Te Reo Māori Dual Pronouns Activities

Why can “we two” be translated as either tāua or māua—and how can children remember which one to use?

Te reo Māori personal pronouns communicate information that English pronouns often leave unclear. Children must think about how many people are involved, whether the speaker is included and whether the listener is included.

This Te Reo Māori Dual Personal Pronouns Activity Pack helps children understand and practise four important pronouns: tāua, māua, rāua and kōrua.

Illustrated explanation posters make the relationships visible, while matching cards, sentence activities, printable dice and worksheets give children repeated opportunities to choose and use the correct pronoun.

Make an Abstract Grammar Concept Visible

The English words we and us do not always tell us exactly who is included. Te reo Māori is more precise.

To choose the correct pronoun, children must consider:

• Are two people involved?
• Is the person speaking included?
• Is the person being spoken to included?
• Are we speaking about two other people?
• Are we speaking directly to two people?

The included illustrations use people, circles, arrows and crossed-out figures to show these relationships clearly. This gives children a visual reference before they move into more abstract sentence work.

The Four Dual Pronouns

Tāua — You and Me

Tāua refers to the speaker and the person being spoken to.

Kei te waiata tāua.
We two—you and I—are singing.

Māua — Another Person and Me, but Not You

Māua refers to the speaker and one other person while excluding the person being spoken to.

Kei te inu māua.
We two—but not you—are drinking.

Rāua — Those Two

Rāua refers to two other people. Neither the speaker nor the listener is included.

Kei te moe rāua.
Those two are sleeping.

Kōrua — You Two

Kōrua is used when speaking directly to two people.

Kei te waiata kōrua.
You two are singing.

What Is Included?

This 22-page printable PDF includes:

• Teacher instructions explaining the intended learning sequence
• A dual-pronoun reference chart
• Four illustrated teaching posters
• Matching cards combining familiar verbs and dual pronouns
• English prompt cards for identifying the intended relationship
• Complete Māori sentence cards for matching and self-checking
• A printable verb dice
• A printable dual-pronoun dice
• A draw-the-meaning worksheet
• Two sentence-completion worksheets

Progress From Meaning to Application

The activities support a gradual teaching sequence:

1. Introduce the four posters. Discuss which people are included or excluded.
2. Compare the pronouns. Pay particular attention to the difference between tāua and māua.
3. Match the sentence cards. Connect English relationship prompts with complete Māori sentences.
4. Practise orally. Use familiar verbs to construct new sentences.
5. Play with the printable dice. Combine a random verb and pronoun.
6. Apply understanding independently. Complete the drawing and sentence worksheets.

You can teach the resource as a short unit or place selected activities on a Montessori language shelf for repeated practice.

Practise Through a Hands-On Dice Game

The resource includes two printable dice:

• one featuring familiar action words; and
• one featuring the four dual personal pronouns.

Children roll both dice and combine the results to create a sentence. This produces multiple sentence combinations and encourages students to apply the pronoun pattern rather than memorising one example.

The dice can be used for:

• partner speaking practice;
• small-group language work;
• oral sentence construction;
• grammar revision;
• independent centre work; or
• whole-class warm-up activities.

Ways to Use This Resource

• Explicit te reo Māori grammar lessons
• Montessori language shelf work
• Partner matching activities
• Small-group oral-language teaching
• Literacy centres and rotations
• Māori Language Week
• Mixed-age classroom revision
• Homeschool language study
• Assessment of pronoun understanding
• Preparation for plural personal pronouns

Build a Foundation for Wider Pronoun Learning

This pack deliberately focuses on the four dual pronouns rather than presenting the complete personal-pronoun system at once.

Once children understand the inclusion and exclusion patterns in tāua, māua, rāua and kōrua, they are better placed to recognise related patterns when they later encounter plural pronouns.

The smaller focus makes an otherwise complex concept more manageable.

Who Is This Resource For?

This activity pack is suitable for:

• mainstream New Zealand classrooms;
• Māori-medium and bilingual learning environments;
• Montessori elementary classrooms;
• approximately Years 3–8;
• mixed-age language groups;
• homeschool and home-education settings;
• teachers developing confidence with te reo Māori grammar; and
• learners ready to move beyond basic vocabulary.

Created for Real Aotearoa Classrooms

I’m Lisa—an NZ registered teacher, Montessori-trained educator, school principal and former homeschooler.

I create practical, culturally inclusive resources for mixed-age classrooms and diverse learners. My goal is to help teachers introduce meaningful local language and curriculum content without spending hours designing every visual, card and follow-up activity themselves.

This resource gives children a structured way to investigate an important feature of te reo Māori while keeping the learning visual, interactive and manageable.