (a/some), for example, ‘Homai he parāoa (Give me some bread).
Notice too the way that, in Māori, a command is formed by adding a suffix to the verb. In this case, we added the suffix ‘-tia’ to the verb ‘manaaki’ to create ‘Manaakitia’ (Look after).
Tikanga
Jenny is aware of tikanga (Māori custom) – hence her giving the sandwich to the visitor, because ‘manuhiri’ (visitors) always come first (and, indeed, get given the best food available).
Transcript and Translation
| Speaker | Māori | English |
| Rōpū tamariki (off-screen) | Te mahi kai. | Preparing food. |
| Jenny | Homai he pereti. | Pass a plate. |
| Sam | Anei he pereti. | Here’s a plate. |
| Jenny | Homai he parāoa. | Pass some bread. |
| Sam | Anei he parāoa. | Here’s some bread. |
| Jenny | He pata. | Some butter. |
| Sam | He pata! | Some butter! |
| Jenny | He tīhi. | Some cheese. |
| Sam | Anei. | Here (it is). |
| Jenny | Homai he rētihi. | Pass some lettuce. |
| Sam | Anei he rētihi. | Here’s some lettuce. |
| Jenny | He mīti...he tōmato...he tote. | Some meat... some tomato ... some salt. |
| Sam | Anei. | Here (it is). |
| Jenny | He pepa? He parāoa anō. | Some pepper? Some more bread. |
| Sam | Anei. | Here. |
| Jenny | Mmmmmmm he tino reka! | Mmmmmmmm very delicious. |
| Sam | Āe. He hanawiti. Mmmmmmm. | Yes. It’s a sandwich. Mmmmmmm. |
| Jenny | Engari mā te manuhiri tēnei. Manaakitia ō manuhiri i ngā wā katoa. | But this is for the visitors. Look after your visitors always. |
