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

[Mamo]

Ha‘awina ‘ekahi

This is the first lesson I prepared for this Hawaiian language course. I have broken it into four sections, dealing with alphabet, pronunciation, and language resources.

Nā Kumuhana (the topics)
A. Alphabet and pronunciation.
B. Expressions.
C. Hawaiian language print resources.
D. Hawaiian language resources on the internet.

A. Alphabet and pronunciation
1. Hawaiian has thirteen letters: A a, E e, I i, O o, U u, H h, K k, L l, M m, N n, P p, W w, ‘
A a – pronounced like the U in cup.
E e – pronounced like the E in get.
I I – pronounced like the EE in seed.
O o – pronounced like the O in phone.
U u - pronounced like the OO in spoon.
H h – pronounced like the H in hat. The pronunciation is the same as in English.
K k – pronounced like the K in kangaroo. The pronunciation is the same as in English.
L l – pronounced like the L in lime. The pronunciation is the same as in English.
M m – pronounced like the M in month. The pronunciation is the same as in English.
N n – pronounced like the N in nine. The pronunciation is the same as in English.
P p – pronounced like the P in plan. The pronunciation is the same as in English.
W w – pronounced as an English W or a soft V. (1) When the W is the first letter of the word or when it comes after the letter A, it is permissible for it to be pronounced as either a W or a soft V. (2) When the W comes after the letter I or the letter E, it is pronounced as a soft V. (3) When the W is comes after U or O It is pronounced as a W.
‘ – pronounced like the break in the voice at in the middle of the two oh’s in the English exclamation oh-oh. This is the glottal stop, and it is a full fledged consonant.

2. Words in Hawaiian can be broken into one or more stress groups in order to aid pronunciation. Within each stress group, the stress (or accent) falls on the penultimate, the next to the last syllable. In the vocabulary section, I will break words into stress groups using periods.
3. Hawaiian does not have consonant clusters, and all Hawaiian words must end in a vowel.
4. The vowels in Hawaiian (A a, E e, I i, O o, U u) are pure vowels. That is, they are not pronounced with an off-glide.
5. All vowels in Hawaiian have elongated forms which are signaled by the vowels having macrons over them. Elongated vowels look like this: Ā ā, Ē ē, Ī ī, Ō ō, Ū ū. For elongated vowels, the duration of the pronunciation is doubled. Also, all elongated vowels are stressed.

B. Expressions
1. Aloha kāua. – Hello you and I (used when expressing greetings to one person).
2. Aloha kākou. – Hello you, I, and one or more people (used when expressing greetings to two or more people).
3. ‘Ae, aloho nō. – Yes, aloha indeed (a proper response to being greeted).
4. ‘O wai kou inoa? – What is your name?
5. ‘O ___ ko‘u inoa. - ___ is my name.
6. Pehea ‘oe? – How are you?
7. Maika‘i nō au, mahalo. – I am good, thankyou.
8. A ‘o ‘oe? – And [how about] you? (a response to being asked “pehea ‘oe?”)

C. Hawaiian language print resources

1. Hawaiian Dictionary by Elbert and Pūku‘i.
2. Hawaiian Grammar by Elbert and Pūku‘i.
3. Pocket Hawaiian Grammar by Schutz, Kanada, and Cook.
4. Māmaka Kaiao (A Modern Hawaiian Vocabulary)
5. Ka Lei Ha‘aheo by Alberta Pualani Hopkins.
6. E Kama‘ilio Hawai‘i Kakou by Dorothy M. Kahananui and Alberta P. Anthony.

D. Hawaiian language resources on the internet

1. http://ulukau.org/ – a collection of a wide range of resources dealing with the Hawaiian language.
2. http://wehewehe.org/ - an online Hawaiian dictionary. It is one of the links in the larger ulukau website.
3. http://ksdl.ksbe.edu/kulaiwi/ - thirty online, video lessons on the Hawaiian language.

[Nero]

Mahalo Mamo

[culúrien]

Aloha kāua!

~Celeb

[Mamo]

For the first lesson, there is no homework except to memorize the Expressions in part B. I will post the second lesson soon.

[culúrien]

¡No puedo esperar!



No puc esperar!

[Mamo]

Ha‘awina ‘elua

Nā kumuhana (The topics):
A. Example sentences.
B. Equational sentence pattern using “He” (a/an), and the meaning of He aha? - What?
C. Asking questions.
D. Kēia (this, near me), Kēnā (that, near you), Kēlā (that, outside of both of our areas).
E. Ke/ Ka (singular definite articles).
F. Negation of the He equational sentence.
G. Exercises. Three parts: pt.1, pt.2, and pt.3.
H. Vocabulary.

A. Example sentences
1. He aha kēia? What is this?

2. He haumana kēnā. That (near you) is a student.
3. He keiki kēlā. That (away from you and me) is a child.
4. He ka‘a maika‘i kēlā. That (away from you and me) is a good car.

5. He māka‘i au. I am a police officer.
6. He kāne ‘oe. You are a man.
7. He kanaka maika‘i ‘o ia? Is he/she a good person?

8. He kumu ke kanaka. The person is a teacher.
9. He hua‘ai ka mea ‘ai. The food is a fruit.
10. He pia hu‘ihu‘i ka mea inu? Is the drink a cold beer?

11. ‘A‘ole kēnā he haumana. That (near you) is not a student.
12. ‘A‘ole kēnā he keiki. That (near you) is not a child.
13. ‘A‘ole kēlā he ka‘a maika‘i. That is not a good car.
14. ‘A‘ole au he māka‘i. I am not a police officer.
15. ‘A‘ole ‘oe he kāne. You are not a man.
16. ‘A‘ole ‘o ia he kanaka Hawai‘i. He/she is not a Hawaiian person.

B. Equational sentence pattern using He
Equational sentences in Hawaiian are verbless sentences, where the first noun phrase, pronoun, or proper noun equals the second noun phrase, pronoun, or proper noun. There are some determiners, such as Kēia (this), Kēnā (that by you), Kēlā (that away from both of us), which can be used by themselves, that is, without nouns following them; these determiners can function as phrases on their own. The first kind of equational sentence we will learn is the one using the indefinite article He (a/an). Equational sentences using this indefinite article are formally started with "he" as the first word of the sentence.

1. He aha = kēia?
A what = this
What is this?

* He aha (literally ‘a what?’) is used to mean “what?”, but not when asking the proper name of someone, something, or someplace. If you want to ask “what” the proper name of something is, the word that should be used is wai , which actually is the interrogative pronoun asking “who?”

For example, the following are permissable:
He aha ka waiho‘olu‘u? What is the color?
He aha kou mana‘o? What is your thought?
He aha ke kumu o kona hele ‘ana mai? What is the reason of his coming?
He aha kēlā mea a‘u i heluhelu ai ma mua o ka papa? What was that thing I read before class?
He aha ia iā ‘oe? What is it to you/ What business is it of yours?

‘O wai kou inoa? What (lit. who) is your name?
‘O wai kēia ‘āina? What (lit. who) is [the name of] this place?
‘O wai ka inoa o kēia ‘ano pua? What (lit. who) is the name of this kind of flower?

2. He haumana = kēnā.
A student = that (near you)
That (near you) is a student.

3. He keiki = kēlā
A child = that (away from you and me)
That is a child

4. He ka‘a maika‘i = kēlā
A car good = that (away from you and me)
That is a good car.

* In Hawaiian, modifiers come after the words they modify. For example:
Kāne ‘ōpio . Young man.
Hele ‘āwīwī . Run quickly

5. He māka‘i = au
A police officer = I
I am a police officer.

C. Asking Questions
In Hawaiian, the word order of the sentence does not change when asking questions. Hence, saying “He is a good student!”, and asking “Is he a good student?” would have the same word order. However, the inflection changes: the voice rises in the beginning of the sentence and goes down at the end of the sentence.

He kanaka maika‘i ‘o ia.
He is a good person. (Affirmative)

He kanaka maika‘i ‘o ia?
Is he a good person?(Question)

D. Demonstratives: Kēia, Kēnā, and Kēlā.
Kēia means this , in the area around the speaker. Kēnā means that (in the area around the addressee) . Kēlā means that (outside of the area of the speaker and the addressee)

E. Singular definite articles: Ke/ Ka.
There are two singular definite articles: Ke and Ka .
- Ke is used before words beginning with K, E, A, O. There are some words which are preceded by ke , but fall outside of this rule. These words usually begin with P and ‘ , the glottal stop.
- Ka is used before words beginning with everything else.

F. Negation of the He equational sentence.
When negating the He equational sentence, the word ‘a‘ole (no, not) is used, and the second noun phrase, pronoun, or proper noun is brought to the front of the sentence after ‘a‘ole.

11. He haumana kēnā . That (near you) is a student.
‘A‘ole kēnā he haumana. That (near you) is not a student.

12. He keiki kēnā . That (near you) is a child.
‘A‘ole kēnā he keiki. That (near you) is not a child.

13. He ka‘a maika‘i kēlā . That (away from you and me) is a good car.
‘A‘ole kēlā he ka‘a maika‘i. That (away from you and me) is not a good car.

14. He māka‘i au . I am a police officer.
‘A‘ole au he māka‘i. I am not a police officer.

15. He kāne ‘oe . You are a man.
‘A‘ole ‘oe he kāne. You are not a man.

16. He kanaka Hawai‘i ‘o ia. He/she is a Hawaiian person.
‘A‘ole ‘o ia he kanaka Hawai‘i. He/she is not a Hawaiian person.

G. Exercises. There are three sets of exercises: pt.1, pt.2, and pt.3, and their instructions are labelled in green.
Pt.1. Translate from English into Hawaiian.

1. He is a fast student.
2. That (near you) is a fruit.
3. What is that (away from you and me)?
4. That is a cold beverage.
5. Is she a police officer?
6. Is that (near you) delicious food?
7. Is this a good teacher?
8. This is a good car.
9. You are a fast person.
10. I am a teacher.

Pt.2. Write the negation of each of the sentences in Pt.1. The sentences in the form of questions in pt.1 are negated in the same way as statements; remember that word order does not change when asking questions. Hence, I could ask: He kumu 'oe? (Are you a teacher); and I could negate it thusly while still keeping the sentence in the form of a question: 'A'ole 'oe he kumu? (Are you not a teacher).

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Pt.3. Create ten original sentences using the “He equational sentence pattern.” If you want, you can increase the range of vocabulary in your sentences by using the online dictionary at this link: http://wehewehe.org/

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

H. Vocabulary You will notice that there are periods separating stress groups.

1. ‘Ae (inter.) – yes; to say yes; to consent, approve of.
2. Aha (inter.) – what.
3. ‘A‘ole (inter.) – no, not.
4. ‘Ā.wī.wī (vi.)– to hurry; fast, quick.
5. Hau.mana (n.) – student (singular).
6. He (indef. Article) – a/an.
7. Hua ‘ai (n.) – fruit.
8. Hu‘i.hu‘i (nvi.) – cold.
9. Ka‘a (n.)– car.
10. Kanaka (n.) – person (singular).
11. Kāne (nvs.) – man; manly.
12. Kē.ia (demon.) – this.
13. Keiki (n.) – child.
14. Kē.lā (demon.) – that (away from you and me).
15. Kē.nā (demon.) – that (near you).
16. Kumu (n.) – teacher.
17. Mai.ka‘i (nvs.) – good.
18. Mā.ka‘i (nvt.) – police officer; to police, inspect.
19 Mana‘o (nvt.) – thought; to think.
20. Mea ‘ai (n.) – food.
21. Mea inu (n.) – beverage, drink.
22. ‘O ia (pron.) – he/she.
23. ‘Oe (pron.) – you.
24. ‘Ono (vs.) - delicious
25. ‘Ō.pio (nvs.) – youth, youngster; young, youthful.
26. Pia (n.) – beer.
27. Wai.ho‘o.lu‘u (n.) – color
28. Wahine (nvs.) – woman (singular); feminine

[Nero]

Pt.1. Translate from English into Hawaiian.

1. He is a fast student.
2. That (near you) is a fruit.
3. What is that (away from you and me)?
4. That is a cold beverage.
5. Is she a police officer?
6. Is that (near you) delicious food?
7. Is this a good teacher?
8. This is a good car.
9. You are a fast person.
10. I am a teacher.

[spoiler]1. He haumana ‘Āwīwī ‘o ia
2. He hua ‘ai kēnā
3. He aha kēlā?
4. He mea inu hu‘ihu‘i kēlā
5. He māka‘i ‘o ia?
6. He hua ‘ai ‘ono kēnā?
7. He kumu Maika‘i kēia?
8. He ka‘a maika‘i kēia
9. He kanaka ‘Āwīwī ‘oe
10. He kumu au.[/spoiler]

[Mamo]

Pt.1. Translate from English into Hawaiian.

1. He is a fast student.
2. That (near you) is a fruit.
3. What is that (away from you and me)?
4. That is a cold beverage.
5. Is she a police officer?
6. Is that (near you) delicious food?
7. Is this a good teacher?
8. This is a good car.
9. You are a fast person.
10. I am a teacher.

[spoiler]1. He haumana ‘Āwīwī ‘o ia
2. He hua ‘ai kēnā
3. He aha kēlā?
4. He mea inu hu‘ihu‘i kēlā
5. He māka‘i ‘o ia?
6. He hua ‘ai ‘ono kēnā?
7. He kumu Maika‘i kēia?
8. He ka‘a maika‘i kēia
9. He kanaka ‘Āwīwī ‘oe
10. He kumu au.[/spoiler]

Maika‘i loa! Ua pololei kāu mau unuhina a pau no ka māhele ‘ekahi, koe ka helu ‘eono, no ka mea ‘o mea ‘ai ka hua‘ōlelo no food, ‘a‘ole ‘o hua‘ai, ‘o ia ‘o fruit, akā, he pa‘ewa li‘ili‘i wale nō ia. Ma waho aku o kēlā, ua kīnā ‘ole! ‘A‘ohe mea e pi‘i ai kou ‘ula.

Very good! All of your translations for the first section were correct, except for number 6, beacause mea ‘ai is the word for food, not hua‘ai, which is fruit, but, it’s merely a small error. Outside of that, it was flawless! There is no reason to blush.

[Aleco]

Aloha kākou! Pehea 'oe, Mamo? A me mama mana'o ...?
Descendant?

[Alcadras]

That's great! I'll review it tonight.

[ego]

Doesn't Hawai'i have a flag? I hope not that ridiculous one with the English flag on it

[culúrien]

Doesn't Hawai'i have a flag? I hope not that ridiculous one with the English flag on it

Creo que es aquella bandera ridícula

[culúrien]

mis respuestas
les meves respostes

Exercise Part 1:
1.He is a fast student.
He hYaumana āwīwī ʻo ia.

2.That near you is a fruit.
He hua ‘ai kēnā.

3.What is that?
He aha kēlēa?

4.That is a cold beverage.
He mea inu kēnā.

5.Is she a police officer?
He mākaʻi ʻo ia.

6.Is that near you delicious food?
He mea ʻai ʻono kēnā?

7.Is this a good teacher?
He kuma kēia?

8.This is a good car.
He kaʻa maikaʻi kēia.

9.You are a fast person.
He kanaka āwīwī ʻoe.

10.I am a teacher.
He kuma au.

[Mamo]

My corrections are in the quote below.

mis respuestas
les meves respostes



Exercise Part 1:
1.He is a fast student.
He h[s]Y[/s]aumana 'āwīwī ʻo ia.

2.That near you is a fruit.
He hua ‘ai kēnā.

3.What is that?
He aha [s]kēlēa[/s] kēlā?

4.That is a cold beverage.
He mea inu kēnā.

5.Is she a police officer?
He mākaʻi ʻo ia.

6.Is that near you delicious food?
He mea ʻai ʻono kēnā?

7.Is this a good teacher?
He [s]kuma[/s]kumu kēia?

8.This is a good car.
He kaʻa maikaʻi kēia.

9.You are a fast person.
He kanaka 'āwīwī ʻoe.

10.I am a teacher.
He [s]kuma[/s] kumu au.

1. The word for student is haumana, and the word 'āwīwī has a glottal stop as its first letter.
2. Correct
3. The word is kēlā, not kēlēa.
4. Correct
5. Correct
6. Correct
7. The word for teacher is kumu, not kuma.
8. Correct
9. The word 'āwīwī has a glottal stop as its first letter.
10. The word for teacher is kumu, not kuma.

This was very good. The only errors were very small, and I suspect that they were merely typos. The structure of the sentences was perfect. Keep up the good work.

[culúrien]

Ejercicios Nuevos:

la segunda parte:(negativos)

1.He is a fast student.
ʻAʻole ʻo ia he haumana ʻāwīwī.

2.That is a fruit.
ʻAʻole kēnā he hua.

3.What is that?
ʻAʻole kēlēa he aha?

4.That is a cold beverage.
ʻAʻole kēnā he mea inu.

5.Is she a police officer?
ʻAʻole ʻo ia he mākāʻi?

6.Is that delicious food?
ʻAʻole kēnā he mea ʻai ʻono.

7.Is this a good teacher?
ʻAʻole kēia he kumu maikaʻi?

8.This is a good car.
ʻAʻole kēia he kaʻa maikaʻi.

9.You are a fast person.
ʻAʻole ʻoe he kanaka ʻāwīwī.

10.I am a teacher.
ʻAʻole au he kumu.

~Tschellebe

[Mamo]

Ejercicios Nuevos:

la segunda parte:(negativos)

1.He is a fast student.
ʻAʻole ʻo ia he haumana ʻāwīwī.

2.That is a fruit.
ʻAʻole kēnā he hua.

3.What is that?
ʻAʻole kēlēa he aha?

4.That is a cold beverage.
ʻAʻole kēnā he mea inu.

5.Is she a police officer?
ʻAʻole ʻo ia he mākāʻi?

6.Is that delicious food?
ʻAʻole kēnā he mea ʻai ʻono.

7.Is this a good teacher?
ʻAʻole kēia he kumu maikaʻi?

8.This is a good car.
ʻAʻole kēia he kaʻa maikaʻi.

9.You are a fast person.
ʻAʻole ʻoe he kanaka ʻāwīwī.

10.I am a teacher.
ʻAʻole au he kumu.

~Tschellebe

1. correct
2. correct
3. The sentence "he aha _____" cannot be negated. It is my mistake, though, since I left the "he aha _____" sentence with the other sentences that were supposed to be negated. Also, remember that the word for that (away from you and me) is kēlā, not kēlēa.
4. correct
5. correct
6. correct
7. correct
8. correct
9. correct
10. correct

Very good. The only mistake is on the sentnence which I accidently left to be negated.

I will have the third lesson up soon.

[Nero]

I like how you've organized the course, Mamo. Very interesting, it makes me want to learn Hawaiian all over again

[Nohola]

Doesn't Hawai'i have a flag? I hope not that ridiculous one with the English flag on it

It's not "Ridiculous". The Union Jack was used for a reason. King Kamehameha I wanted to pay tribute to the British who helped him stablize his kingdom.

[Nohola]

You know what would be better, sentences that deal with the culture. Too many people like to learn the language but out of cultural context. You should teach them more words that are of Hawaiian origin. It may be harder to translate into other languages, but we're talking real cultural learning here.

[Ariki]

Tena koe Nohola!

He tika tau, kati te whakarongo atu ki a ia, no te mea, ka pahupahu whera ia i nga wa katoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Your words are right on (concerning the flag)!