Hawaiian Lessons

HAWAIIAN [HWI]

- 1,000 mother tongue speakers, 500 with Ni'ihau Island connections, another 500 in their 70s or 80s (1995 Laina Wong Univ. of Hawaii).

- 8,000 can speak and understand it (1993 Keith Haugen).

- 237,128 ethnic Hawaiians in Hawaii (1996 Hawaii State Dept. of Health), 18.8% of the population (1990 Hawaii State Dept. of Health)

- 99,269 ethnic Hawaiians on the USA mainland (1990 census), including 24,245 in California.

- In 1900 there were 37,000 mother tongue speakers (1995 Honolulu Advertiser).

- Ethnic Hawaiians include 8,244 pure Hawaiian, 72,809 between 50% and 99% Hawaiian, 127,523 less than 50% Hawaiian in Hawaii (1984 Office of Hawaiian Affairs).

- In 1778 there were believed to have been more than 500,000 pure Hawaiians (1995 Wayne Harada). Hawaiian Islands, mainly Ni'ihau Island and the Big Island of Hawai'i, some on all the other islands.

- Alternate names: 'OLELO HAWAI'I, 'OLELO HAWAI'I MAKUAHINE.

- Language classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Nuclear, East, Central, Marquesic.

HA’AWINA ‘EKAHI (Lesson One)

Papa'ölelo (vocabulary list)

aha – what ( in questions)
makua - parent
au; wau - I
mäkua - parents
'ae – yes
makuahine - mother
'a'ole – no
makuakäne - father
Hawai'i – Hawaiian; Hawai'i
mo'o - lizard
'ïlio – dog
nani - pretty, nice
ka'a – car
no ka mea - because
kaikamahine – girl
noho – chair, to sit/stay/live
kanaka – person
nui – big, large, great, many, numerous
känaka – persons
'o ia – he, she
käne – man
'oe – you
këia - this
Päkë – Chinese
keikikäne – boy
Paniolo – Spanish/Spaniard
këlä – that (far)
Pilipino – Filipino
kënä – that (near)
Pokoliko - Puerto Rican
Kepanï – Japanese
pöpoki - cat
kolohe – rascal, mischievous
pua - flower
kupuna – grandparent
puka – door
kupunakäne – grandfather
Pukïkï – Portuguese
kupunawahine – grandmother
u'i – beautiful, handsome (people)
loa - very
wahine – woman

ka'i: këia, këlä and kënä: The demonstrative pronouns (this, that) in Hawaiian focuses on the person spoken to.

- Këia is used to mean "this" and is close to the speaker.

- Kënä means "that" and refers to the thing that is close to the person being spoken to or close to the thing that one is speaking about.

- Këlä is also "that" but is distant from both the speaker and the one being spoken to or about.

Këia, këlä and kënä are referred to as ka'i. Later in future lessons you will learn how important it is to have a ka'i in order to form sentences. Ka'i means "to lead; direct".

kikino & i'oa: In Hawaiian, the common nouns are referred to as a kikino. A proper noun (name of a person or a place name) is called an i'oa.

kähulu: adjectives in Hawaiian follow the noun. The "hulu" in kähulu is a feather. Think of it as a decoration and that it is used to decorate the noun therefore comes after the noun. kikino kähulu -> 'ïlio nui “big dog”, pua nani “pretty flower”.

Pepeke 'Aike: a pepeke is a complete statement. Basically whatever words you put together to make a sentence in Hawaiian is a pepeke. In this lesson you'll learn the "pepeke 'aike he". It answers who or what (person, place, thing) it is. He means "a/an" but is used in a particular pattern to make a statement such as "That is a cat" or "I am Hawaiian".
In Hawaiian the verb "to be" doesn't exist so this is one way of forming sentences where you would use the verb "to be" in English. he pöpoki – “a cat”, he 'ïlio – “a dog”, he mo'o – “a lizard”, he käne nui – “a big man”.

PATTERN: He + noun phrase + subject

he pöpoki këia= “this is a cat”,
he 'ïlio këlä = “that (far) is a dog”
he Hawai'i au = “I am Hawaiian”
he kaikamahine 'o ia = “she is a girl”
he käne këlä = “that is a man”
he pua kënä = “that (near) is a flower”
he aha këlä = “what is that?”
he makuakäne 'oe = “you are a father”
he mo'o kënä = “that is a lizard”
he 'ïlio nui këia = “this is a big dog”
he keikikäne kolohe 'o ia = “he is a rascal boy”
he wahine Pokoliko 'o ia = “she is a Puerto Rican (woman)”
'ae, he wahine nani loa këlä yes, that is a very pretty lady

Like in English, changing the intonation at the end of the sentence turns it into a question.

He aha këia? - What is this?
He puke këia. - This is a book.
He puke këia? - Is this a book?
'Ae, he puke këia. - Yes, this is a book.
He Hawai'i 'o ia? - Is he Hawaiian?
He Hawai'i 'o ia. - He is Hawaiian.

The 'ami hea (e vocative): When addressing someone by name, you use the vocative "e" in front of the person's name.
E Keoni - Keoni
E Kaleo, he aha këlä? – Kaleo, what is that?

When you are addressing someone other than using the person's name, you use a ka'i (ka/ke).
E ke keikikäne
E ke kaikamahine

note: 'ami means "joint". Later you will learn of other 'ami and their use.

Päpä'ölelo (conversation)

Keoni: E Kaleo, he aha këlä? - Kaleo, what is that? (far)
Kaleo: He 'ïlio këlä. - That's a dog.
Keoni: He 'ïlio nui loa! - A very big dog!
Kaleo: 'Ae, a he 'ïlio kolohe. - Yes, and a mischievous dog.
Keoni: E Kaleo, he aha kënä? - Kaleo, what is that? (near Kaleo)
Kaleo: He pua këia. - This is a flower.
Keoni: He pua nani kënä, e Kaleo. - That's a pretty flower, Kaleo.
Kaleo: 'Ae, he pua Hawai'i ia. - Yes, it's a Hawaiian flower.