NCEA Te Reo Matatini - Te Reo Whakaputa Co-requisite (NZQA Standard 32415) cheat sheet

Whakahua tika: each vowel has one sound (a, e, i, o, u as in father, bed, see, saw, food); length (macron) changes meaning, e.g. keke (cake) vs kēkē (armpit).

Ngā oropuare raraunga: digraphs ng and wh count as single consonants; wh is pronounced [f] in most modern dialects, [hw] in some Waikato and Taranaki speech.

Te reo whakaputa requires audible planning markers: 'ā', 'kia pai ai', 'nā reira' fill pauses and signal structure; silence longer than about two seconds usually reads as a breakdown.

Tone and stress fall on the first long vowel of a word, not automatically the first syllable: whakapapa stresses the first 'a', whakapāpā shifts stress to the final long vowel.

Rere o te reo (fluency) is judged on sustained speech of roughly 1.5–3 minutes per turn; a short accurate answer scores lower than a sustained one with minor self-correction.

Kupu ā-iwi: in formal whaikōrero contexts, use 'tēnā koutou' for three or more and 'tēnā kōrua' for two; 'tēnā koe' is singular only.

Self-correction strategy: repair with 'waiho', 'me kī', or restate the correct form immediately; unacknowledged errors count against accuracy, acknowledged and repaired errors are treated as fluency features.

Macrons must be typed, not omitted: use ā ē ī ō ū; double vowels (aa, ee) are acceptable in some iwi writing but must be consistent throughout one text.

Punctuation follows English conventions in modern te reo Māori texts: full stop, comma, question mark, and quotation marks; the macron is not a punctuation mark and never replaces a letter.

Sentence-initial capitalisation applies to proper nouns, place names and the first word of a sentence; names of iwi and whare tipuna are capitalised, common nouns are not.

Written register markers: 'i te mea', 'nā te mea', 'ahakoa' introduce subordinate clauses; 'engari', 'otirā', 'heoi anō' mark contrast and are rare in casual speech.

Paragraph structure for a written whakaputa: whakatakinga (introduction), whakamārama (explanation), taunakitanga (evidence/example), whakakapinga (conclusion).

Direct and indirect speech: direct speech uses 'e ai ki a [name]' or quotation marks; indirect speech uses 'i kī a [name]' plus 'kei te' or 'kua' according to time reference.

Word count and length: NCEA written production tasks typically require 150–250 words for a formal piece; shorter pieces lose marks for insufficient development of ideas.

Sentence order is VSO (verb–subject–object): 'Ka kai te tamaiti i te āporo' - verb 'ka kai', subject 'te tamaiti', object 'i te āporo'.

The particle 'i' marks a past tense verb or a direct object after a transitive verb; 'kei te' marks present continuous; 'ka' marks general or future action; 'kua' marks completed action.

Negation depends on tense: 'kāore ... i' for past, 'kāore ... e' for present/future, 'kāore ... kia' for perfect; 'ehara ... i' negates nominal sentences.

Passive endings: -a, -ia, -tia, -ngia, -hia, -ria, -kia, -whia, -mia, -nga; the correct form is lexically fixed (e.g. kainga, horoia, tuhia) and must be memorised per verb.

Possession: 'a' category for movable, acquired and active possession (tāku pukapuka, āku tamariki); 'o' category for inherent, inalienable and passive possession (tōku whare, ōku mātua).

The particle 'he' marks an indefinite noun phrase ('he tangata' = a person); 'te' marks definite singular, 'ngā' definite plural, and 'tētahi' marks 'a certain one'.

Locative nouns (runga, raro, roto, waho, mua, muri) take 'i' or 'kei' with 'te': 'kei runga i te tēpu'; 'o' is used when the location belongs to the object: 'kei raro o te whare'.

Register tiers: formal (whaikōrero, karanga, mihi), semi-formal (pānui, hui), informal (kōrero-ā-whānau); the same idea shifts vocabulary, e.g. 'haere mai' vs 'tō mai' vs 'nau mai'.

Idioms (kīwaha) are register-specific: 'e hoa', 'taihoa', 'āe rā' suit informal speech; 'tena koutou katoa' and 'kia ora tātou' are formal openings.

Loanword adaptation follows Māori phonology: 'motokā' (motorcar), 'hōtēra' (hotel), 'pēke' (bank); modern terms often use descriptive coinage, e.g. 'rorohiko' (computer), 'waea pūkoro' (mobile phone).

Synonym sets for range: 'nui' (big) pairs with 'rāhirahi', 'whānui', 'tini'; 'pai' pairs with 'ataahua', 'reira', 'hāngai'; using two or three in one text demonstrates range without repetition.

Whakataukī and pepeha add cultural register and should be attributed to their iwi or source where known; misattributed whakataukī are treated as factual errors.

Technical vocabulary is domain-specific: 'pūtaiao' (science), 'pāngarau' (mathematics), 'tikanga ā-iwi' (social studies); using the correct term is weighted more than paraphrasing in English.

Avoid code-switching into English for content words; occasional English for names or new technology is acceptable, but repeated switching lowers the vocabulary range judgement.

Audience determines pronoun and greeting: 'tēnā koe' to one person, 'tēnā kōrua' to two, 'tēnā koutou' to three or more; 'kia ora tātou' includes the speaker, 'kia ora koutou' excludes them.

Purpose categories to identify before producing: pānui (inform), whakamārama (explain), whakatau (persuade), whakangahau (entertain), mihi (acknowledge); each has a different expected structure.

Context rules: on a marae, formal speech follows the sequence mihi ki te whenua, mihi ki ngā mate, mihi ki te hunga ora; in a classroom, the same content is delivered without the mate section.

Formal written contexts require a title, date and sign-off; informal messages (texts, notes) may omit these without penalty.

Persuasive text structure: claim, then evidence, then counter-argument, then restatement; te reo Māori persuasive markers include 'me kī', 'ko te mea nui', 'nō reira'.

Audience vocabulary calibration: for tamariki use short sentences, repetition and concrete nouns; for adults use abstract nouns and subordinate clauses with 'i te mea' or 'ahakoa'.

Purpose–register alignment: a karanga uses elevated vocabulary and a particular call structure; a job application uses formal written register with no kīwaha.

Three-part structure maps to te reo terms: whakatakinga (introduction), whakamārama (body), whakakapinga (conclusion); the whakatakinga states topic and purpose in the first two sentences.

Cohesion devices: 'nā reira' (therefore), 'otirā' (moreover), 'heoi anō' (however), 'i tua atu' (furthermore), 'ka mutu' (finally); each signals a specific logical move and should not be interchangeable filler.

Paragraph unity: one main idea per paragraph, with the first sentence stating the idea and the following two or three sentences developing it with evidence or example.

Idea development check: each main point needs at least one supporting detail (statistic, example, whakataukī, personal experience) to count as developed rather than listed.

Coherence across tense: keep the time frame consistent; switching between 'ka' (general/future) and 'i' (past) without a time marker breaks the narrative thread.

Referent tracking: re-introduce the subject with a pronoun or 'te tangata rā' when the subject changes; ambiguous pronouns are a common coherence error in extended writing.

Conclusion function: restate the main claim in different words and add a forward-looking statement; a conclusion that introduces a new argument is structurally faulty.