What does kia kaha mean? Grammar and uses

What does kia kaha mean? It means “be strong” in te reo Māori, and also “keep going”, “get stuck in” or, with a shrug, “go for it then”. Te Aka Māori Dictionary gives all of those, and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, the Māori Language Commission, notes that kia kaha ‘be strong’ is well understood in New Zealand English with its meaning of “be strong”. People say it to someone facing something hard, to a whole city after a disaster, and at the end of a message. It is two words: kaha, strong, and kia, the same little word that begins kia ora. This guide explains both, the longer Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui ‘be strong, be brave, be steadfast’, the Māori Battalion’s ake ake kia kaha e, the times the phrase has been heard around the world, and how to say it.

Updated 19 October 2026 · 7 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.

Kia kaha meaning and translation

Te Aka lists kia kaha as a phrase of its own, with two meanings. The first is the one everyone knows; the second is drier, and worth knowing before you use the phrase to someone about to do something rash.

Meaning (Te Aka)	Te Aka’s example	Translation
be strong, get stuck in, keep going	Kia kaha te takahi atu!	Put your foot down! (a companion urging a faster pace)
go for it then, sometimes suggesting that there are risks involved	Ā kāti, kia kaha.	Oh well, go for it then. (said to someone who will not take a grandmother’s advice about the waves)

So there is no single English translation. “Be strong” is the literal one, and the one Te Taura Whiri gives. “Keep going” and “stay strong” fit encouragement; “go for it” fits a challenge. Which is meant depends, as in English, on the situation and the tone.

The grammar: kia + a state

Kaha is a verb in Māori, where English would use an adjective: Te Aka gives to be strong, able, capable, courageous, intense, energetic, and as a noun strength, ability, power, energy, stamina. Kia is a particle with several jobs. The one in kia kaha is Te Aka’s “be, let be”: it “indicates that it is desirable for something to occur”, and it is how commands are given with words for states and feelings. Te Aka’s own example is Kia tūpato! ‘Be careful!’, and its entry points to kia kaha as the other one to know.

That is why the phrase never changes. Kia does not vary, and there is no word for you in it, so the same two words go to one person, to a team or to a whole country. Te Aka notes the same of kia ora, which it says is used to any number of people. Add a subject after the state and it becomes a wish about something else: that is the Māori Language Week slogan, whose meaning is explained in Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

kia + state	Literally	Used as
Kia kaha!	be strong	Encouragement, support, a sign-off.
Kia ora!	be well	Hello, thank you, cheers, good luck.
Kia tūpato!	be careful	A warning; Te Aka’s example of this kia.
Kia māia!	be brave	Courage before a challenge.
Kia manawanui!	be steadfast, patient	Hold on, keep at it.

The same particle has other uses in longer sentences, among them when, until for the future and so that, as Te Aka sets out. They are a step further on; for the phrases on this page, “be” or “let it be” is all you need.

Kia ora and kia kaha: the same kia

Kia ora is built exactly like kia kaha. Te Aka gives its literal translation as “be well”, and ora is to be alive, well, safe. One wishes someone health, the other strength; the grammar is identical. Kia ora has grown into the everyday hello, thank you and cheers, which Māori greetings covers along with the other ways to open and close a message, while kia kaha has kept its literal sense. Other wishes on the same pattern, such as Kia pai tō rā ‘have a good day’, are collected in common Māori phrases.

When people say kia kaha

Before something hard. An exam, a race, a first day, a difficult week: Te Aka’s “get stuck in, keep going” is the sense.
In hard times. After an illness, a loss or a disaster it means something close to “stay strong, we are with you”, which is how it was used to Christchurch in 2011 and 2019 (below).
At the end of a message. The 2019 message from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex closes with the two words “Kia Kaha.” on a line of their own, as a sign-off.
To a learner. Said to someone who is learning te reo, it means “keep going”; common Māori phrases has the exchange in which you are likely to hear it.

It works inside English, too: both royal messages below are in English and use it untranslated. Other Māori words at home in English are listed in Māori words in New Zealand English.

Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui

The longer form adds two more commands on the same pattern. Each word has more than one English meaning, and these are Te Aka’s:

Māori	Word meaning (Te Aka)	Usual translation
kia kaha	strong, able, capable, courageous, energetic	be strong
kia māia	brave, bold, capable, confident	be brave
kia manawanui	steadfast, stout-hearted, patient, resolute, persistent, committed	be steadfast

So Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui is “be strong, be brave, be steadfast”, and “be confident” or “be patient” are fair alternatives for the last two. The pattern is old: Te Aka’s first example for manawanui, from 1899, opens with Kia manawanui ‘be resolute’. The Ministry of Health used the same frame in 2020 for its COVID-19 mental wellbeing plan, Kia Kaha, Kia Māia, Kia Ora Aotearoa: be strong, be brave, be well, New Zealand.

Where the three-part phrase comes from is not recorded in any source this guide could find: Te Aka does not list it as a set phrase or a proverb, and no reputable source names a composer or a first use. Nor was any source found linking it to the 28th (Māori) Battalion: the battalion’s own song uses a different phrase. The proverbs that are recorded are in whakataukī: Māori proverbs.

Ake ake kia kaha e: the Māori Battalion

The best-known older use of the phrase is in the marching song of the 28th (Māori) Battalion, which fought in Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy in the Second World War. The 28th Māori Battalion website says the song was composed by Anania (Nan) Amohau of B Company, set to the music of an American marching song, and became the battalion’s rallying cry. Its title, and the shout that ends each chorus, is Ake! Ake! Kia kaha e!. NZ Folk Song identifies the tune as the Washington and Lee Swing, and quotes Wira Gardiner’s history of the battalion: Amohau first introduced the song to the trainees at Trentham one evening in November, and it was sung for the next five years wherever Māori gathered.

Te Aka gives the repeated form, āke, ake, ake, as “forever, evermore, on and on”, with an example from a 1951 prayer book in which kaha appears as a noun: te kaha ‘the power’, in “for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory for evermore”. The published translations of the battalion’s line differ:

Source	Translation of “Ake! Ake! Kia kaha e!”
28th Māori Battalion website	Fight on, fight on, for ever and ever
NZ Folk Song (English of the Māori chorus)	Forever and ever be strong!
Word for word, from Te Aka	Forever, forever, be strong

Kia kaha around the world

Christchurch, 2011. A memorial service was held in Hagley Park on 18 March 2011 for those who died in the February earthquake. Prince William ended his speech with it: “Throughout, one phrase unites them all. … I say it to you now: ‘Kia kaha’. Be strong.”
Christchurch, 2019. On 15 March 2019, the day of the attack on two Christchurch mosques, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent a message to the people of New Zealand that ends “Kia Kaha.”
COVID-19, 2020. The Ministry of Health’s Kia Kaha, Kia Māia, Kia Ora Aotearoa plan was first published on 16 May 2020 and revised in December 2020.
Schools. Kia Kaha is the name of New Zealand Police’s programme for schools, through which students develop strategies for respectful relationships where bullying is not tolerated.

How to say kia kaha

Four syllables, all with short vowels: ki-a ka-ha. Both vowels of kia are said, the i roughly as in eat and the a as in aloud (Victoria University’s comparisons), and both as of kaha are the same short a. The h is sounded, and there are no macrons, so nothing is held long. In māia the macron marks a long ā, held about twice as long as a short one. The Māori pronunciation guide explains each vowel and what a macron does.

Going further

Phrases like kia kaha are often said to someone going through illness or hardship; the Māori words used in health and wellbeing are a topic of their own, and one of them is explained in takiwātanga, the Māori word for autism. Kia, kaha, ora, māia and manawanui are all in the course’s vocabulary, and our own free te reo Māori course teaches them with the grammar of kia, one lesson a day.