Shopping

1. E hia te ho'o o teie?

   How much does this cost?

   Usage

   Essential phrase to ask the price of an item

   Grammar Note

   utu means "lip / requital", not price; the price is ho'o. Pape'ete's market uses CFP francs

2. Ho'o rahi roa.

   The price is too high.

   Usage

   Express that the price is too expensive

   Grammar Note

   rahi means big or much; roa intensifies to "too" when indicating excess

3. 'A hōro'a mai i te hō'ē tiare.

   Give me a tiare flower, please.

   Usage

   Buy a tiare flower — Tahiti's national flower — at a market

   Grammar Note

   pere'o'o means "a wheel, coach", not a flower — pere'o'o tiare would read "flower cart". tiare is "the name of a sweet scented flower", the emblem of Tahiti. The request uses hōro'a "to give" + mai "toward the speaker"

4. E ho'o vau i teie.

   I will take this.

   Usage

   Tell the seller you have decided to purchase the item

   Grammar Note

   fa'a'ō means "to insert / put in", not "to buy". Both buying and selling are ho'o. "This" is teie

5. Tē hi'o noa nei au.

   I am just looking.

   Usage

   Let the shopkeeper know you are browsing without buying

   Grammar Note

   tāmata means "to try, to begin", not "to browse". "To look" is hi'o. Tē … nei is the progressive frame

6. Tei hea te fare toa tao'a fenua?

   Where is the gift shop?

   Usage

   Ask for the location of a souvenir or gift shop

   Grammar Note

   tapu means "sacred / forbidden" — the word on "no entry" signs — and has nothing to do with souvenirs. A shop is fare toa and goods are tao'a ("property, goods of any sort"). No single Tahitian word for "souvenir" exists, so this says "shop of local goods"

7. E mea nehenehe roa teie tiare!

   This tiare flower is very beautiful.

   Usage

   Comment on the tiare — Tahiti's national flower sold at markets

   Grammar Note

   He … is the Hawaiian/Māori article, absent from Tahitian (indefinite e, definite te), and nani is also Hawaiian. Tahitian for "beautiful" is nehenehe. tiare is Tahiti's national flower, used in leis and in monoi oil

8. E hia te moni ato'a?

   What is the total price?

   Usage

   Ask for the total when purchasing multiple items

   Grammar Note

   'e'a is not an interrogative but "path"; amounts take E hia?. "Total" is ato'a; mau is the plural marker, not "total"

9. E mono'i 'ānei teie?

   Is this monoi oil?

   Usage

   Ask whether a product is authentic monoi — the traditional Tahitian coconut oil

   Grammar Note

   He is the Hawaiian/Māori article and does not exist in Tahitian, and 'ōfai means "stone", which cannot qualify an oil. mono'i is "the sweet scented oil used by the natives" — coconut oil infused with tiare

10. 'A tāpo'i mai i teie.

    Please wrap this for me.

    Usage

    Ask the shopkeeper to wrap an item as a gift or for carrying

    Grammar Note

    hopu means "to dive under water; also to bathe", not "to wrap". "To wrap / cover" is tāpo'i. 'A + verb is the polite imperative

11. 'Aita vau e hina'aro i te reçu

    I don't need a receipt

    Usage

    Used to decline a receipt when it is offered. The receipt is called by the French word reçu

    Grammar Note

    'Aita is the negator and opens the sentence, followed by the subject vau (I), the particle e and the verb hina'aro (to want). The object takes the preposition i plus the article te

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