Pānui / Reading
Pānui / Reading
This domain tests comprehension of written Māori: pānui, letters, reports, pūrākau, and notices. Questions target main ideas, details, sequence, vocabulary in context, and the writer’s purpose. You need to read for structure, not just decode single words.
Core rules and concepts
- Identify the sentence frame. Ko equates (Ko Tāne te kaiako), he classifies (He kaiako a Tāne), and kei te locates present action.
- Track referents. nāna, māna, ia, rāua point back to people. Underline who did what before answering.
- Recognise relative clauses. te tangata nāna i tiki te wai = “the person who fetched the water”; te wai i tikina = “the water that was fetched”.
- Use punctuation and paragraph order. Māori written texts often move from general to specific; the topic sentence carries the main idea.
Worked example
Sentence: “Ko te tangata nāna i tiki te wai, ko ia te kaikawe kōrero.” Reasoning: the first ko introduces a noun phrase; nāna i tiki means “who fetched”; the second ko ia re-identifies the same person; te kaikawe kōrero is the spokesperson. Answer: “The person who fetched the water is the spokesperson.” A word-by-word reader may misread nāna as “by him” and lose the subject.
Traps that cost marks
- Ignoring macrons: kā (to burn) versus ka (tense particle).
- Mixing kei te (present) with ki te (to/if).
- Quoting a sentence that mentions the keyword but does not answer the question.
- Running out of time on one unknown word instead of reading the surrounding clause.