Introduction

ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi

Hawaiian spelling

ʻOkina

The ʻ you will see in words like ʻae and ʻaʻole (yes and no), is called the ʻokina. The ʻokina is a glottal stop, which can be compared to the stopping of your voice between uh and oh in uh-oh. (The name of this letter literally translates to "cutting off, separation".)

Kahakō

The ¯ you will see in words like ʻōlelo (language, speak) and kāne (man) is called the kahakō. The kahakō prolongs a vowel.

It is important not to forget an ʻokina or a kahakō, because the word could have a very different meaning without them.

E'ōlelo, e Kawika.

Speak, Kawika.

E

Imperative E

E is used before an action to signify a command or a suggestion. When you say, "E hele!", you're telling someone to "Go!"

Vocative E

E is used before a noun (usually a person) to indicate that the person is being addressed.

Ex. Mahalo, e Kawika. (Thanks, Kawika.) ➜ You are saying thanks to Kawika.

Aloha e Kaʻiulani. (princess ka’iulani )

Here, “e” is a vocative particle marking “Ka’iulani” as the person being addressed.

Mahalo

Mahalo is taught in this skill to express gratitude, to say "thank you", but it can also mean "to admire".

Lei

You may be familiar with the word lei as a noun(garland) but you'll notice that the word "lei" in this skill can also be used as a verb. This is quite common in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.

Give a lei!

Guys, a lei is the garland of flowers that Hawaiians are known for making and wearing around their necks. I'm not Hawaiian but I'm fairly certain they are pretty important to the culture. That's why we are learning the term for them so early in the lessons.

Eʻai

eat

Determiners

Ke vs. Ka

"Ka", "Ke" and "Nā" are determiners that can sometimes be translated as "the". Use ke when the noun that follows begins with the letters K, E, A, or O. Use ka with almost all others! This is commonly referred to as the KEAO rule. Warning: there will be exceptions.

Plurals: nā

Nā is only used to say "the" when the noun is plural. Certain words like "wahine" are pronounced with a longer "ā" when plural and hence spelled with a kahakō (macron), "wāhine".

Kēlā & Kēnā

"Kēlā" and "Kēnā" both mean "that". The difference is kēlā refers to "that" which is away from the listener and kēnā refers to "that" which is near the listener.

Cultural note of interest: Hawaiians are keenly aware of space and time.

So in terms of distance from the speaker, remember this order: kē

kēia
child	keiki
the boy	ke keiki kāne
that woman	kēlā wahine/pl. nā wāhine
the girl	ke kaikamahine
the children	nā keiki
that house	kēlā hale
the chair	ke noho

Aloha

Aloha is used to express the feeling one feels when greeting someone or departing (it may be love, sorrow, joy, etc.). Therefore, this greeting of "aloha" always includes the speaker because "aloha" begins with the one who says it.

Personal Pronouns

"We"

ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi has a few extra pronouns, in this skill you are introduced to two pronouns used for "we" which includes the listener. Think about it like, kāua= "you and I" = "WE 2" and kākou= "all of you and me" = "WE ALL". Eventually, you will learn that we also have two more pronouns for we that exclude the listener (māua and mākou).

"Mai" directs the action toward the speaker and follows the action. "Mai" can also follow a few of the verbs in the Intro skill; hele, ʻōlelo and lei.