Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori has officially kicked off and to celebrate AM's Bernadine Oliver-Kerby has teamed up with Newshub's Māori affairs correspondent Te Rina Kowhai to learn some phrases in te reo.
The AM newsreader wanted to learn more than just "Kia ora" to impress her co-hosts Ryan Bridge and Melissa Chan-Green with her knowledge of te reo Māori.
Oliver-Kerby decided to learn four phrases to broaden her knowledge of the language. The first was "team bonding" because she said she uses it often on the show.
Kowhai said the phrase for team bonding would be "hononga-ā-kapa".
"'Kapa' is 'team' and 'hononga' is meaning 'bringing together'," Kowhai said.
The next was "sport was the winner" to honour Oliver-Kerby's love of sport. Kowhai said in te reo it would be, "ko te hākinakina te toa".
The third phrase Oliver-Kerby wanted to learn was to do with her favourite day of the week - Friday.
"How do we say, 'We have made it to Friday'?" Oliver-Kerby asked.
"Kua tae ki te Paraire," Kowhai told Oliver-Kerby.
Paraire is one of many te reo words which requires someone to roll their r's to pronounce it correctly, she explained.
"If you want to get your r sounds [right], the best way is [saying] motorboat motor raa raa and that is how you can practice your r's," Kowhai said.
Another phrase Oliver-Kerby wanted to learn was "here's the weather".
"Anei ngā tohu huarere," Kowhai told Oliver-Kerby.
The AM newsreader said viewers will know she can get feisty about things like supermarkets and what politicians have said, and she uses the phrase "set me on fire" often.
Kowhai explained it would be "tahuna ahau."
"'Ahau' is 'me' and 'tahuna' is to 'set alight'," Kowhai said
Oliver-Kerby is going to try and use those phrases during Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori, so people can listen out for them.
Watch the video above to learn the phrases.
