Words for the roles people take

He tangata mākohakoha te kairēhita
Words for the roles people take

In Te Kākano you learnt some useful words for people's occupation, these words were Māori versions of the English term, for example tākuta is doctor, and nēhi is nurse. However, there is a useful way of transforming verbs involving an action into terms for the roles that people take by simply prefixing the verb with kai-.

Hei tauira:

waiata (-tia) kaiwaiata mahi kaimahi

to sing singer work worker

This is a simple way to create a term for roles, when no special word exists.

For further explanations and examples see Te Pihinga pp. 48 – 49

Tirohia ngā tūmahi kei raro iho, ā, hangaia he kupu mō te mahi a tētehi tangata.
Take a look at the verbs found below, and have a go at creating words for the roles people take.