Ka Papa ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian language course)

[Nero]

Ua akahana Mamo - he Ha`awina kākou
E kilo, a E Ho`omana`o!

[Mamo]

Ua akahana Mamo - he Ha`awina kākou
E kilo, a E Ho`omana`o!

He aha ka mana'o o kau i ho'a'o ai e kakau ma luna a'e nei, e Nero? Eia ka unuhina ma ka 'olelo Pelekania: Mamo was slow in working - we (pl. inclusive) are an assignment Observe, and remember!.

Eia kekahi, mai poina i ka 'okomo 'ana i ka hune 'o ma mua o ka piko, ina he i'oa ia. Aka, no'u no ka hewa, 'oiai, 'a'ole no ho'i au i a'o aku ia 'oukou i ia lula pilina 'olelo ma mua. Mau no ko'u kulana pa'ahana, no laila, 'a'ole loa'a ia'u ka manawa ka'awale kupono e ho'omakaukau ai i ha'awina hou na 'oukou. Mea paha he mea 'olelo Hawai'i 'e a'e no i hiki ke pani i ko'u hakahaka i na manawa e pa'ahana ai au a hiki 'ole ai ia'u ke haku, ho'omakaukau, a ho'oponopono i na ha'awina.

What did you try to write above, Nero? Here is the translation in English: Mamo was slow in working - we (pl. inclusive) are an assignment Observe, and remember!.

Also, don't forget to include the particle 'o before the subject, if it is a proper noun. Still, I am to blame, because, I haven't taught you guys this grammatical rule previously. I am still busy, so, I don't have enough free time to prepare a new lesson for you guys. Maybe there is another Hawaiian speaker who can fill my position when I am busy and can't create, prepare, and correct assignments.

[Nero]

Mamo was careful in working - We have an assignment. Observe, and study!

I haven't touched my hawaiian materials in a few years What was the way to construct "have", I think I've forgotten it.

he ka`a ko`u = I have a car
etc

[Mamo]

*Correction. The last of the k-possessives in the list I compiled is kā lākou, not ko-lākou.

Mamo was careful in working - We have an assignment. Observe, and study!
etc

I would write this as:

Ua akahele ‘o Mamo i kāna hana. He ha‘awina kā kākou. E kilo a e ho‘opa‘aha‘awina (nō ho‘i). (Mamo was careful in his work. We have an assignment. Observe and study!). The nō ho‘i doesn't need to be included but it sounds better to me.

There are a few ways to construct “have” in Hawaiian. The pattern corresponding to “have a/an” is:

He (thing possessed) k-possessive.

In the translation I made above, the sentence "We have an assignment" is written as: He ha‘awina kā kākou.

Here is a link to a list of determiners: http://home.unilang.org/wiki3/index.php/Hawaiian_determiners_and_making_nouns_plural

In the list, the first of the k-possessives is ko'u and the last one is kā lākou. Be aware that possessive pronouns are of two kinds: O-class possessives (ko'u, kou, kona, ko kāua...etc)and A-class possessives (ka'u, kāu, kāna, kā kāua...ect). I will explain the difference later.

There are also two possessive pronouns that are outside of the O-class and A-class: ku'u (1st person sing.) and kō (2nd person sing.). These are often used to show affection.

Ku'u keiki - My (precious) child.
Kō kāne - Your (precious) husband.

[Nero]

Ah, I get it now. Mahalo e Mamo! Your explanation was easy to follow

[Nero]

Another question if you don't mind, Mamo

What is the current status of Ka `olelo in Hawaii? There are people saying everywhere from 10,000 speakers to 200 native, so I thought to ask you

[lapulapu28]

Hi mamo,

If you don't mind...could you skype me at kenji_wong2 or pacman245@hotmail.com and send voice message regarding the ' glottal stop...at the beginning of the letter like 'apelila...is it like AH pelila?
how about 'ae...is it like AH e
'a'ole......is it like AH OH le

how do you say your friend? in hawaiian

mahalo

[Aleco]

How do you say "your friend" in Hawaiian?

Ko'u hoaloha I believe ^^'

[Nohola]

How do you say "your friend" in Hawaiian?

Ko'u hoaloha I believe ^^'

Close, just without the 'okina.

kou hoaloha.

[Christophers]

Hi mamo,

If you don't mind...could you skype me at kenji_wong2 or pacman245@hotmail.com and send voice message regarding the ' glottal stop...at the beginning of the letter like 'apelila...is it like AH pelila?
how about 'ae...is it like AH e
'a'ole......is it like AH OH le

how do you say your friend? in hawaiian

mahalo

Pinoy ka pala. I was just telling someone that any word in Tagalog or Visayan or whatever that appears to start with a vowel really starts with a glottal stop.

--Chris

[Aleco]

How do you say "your friend" in Hawaiian?

Ko'u hoaloha I believe ^^'

Close, just without the 'okina.

kou hoaloha.

Mahalo

[Riptide]

Hi mamo,

If you don't mind...could you skype me at kenji_wong2 or pacman245@hotmail.com and send voice message regarding the ' glottal stop...at the beginning of the letter like 'apelila...is it like AH pelila?
how about 'ae...is it like AH e
'a'ole......is it like AH OH le

how do you say your friend? in hawaiian

mahalo

Pinoy ka pala. I was just telling someone that any word in Tagalog or Visayan or whatever that appears to start with a vowel really starts with a glottal stop.



--Chris

Hmm...I never really thought of it like that. Interesting.

Anyways, is there a particular reason why Hawaiian uses ` instead of an apostrophe?

[ILuvEire]

It's not ` either. The correct letter is ‘, the turned comma (in handwriting, it's often writen like a little <6> in the corner). In the days before computers, it was created on printing presses by literally taking the character for a comma, and turning it upside down. The history I've been given is basically that it was a random symbol that they could easily create that also wasn't used for something else.

[kahihi'o]

As has already been posted, the glottal stop is a full fledged consonant in the Hawaiian language, and the standard symbol for the phoneme looks like a single open quote: ʻ

All of the major Polynesian languages possessing a glottal stop (most Polynesian languages) use something similar in writing. It's unfortunate that such an important phoneme is represented by such a small symbol, but it does the job.

Off topic, a few posts up I saw one of my old posts about A and O class possessives with a stated intention of explaining the difference. A class is used for alienable possession, or a possession that can be initiated and terminated by the possessor. O class is used for inalienable possession, which the possessor does not exercise power over. That's the short explanation, but it can be a bit more complicated than that.