Hawaiian grammar

If the sentence has a negative mood and the subject is a pronoun, word order is subject–verb–object following the negator ʻaʻole, as in:

Another exception is when an emphatic adverbial phrase begins the sentence. In this case, a pronoun subject precedes the verb.[1]^:p.29

Yes-no questions can be unmarked and expressed by intonation,[2]^:p.32 or they can be marked by placing anei after the leading word of the sentence.[1]^:p.23 Examples of question-word questions include:

See also Hawaiian Language: Syntax and other resources.

In Hawaiian, there is no gender distinction based on biological sex. The word for third person (he, she, it) is ia. It is commonly preceded by ʻo as in ʻo ia but is usually written as two words, seldom one.

Hawaiian nouns belong to one of two genders, known as the kino ʻō (o-class) and the kino ʻā (a-class). These classes are only taken into account when using the genitive case (see table of personal pronouns below).

Kino ʻō nouns, in general, are nouns whose creation cannot be controlled by the subject, such as inoa "name", puʻuwai "heart", and hale "house". Specific categories for o-class nouns include: modes of transportation (e.g. kaʻa "car" and lio "horse"), things that you can go into, sit on or wear (e.g., lumi "room", noho "chair", ʻeke "bag", and lole "clothes"), and people in your generation (e.g., siblings, cousins) and previous generations (e.g. makuahine "mother").

Kino ʻā nouns, in general, are those whose creation can be controlled, such as waihoʻoluʻu "color", as in kaʻu waihoʻoluʻu punahele "my favorite color". Specific categories include: your boyfriend or girlfriend (ipo), spouse, friends, and future generations in your line (all of your descendants).

The change of preposition of o "of" (kino ʻō) to a "of "(kino ʻā) is especially important for prepositional and subordinate phrases:

ka mea "the thing"

kona mea "his thing (nonspecific)"

kāna mea "his thing (which he created or somehow chose)"

ka mea āna i ʻike ai "the thing that he saw"

kāna (mea) i ʻike ai "what he saw"

kēia ʻike ʻana āna "this thing that he saw (purposefully)"

kēia ʻike ʻana ona "this thing that he saw (purportedly)" where the seeing isn't much import

Verbs can be analytically modified to indicate tense, aspect and mood as follows:[1]^:p.19

• ua + verb: perfective aspect, past tense; or perfect tense/aspect (ua hana au "I worked", "I have worked"). Note that the pre-verbal marker ua is often omitted in speech.
• i + verb: past tense (i hana au "I worked"); or, perfect participle (i hana "having worked", "who had worked")
• e + verb + ana: imperfective aspect (e hana ana au "I was working", "I will be working")
• ke + verb + nei: present tense, progressive aspect (ke hana nei au "I am working")
• e + verb: future tense/mood (e hana au "I will work"); or, infinitive (e hana "to work"); or, imperative mood (e hana ʻoe "Work thou!")
• mai + verb: negative imperative mood (mai hana ʻoe "Do not work thou!")
• verb + ʻia: passive voice where the agent is marked by e (Ua hana ʻia ka honua e ka Haku. The world was created by the Creator.)

In his "Introduction to Hawaiian Grammar," W.D. Alexander[1] proposed that Hawaiian has a pluperfect tense as follows:

• ua + verb + ʻē: pluperfect tense/aspect (ua hana ʻē au "I had worked")

However, this is debatable since ʻē simply means "beforehand, in advance, already".[3] Andrews [Gram. 1.4] suggested the same thing that Alexander forwards. However, Ua hana ʻē au could mean both "I have already worked", "I already worked", and (depending on the temporal context) "I had worked previous to that moment." "Already" is the operative unifier for these constructions as well as the perfective quality denoted by ua. ʻĒ therefore is acting like a regular Hawaiian adverb, following the verb it modifies:

Ua hana paha au. Perhaps I worked.

Ua hana mālie au. I worked steadily, without disruption.

Ua hana naʻe au. I even worked.

Hawaiian does not have a copula verb meaning "to be" nor does it have a verb meaning "to have". Equative sentences are used to convey this group of ideas. All equative sentences in Hawaiian are zero-tense/mood (i.e., they cannot be modified by verbal markers, particles or adverbs).

Pepeke ʻAike He is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is a(n) B". The pattern is "He B (ʻo) A." ʻO marks the third person singular pronoun ia (which means "he/she/it") and all proper nouns.

He kaikamahine ʻo Mary. Mary is a girl.

He kaikamahine ʻo ia. She is a girl.

He Hawaiʻi kēlā kaikamahine. That girl is (a) Hawaiian.

He haumana ke keiki. The child is a student.

Pepeke ʻAike ʻO is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is B." The pattern is " ʻO A (ʻo) B," where the order of the nouns is interchangeable and where ʻo invariably marks the third person singular pronoun ia and all proper nouns (regardless of where it is in the utterance).

ʻO Mary ʻo ia. ʻOia ʻo Mary. She is Mary.

ʻO Mary nō ia. ʻOia nō ʻo Mary. It's Mary.

ʻO wau ʻo Mary. ʻO Mary wau. I'm Mary.

ʻO ʻoe ʻo Mary. ʻO Mary ʻoe. You are Mary.

ʻO Mary ke kaikamahine. ʻO ke kaikamahine ʻo Mary. Mary is the girl. The girl is Mary.

ʻO ka haumana ke keiki. ʻO ke keiki ka haumana. The student is the child. The child is the student.

Pepeke Henua is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is located (in/on/at/etc. B)." The pattern is "Aia (ʻo) A..."

Aia ʻo Mary ma Hilo. Mary is in Hilo.

Aia ʻo ia maloko o ka wai. He/she/it is inside (of) the water.

Aia ka haumana mahea? Aia mahea ka haumana? Where is the student?

Pepeke ʻAike Na is the name of the simple equative sentence "A belongs to B." The pattern is "Na (B) A." The singular pronouns undergo predictable changes.

Pepeke ʻAike Na Examples:

Naʻu ke kaʻa. The car belongs to me. That's my car.

Na Mary ke keiki. The child is Mary's. It's Mary's child.

Nāna ka penikala. The pencil belongs to him/her/it.

Nāu nō au. I belong to you. I'm yours.

Note:

ʻO kēia ke kaʻa nāu. This is the car I'm giving to you.

He makana kēlā na ke aliʻi. This is a present for the chief.

Other post-verbal markers include[4]^{:pp.228–231}

• verb + mai: "toward the speaker"
• verb + aku: "away from the speaker"
• verb + iho: "down"
• verb + aʻe: "up", "adjacent"
• stative verb + iā + agent: agent marker

Causative verbs can be created from nouns and adjectives by using the prefix ho'o-, as illustrated in the following:[2]^:p.24

• nani "pretty"; hoʻonani "to beautify"
• nui "large"; hoʻonui "to enlarge"
• hui "club"; hoʻohui "to form a club"