This book, as its title suggests, focuses on verbs, verbs and more verbs in Māori. Hone Morris was a teacher of mine back in the day when I was a student at Massey University, and I clearly recall him teaching me about the verbs homai, hoatu, and waiho, and how they’re treated in a special way. I was just as much a grammar geek then as I am now!

In Māori, like English, there are different verb types. Hone highlights in the pukapuka the necessity for a book like his, as many te reo Māori learners, and even speakers from time to time, stumble when it comes to understanding how to treat these different verbs. Most of us will be familiar with active and passive verbs, but it doesn’t stop there, e hoa mā; there are transitive and intransitive verbs, experience verbs, and…stative verbs! 

There have been a few Māori grammar books published over the years. Hone pays particular tribute to Cleve Barlow’s translation of Bruce Biggs’ Let’s Learn Māori, which introduced him to the linguistic terms in te reo Māori employed in this book. Hone points out that these terms are grounded in a Māori worldview, which makes this tricky topic slightly easier to grasp if you have an understanding of the language. For example, tūmahi poro (intransitive verb) — tūmahi is a doing word and poro means “to be cut short,” describing an action that does not extend to an object. And tūmahi whiti (transitive verb) — whiti means “to cross over or connect to something else,” capturing the way the action passes on to something else.

What makes this book stand out from other grammar books is its focus: instead of covering a range of different aspects of te reo, it hones in on verbs. We look at all kinds of verbs, including the challenging ones that don’t always follow the rules and need a little extra attention, like āhei and taea. While similar, they differ in subtle yet important ways, so much so that Hone devotes an entire chapter to explaining them.

Something that requires a special mention, which may not be thought of immediately when looking at the book, are the pages dedicated to teaching how to negate different verb sentences, which are used every day in everyday conversation - like Kāore au e haere ki te mahi i te rā nei (I will not be going to work today).

There is something in this book for all learners of te reo Māori, regardless of your fluency level. Intermediate to advanced learners will benefit from reading both the English and Māori texts, as the entire book is bilingual. Advanced speakers and teachers, like myself, will find it invaluable as a reference, as it’s always beneficial to refresh your memory and revisit what has been learned (and sometimes forgotten) before passing that learning on to others.

All in all, Hone keeps it straightforward. Grammar is tricky enough as it is, but he doesn’t overcomplicate things or overwhelm us with technical jargon. The book is clear, practical, and easy to follow. After all, verbs – doing words – sit at the very foundation of conversation. I wrote this review, you’re reading it, and we will discuss it. (Which reminds me: Hone also covers tenses and all those little particles that anchor our language – but you’ll need to pick up a copy to learn more about that!)

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