Originally Posted By: The Pook
Originally Posted By: olly
Originally Posted By: latishya

I think where Olly lives "te" actually DOES mean "the".


Beat me to it.
Yep, mostly it is a definite article, in some instances. 'Te' can also be a relative pronoun or a particle to be used for emphasis.

Hey I've been to Te Anau. And once knew someone from Te Awamutu. Is that what it means in place names? The definite article? Or does it mean something like 'place' or 'village'?


A friend once told me that "te" is the singular definite article in NZ Maori and "nga" is the plural definite article. So "te kiwi" is "the kiwi" and "nga kiwi" is "the kiwis". I don't know anything at all about the other Maori though.