Simple-Minded Intro to 'O-lelo Hawai'i
Under Construction...
'O-lelo Hawai'i is both simpler and more complex that English, and this is far from an
authoritative introduction to the language. It would be best to carefully check out a good text on
the subject, but since I don't have access to one, I have been forced to rely on a small dictionary,
a bunch of example dialogue that I have seen, and a small pinch of guile....
So, if you really must know, check for any words that you want the definitions of below, but if you
want to have any hope of understanding anything like a complete sentence, or even a fragment, you'll
have to wait a while, and concentrate on the "non-content" words that join everything together.
- Articles ("the", "a", etc.)
- Possessives ("of", "'s", etc.)
- Pronouns ("me, "you", "he", "she", "it", etc.)
- Prepositions ("at", "in", "on", "towards", "away", etc.)
- Numbers (1, 2, 3...)
And maybe search out a Freshman-level language course.
Oh yes, there will be more examples.
Content-word Index
'a'a- ,
a'e ,
'ahi ,
aku ,
ali'i ,
aloha ,
e ,
hale ,
Hale.aka.la- ,
Hana ,
haole ,
hau'oli ,
haupia ,
he ,
heiau ,
hou ,
hui ,
hula ,
humuhumunukunukuapua'a ,
iho ,
ka ,
kai ,
ka-kou ,
kalua. pig ,
kama'a-ina ,
ka-ne ,
kapa ,
kapu ,
ke ,
keiki ,
ki ,
komo ,
Ku- ,
ku-kae ,
kukui ,
lani ,
laulau ,
lei ,
loa ,
Lono ,
lomi ,
lua ,
luau ,
ma ,
mahalo ,
mahimahi ,
mai ,
makai ,
malihini ,
mana ,
mauka ,
mu'umu'u ,
na ,
ne-ne- ,
no ,
nui ,
Nu'uanu ,
'ohana ,
'o-kole ,
'o-lelo ,
'ono ,
pa-hoehoe ,
pakalo-lo- ,
pa-ke- ,
Pali ,
pau ,
Pele ,
poha- ,
poi ,
pu-pu- ,
tapa ,
ti ,
ulua ,
wahine ,
wikiwiki
Related words Index
While these are not necessarily words in O-lelo Hawai'i , they are words or terms
which might not be obvious.
Akebono,
Ala Moana ,
Ala Wai canal,
Aloha Tower Marketplace,
Arizona Memorial,
Banzai Pipeline,
Big Island,
Billabong Classic,
Bishop Estate,
Bishop Museum,
Blue Hawai`i,
Bows,
broke da mouth,
BYU,
cockaroach,
DHHL,
dim sum,
FS,
H-1,
Hawaiian Time,
HI,
hibiscus,
howzit,
HST,
humuhumunukunukuapua'a ,
HVB,
HVO,
`Iolani Palace,
kal-bi,
kalua pig,
kaukau,
kim chee,
Konishiki,
leeward,
LH,
Likelike ,
Lynch Mob,
Mai Tai,
malasada,
neighbor islands,
North Shore,
outrigger,
PCC,
Pearl Harbor,
plate lunch,
Plumeria,
POG,
Rainbows,
Saddle Road,
sashimi,
shaka,
shave ice,
sumo,
sushi,
talkstory,
UH,
Vulcans,
windward,
zori.
- ka
- definite article ("the") before words that start with most consonants
except K and vowels other than E, A, and O.
| ka wahine | ka hale
|
| the woman | the house
|
- ke
- definite article ("the") before words that start with the vowels E, A, and O
and before the consonant K (and some other special case words).
| ke kane | ke keiki | ke aloha
|
| the man | the child | "love"
|
- na
- plurality particle
| na kane | na keiki | na wahine | na hale
|
| the men | the children | the women | the houses
|
- he
- indefinite article ("a" or "an")
| he kane | he keiki | he hale | he wahine
|
| a man | a child | a house | a woman
|
Because of their importance in the next section, we will now point out that 'O-lelo
Hawai'i has two ways of indicating possession (in English, the concept of either "Lani's
Child", or "the Child of Lani"), and they are:
- the a <noun> / ka <pronoun> form
- indicating control or possession (acquired), and
- the o <noun> / ko <pronoun> form
- indicating a more passive (inherited, spatial) relationship.
'O-lelo Hawai'i makes a difference between the plural and the dual case, and also
indicates whether the speaker is included in the topic or not, as indicated below, which allows
speaker and respondent to be quite specific about inter-personnal relationships.
| sing. pronoun | sing. possessive
| dual | plural |
|
| n/a | n/a
| ka-.ua
("me 'n you") | ka-.kou
("we")
|
au, a'u
("I", "me") | ka.'u/ko.'u/ku.'u
("my") *1
| ma-.ua
("we two, not you") | ma-.kou
("we, not you")
|
'oe
("you, sing.") | ka-.u/ko.u/ko
("your") *2
| 'ol.ua
("you two") | 'ou.kou
("you, plur.")
|
ia
("he/she/it") | ka-.na/ko.na
("his/hers/its")
| la-.ua
("those two") | la-.kou
("they")
|
*1 Ku.'u is the "affectionate" possessive, as in
"ku'u 'ipo " ("My Beloved")
*2 ko is neutral and very informal or colloquial.
ke keiki a Lani (the Child of Lani, Lani's Child)
- a'e
- upward, toward
- aku
- away from the speaker
- e
- imperative or exhortation
- iho
- down
- ma
- at, in, on, beside
- mai
- towards speaker
- no
- because of
| #
| ? | ? | ? | + 10 | * 10
|
| 1
| kahi | 'ekahi | 'akahi | 'umi ku-ma-kahi | n/a
|
| 2
| lua | 'elua | 'alua | 'umi ku-ma-lua | iwaka-lua
|
| 3
| kolu | 'ekolu | 'akolu | 'umi ku-ma-kolu (*) | kanakolu
|
| 4
| ha- | 'eha- | 'aha- | 'umi ku-ma-ha- | kanaha-
|
| 5
| lima | 'elima | 'alima | 'umi ku-ma-lima | kanalima
|
| 6
| ono | 'eono | 'aono | 'umi ku-ma-ono | kanao-no
|
| 7
| hiku | 'ehiku | 'ahiku | 'umi ku-ma-hiku | kanahiku
|
| 8
| walu | 'ewalu | 'awalu | 'umi ku-ma-walu | kanawalu
|
| 9
| iwa | 'ei-wa | 'ai-wa | 'umi ku-ma-iwa | kanai-wa
|
| 10
| 'umi | ? | ? | ? | hanele
|
iwaka-lua ku-ma-kahi, 21 (*)
kaukani, 1,000
miliona, 1,000,000
(* irregular?)
Last Updated: 1997 september 13th.
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Aloha from
michael j. wise !