The best way to learn te reo Māori in 2026

The best way to learn te reo Māori is to combine two things: a structured course you do every day, and regular time speaking with real people. Our pick for the daily course is Verbavia (our own course), which is free and hand-written from the first word to B1. Add a class, a wānanga or an online group for speaking, and fill the gaps with listening and a good dictionary. Which class depends on where you live, how much time you have and how far you want to go.

Updated 7 October 2026 · 9 min read

Tap 🔊 to hear an example. Māori examples play Papa Reo, the te reo Māori voice made by Te Hiku Media from recordings of native speakers.

The short answer

No single route does everything. A self-study course gives you structure and daily habit but nobody to talk to. A class gives you people but meets once or twice a week. Immersion gets you furthest, fastest, but asks for weeks or a year of your life. So the realistic plan for most adult learners is a combination:

1. Every day: one lesson of a structured course. Our pick is Verbavia’s te reo Māori course: free, one lesson a day, and every example spoken by a native te reo voice.
2. Every week: speaking with people, in a class, a community group or a live online class.
3. Whenever you can: listening to te reo on the radio, on television and in podcasts, with Te Aka Māori Dictionary open beside you.
4. When you are ready: an immersion course or a kura reo, a language school of several days, usually on a marae or at a place of learning, where everyone speaks Māori.

The first sentence most learners need is Kei te ako au i te reo Māori. ‘I’m learning te reo Māori.’ The second, soon after, is Aroha mai, kei te ako tonu au. ‘Sorry, I’m still learning.’ Every route below gets you saying both with confidence; they differ in what comes next.

The ways to learn Māori, compared

Costs and details are as of October 2026, from each provider’s own page. Courses open and close enrolments during the year, so check the provider before you plan around a date.

1. Verbavia: a free course, every day

Verbavia’s te reo Māori course is our first recommendation because it solves the problem every other route leaves open: what to do on the six days between classes. It is a guided course of 311 lessons, one a day, from your first word to the end of the B1 level, and every lesson was written by hand. None is generated by AI.

• Free on the web, in any browser, including on a phone.
• Native audio. Every example is voiced by Papa Reo, the te reo Māori voice made by Te Hiku Media from recordings of native speakers.
• Common words first. The vocabulary comes in frequency order, so the words you meet most are the ones you learn first; the Māori frequency list shows that order.
• Grammar explained in English, with reading, listening and writing sections in the lessons, and macrons taught from the start.
• A test to see where you stand. The two-minute Māori vocabulary test estimates how many words you know.

Its limits are just as plain. The course ends at B1; after the last lesson the daily lesson reviews the B1 lessons rather than going further. There is no speaking section and no live teacher, so nothing in it will correct your pronunciation or hold a conversation with you. That is exactly why the routes below are its partners rather than its rivals. Verbavia Premium, on the web, costs US$4 a month after a 7-day trial and removes a short advert before lessons and the one-language-at-a-time limit; the Māori course itself is free without it.

2. Free courses from the wānanga

If you live in New Zealand, the most generous offer in the country is from the wānanga ‘place of higher learning’, the Māori tertiary institutions. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa lists its te reo programmes from level 1 to level 4 with no fees, as of October 2026. Te Ara Reo Māori is taught online; Te Kahupapa o te Reo in a classroom; and Te Pūtaketanga o te Reo at level 3 either in a classroom or with one weekly class and four noho, residential sessions usually held at weekends.

The commitment is real. Te Ara Reo Māori Level 1 runs for 38 weeks, with three hours of online classes and about fourteen hours of your own study each week, and leads to the New Zealand Certificate in Te Reo (Reo Rua) Level 1. You need to be 16 or over, a New Zealand citizen or resident (including the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau) or an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and living in New Zealand. When we checked, enrolment for that programme was closed and due to open later in the year.

Te Wānanga o Raukawa offers Poupou Huia Te Reo, three certificates at NZQA levels 4 and 5, each 20 weeks and fully online, free for New Zealand citizens and residents. Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi runs Te Pōkaitahi Reo from level 1, which needs no prior knowledge, to levels 5 and 6, which are full immersion. More free options are in free Māori courses.

Suits: learners in New Zealand who want a qualification and can give a course real hours every week.

3. Community and night classes: Te Ataarangi

Te Ataarangi has been part of the revival of te reo Māori for 47 years. It was developed by Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira and Ngoingoi Pewhairangi, and it teaches through use rather than explanation: its method is Te Ara Wahangū, the Silent Way, and its classes use coloured rods, rākau ‘sticks’, to build sentences you say aloud. Its Kura Hāpori are community classes in regions around the country, with times, days and levels that vary from place to place.

Other providers run evening classes too. The easiest way to find one near you is the national directory at reomaori.co.nz, run by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, the Māori Language Commission, which can be filtered for night classes, online courses, full immersion and level.

Suits: people who learn best by speaking, and who want a group of fellow learners to practise with.

4. Live online classes from anywhere

If you live outside New Zealand, or cannot get to a class, Te Huanui brings the Te Ataarangi method online. It is taught live on Zoom in small groups of 10 to 15 learners, each with its own tutor, at three levels. A course runs for 21 weeks: a two-hour induction, then a two-hour session each week and at least three hours of your own practice. Level 1 meets on Tuesdays from 12 to 2pm or Wednesdays from 7 to 9pm, New Zealand time. As of October 2026 it costs NZ$650 plus GST, NZ$747.50 in all.

Suits: learners anywhere who want a teacher and a speaking group, and whose time zone works with New Zealand’s.

5. Immersion: university and wānanga

Immersion is where conversational learners become speakers. The University of Waikato’s Te Tohu Paetahi has run for more than 25 years in Hamilton and Tauranga: classes every weekday from 9am to 3pm, moving to total immersion, leading to a diploma or credit towards the first year of a Bachelor of Arts. At the higher levels the wānanga above teach entirely in Māori too.

Shorter immersion comes as a kura reo. Te Aka Māori Dictionary defines one as a language school usually held on a marae or at a place of learning over several days, for speaking and learning Māori. They are a big step up from a weekly class, and most useful once you can already hold a simple conversation.

Suits: people aiming for fluency who can set aside a block of time, from a few days to a year.

6. Apps

Apps are good for vocabulary in spare minutes and weak on everything else. Drops offers Māori, free for a limited time each day with paid plans for more. Duolingo, as of October 2026, has no Māori course at all; the story of the one it announced is in is te reo Māori on Duolingo?, and the rest are compared in the best Māori apps.

Suits: anyone, as a top-up to a course. An app alone will not take you to conversation.

7. Dictionary, television and radio

Two free tools belong in every learner’s routine. Te Aka Māori Dictionary, by John C. Moorfield, is free online and as an iOS and Android app, with examples of usage, idioms and grammatical explanations. Te Whanake, from the same author, has free online resources for independent learning, including Tōku Reo, a television series for beginners.

For real speech, Whakaata Māori, formerly Māori Television, broadcasts programmes in te reo Māori and streams them on MĀORI+, alongside Te Ao Māori News. Te Hiku Media in Kaitaia runs Te Hiku Radio, which broadcasts in te reo, and RNZ has a Te Ao Māori news section. Listening will not teach you grammar, but it is the only way to get used to the speed and rhythm of the language as it is spoken.

How to combine them

Pick the line below that sounds most like you. In each, the daily course carries the grammar and vocabulary, and the rest gives you people and real speech.

Whatever the mix, expect the beginning to be quick and the middle to be slow: the sounds and basic patterns come within weeks, while vocabulary and the ā and ō possessives take longer, as is te reo Māori hard to learn? explains. How many words you need for each stage is the subject of how many Māori words you need.

If you are starting today, the 30-day plan for beginners lays out your first month. And when your Māori feels small, there is a sentence for that too: He iti taku reo, engari kei te ako au. ‘My reo is small, but I am learning.’

Sources

1. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa: te reo Māori programmes, levels 1 to 9 (no fees at levels 1 to 4), read 6 October 2026.
2. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa: Te Ara Reo Māori Level 1 (part-time) — 38 weeks, hours, eligibility, enrolment status.
3. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa: Te Pūtaketanga o te Reo Level 3 (noho) — weekly class plus four noho.
4. Te Wānanga o Raukawa: te reo studies — Poupou Huia Te Reo 1 to 3, online, 20 weeks, free for NZ citizens and residents.
5. Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi: certificates — Te Pōkaitahi Reo levels 1 to 6.
6. Te Ataarangi: history, founders, Te Ara Wahangū method, Kura Hāpori and online programmes.
7. Reo Kōrero: Te Huanui — live Zoom classes, levels 1 to 3, 21 weeks, NZ$650 plus GST.
8. University of Waikato: Te Tohu Paetahi — full immersion, weekdays 9am to 3pm, Hamilton and Tauranga.
9. Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori: directory of te reo Māori courses.
10. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: about the dictionary and its app.
11. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: kura reo.
12. Te Whanake: free online resources and Tōku Reo.
13. Drops: learn Māori — free daily sessions for a limited time, paid plans.
14. Duolingo: courses for English speakers (no Māori course, checked 6 October 2026).
15. Whakaata Māori (formerly Māori Television), MĀORI+ and Te Ao Māori News.
16. Te Hiku Media: Te Hiku Radio and Papa Reo.
17. RNZ: Te Ao Māori news.