Passive Suffixes in Māori

In Brief

Māori forms the passive by adding a suffix to the verb, but the suffix is not predictable from the verb's modern shape: patu → patua, tuhi → tuhia, kite → kitea, and rongo → rongohia. Learn the active and passive forms together as a pair. The person carrying out the action, if stated, is introduced by e.

Overview

A passive sentence presents the person or thing affected by an action as its central participant. In plain terms, English changes “Hēmi wrote the letter” to “The letter was written by Hēmi.” Māori makes a comparable change by attaching a passive suffix to the verb: tuhi “write” becomes tuhia “be written.” The performer of the action—called the agent—can then be marked with e, roughly corresponding to English “by.”

This B1 topic builds on the general Māori passive pattern. Here the focus is choosing the actual form of the passive verb. Several endings occur, including -tia, -hia, -a, and -ina, but there is no dependable rule that lets a learner look at every active verb and calculate its ending. A dictionary normally lists the passive form, often in parentheses after the headword, and that form should be treated as part of the verb's vocabulary.

This matters especially because passive clauses are frequent and natural in Māori. They are not limited to stiff official prose, as English passives sometimes are. Māori speakers use them when the affected person or thing is already the topic, when the agent is unknown or unimportant, and in many ordinary ways of describing completed, planned, or requested actions.

How It Works

Form the verb with its lexical suffix

The verb stem (the basic form of the verb) takes the passive form associated with that particular word.

Active verb	Meaning	Passive verb	Passive meaning	Ending seen by the learner
patu	hit, strike	patua	be hit	-a
tuhi	write	tuhia	be written	-a
kite	see, find	kitea	be seen, be found	-a
rongo	hear, feel	rongohia	be heard, be felt	-hia
ako	learn, study	ākona	be taught or learned	-na
whakaako	teach	whakaakona	be taught	-na
tiki	fetch, get	tikina	be fetched, be obtained	-ina
whakatuwhera	open	whakatuwheratia	be opened	-tia

Similar English glosses do not prove that two Māori verbs share a passive form. Check the exact Māori verb and meaning rather than creating an ending by analogy.

It is common to speak of endings such as -a or -hia, but forms like tuhia are best memorised whole. Simply “adding -a” to the written active form does not describe every visible spelling change neatly. A useful flashcard therefore has tuhi — tuhia, not merely “tuhi takes -a.”

Put the passive verb into the clause

The basic pattern is:

tense/aspect particle + passive verb + affected participant + e + agent

• I tuhia te reta e Mere. — “The letter was written by Mere.”
• Kua kitea te mea ngaro. — “The lost thing has been found.”

A tense/aspect particle is a short word before the verb that locates or views the event, such as i for a past event, kua for a resulting completed event, or ka for what follows or will occur. Making the verb passive does not replace that particle.

The affected participant is the person or thing that undergoes the action. In I patua te kurī e Hēmi, te kurī is affected and Hēmi is the agent. The marker e belongs before the agent, not before the affected participant.

The agent may be omitted:

• I rongohia te kōrero. — “The speech was heard.”
• Ka whakaakona ngā tamariki. — “The children will be taught.”

Omission does not imply that nobody carried out the action. It only means that the speaker does not identify the agent—perhaps because it is obvious, unknown, or irrelevant.

Keep pronouns after e in their ordinary form

An agent can be a name, a noun phrase, or a pronoun:

Agent phrase	Meaning
e Mere	by Mere
e te kaiako	by the teacher
e ngā tamariki	by the children
e au	by me
e koe	by you
e ia	by him or her
e mātou	by us (three or more, excluding you)

Māori pronouns distinguish number and, in the first-person plural, whether the listener is included. Choose the pronoun for the intended people; the passive construction itself does not alter that distinction.

Learn a family of endings, not one productive rule

The title highlights four common-looking suffixes, but Māori passive forms include a wider set, such as forms ending in -ngia, -kia, -ria, -mia, -na, and -whia. Some variation reflects the history of Māori words: consonants that are no longer present at the end of the independent verb can appear in the passive form. That history helps explain why the system has many shapes, but it is not a practical rule for predicting an unfamiliar verb.

The safe B1 strategy is therefore lexical: notice the form in reliable input, confirm it in a dictionary, and learn the pair. Do not assume that a newly borrowed or newly encountered verb accepts whichever suffix sounds familiar.

Examples in Context

Māori	English	Note
I tuhia e ia te reta.	The letter was written by him or her.	The agent e ia is stated directly after the passive verb.
I tuhia te reta e Mere.	The letter was written by Mere.	A common ordering with the affected item before the agent.
Kua kitea te mea ngaro.	The lost thing has been found.	kitea; the agent is omitted.
I kitea te tohorā e ngā tamariki.	The whale was seen by the children.	e ngā tamariki names the agent.
I rongohia te kōrero.	The speech was heard.	rongo → rongohia.
I rongohia te waiata e te katoa.	The song was heard by everyone.	The passive keeps attention on the song.
Ka whakaakona ngā tamariki.	The children will be taught.	whakaako → whakaakona.
Ka whakaakona te reo Māori e te kaiako.	The Māori language will be taught by the teacher.	Both the affected item and agent are explicit.
I patua te pōro e Hine.	The ball was hit by Hine.	patu → patua.
Kua tikina ngā pukapuka.	The books have been fetched.	tiki → tikina.
I kainga te kai e ngā tamariki.	The food was eaten by the children.	kai → kainga, showing another passive ending.
Ka whakatuwheratia te tatau.	The door will be opened.	Learn whakatuwhera → whakatuwheratia as a pair.

English translation often uses “be + past participle,” such as “was written” or “will be taught.” A past participle is the English form used in expressions like “written,” “seen,” and “eaten.” This translation is useful, but it should not tempt you to copy English word order mechanically: follow the Māori particle–verb pattern and use e for an expressed agent.

Common Mistakes

Using one suffix for every verb

• Wrong: I tuhitia te reta.
• Right: I tuhia te reta.
• Why: The established passive of tuhi is tuhia. -tia is not a default ending that can be attached to every verb.

Guessing from the last vowel

• Wrong: I rongoa te kōrero. (intended: “The speech was heard.”)
• Right: I rongohia te kōrero.
• Why: The final vowel of rongo does not tell you to choose -a. Learn rongo — rongohia as a vocabulary pair. Also avoid confusing an invented form with other real Māori words.

Leaving the verb active in a passive pattern

• Wrong: I tuhi te reta e Mere.
• Right: I tuhia te reta e Mere.
• Why: If te reta is presented as the affected participant and Mere is marked as agent, the verb needs its passive form.

Marking the affected participant with e

• Wrong: I patua e te kurī Hēmi. (intended: “The dog was hit by Hēmi.”)
• Right: I patua te kurī e Hēmi.
• Why: e introduces the agent, the person who performs the action. It does not mark the dog that undergoes the action.

Adding an English-style equivalent of “by” twice

• Wrong: I tuhia te reta nā e Mere.
• Right: I tuhia te reta e Mere.
• Why: In this ordinary passive pattern, e alone marks the agent. English “by” is a translation aid, not an extra word to insert.

Changing or dropping the tense/aspect particle

• Wrong: Tuhia te reta e Mere when reporting a completed past event.
• Right: I tuhia te reta e Mere.
• Why: i supplies the past-event frame. Without it, Tuhia te reta! can instead be understood as a command: “Write the letter!” Context and intonation matter.

Usage Notes

Māori uses the passive more freely than everyday English. An English speaker may instinctively rewrite every passive as an active sentence because school style advice sometimes discourages passives. That is poor guidance here. A natural Māori passive can keep the conversation centred on the food, letter, song, child, or task affected by the event.

Word order can vary with information structure—the way a speaker arranges old, new, or emphasised information. The concept example I tuhia e ia te reta places the agent phrase immediately after the verb, while I tuhia te reta e Mere places it later. At this level, become comfortable recognising both, while using the latter as a clear basic model.

Macrons remain important when the underlying word has them: ako → ākona. They are not decoration; vowel length can distinguish words and should be preserved in notes and writing. At the same time, do not infer a passive form solely by adding or moving a macron. Confirm both spelling and suffix.

Some passive-looking forms occur very often in instructions and public language. A passive verb can be used with an imperative force, especially when the desired action is directed toward a particular thing: Tuhia tō ingoa means “Write your name.” English does not translate this with a passive, even though tuhia is morphologically the passive form. This is a normal Māori pattern, not an exception to be “corrected” to tuhi.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The different suffixes preserve traces of older word shapes. Comparative study across Polynesian languages and historical analysis can explain why consonants appear in forms such as rongohia or kainga even though the independent verbs end in vowels. This is valuable background, but it does not turn the inventory into a simple predictive chart: present-day learners still need the conventional form of each verb.

More advanced reading also reveals alternative passive forms and variation for some verbs. Dictionaries may give more than one accepted passive, and communities or texts may prefer different forms. Treat a listed variant as evidence to investigate—its source, meaning, and dialect—not as permission to swap suffixes freely. When writing for a particular iwi (tribal group), school, workplace, or publication, follow the forms preferred there.

Passive morphology also interacts with meaning. A verb with several senses may not behave exactly alike in every construction, and an English translation can conceal the Māori perspective. For example, English may choose an active imperative for Māori Tuhia!, or use “found” for passive kitea. Analyse the Māori sentence on its own terms: identify the particle, the suffixed verb, the affected participant, and any e-marked agent before settling on an idiomatic English translation.

Finally, passive clauses are part of larger discourse choices. Speakers may choose them to continue an established topic, avoid naming an agent, highlight a result, or frame a direction. Mastery therefore means more than recalling endings. It means recognising why the affected participant is prominent and choosing a form that fits the surrounding conversation.

Practice Tips

1. Record verbs in pairs. Write tuhi — tuhia, kite — kitea, rongo — rongohia, and tiki — tikina on the same card. Add one short passive sentence rather than memorising a detached suffix.
2. Transform complete sentences. Start with an active idea such as “Mere wrote the letter,” then practise I tuhia te reta e Mere. Keep the tense/aspect particle, move attention to the affected item, and mark the agent with e.
3. Mine reliable Māori text and audio. Each time you meet a suffixed verb, check its dictionary entry and save the whole phrase. Sort examples by verb pair, not only by ending; this trains recognition without encouraging unsafe guessing.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Passive Voice — introduces the overall passive clause, the affected participant, and the agent marker e.