HAWAIIAN GOODNESS
Even for the Mainlander
Duolingo Category #10: Food 1
For the "Food 1" category, there is NO Tips section. Since this is unfortunately lacking on Duolingo, take a peek at my explanation below.
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Lessons Taught
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Vocabulary: Food
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Revisiting "He" : Negative "He" statements
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Sentence Structure: "Nui"
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Compound Verbs
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Culturally Hawaiian Foods: Breadfruit, Taro, Poi, Poke, Kālua pig, Laulau
Vocabulary
Food
- Moa = Chicken
- Palaoa = Bread
- Puaʻa = Pig, pork
- Laiki = Rice
- ʻuala = Sweet potato (a very common food in Hawaiʻi!)
- ʻulu = Breadfruit (fruit very common in Hawaiʻi)
- Kuki = Cookie
- Kokoleka = Chocolate
- Nui =
→ Big, large [adj];
→ "There is a lot of" (sentence structure explained below)
- Huʻihuʻi = Chilly, chilled, iced
- Hou = Fresh [adj] (as well as the previously introduced adverb "More")
- ʻono = Delicious, tasty [adj]; To crave, be hungry for [v]
- Puhi = To bake
- Puhi palaoa = To bake bread (lit. To bread-bake)
- Kōʻala = To grill, barbecue; broil [v]; grilled, barbecued; broiled [adj]
→ ONLY meat
- Pūlehu = To grill, roast; broil [v]; grilled, roasted; broiled [adj]
→ ONLY vegetables/non-meats (usually sweet potatoes, breadfruit, or bananas)
- Hoʻomoʻa (Hoʻo + moʻa, lit. To make cooked) = To cook
- Kuke = To cook
- Inu = Drink [n] (more often "Mea inu"); To drink [v]
- Wai = Water
- Waiū = Milk
- Wai hua ʻai = Juice (lit. "Fruit water")
- Kope = Coffee
- Pia = Beer
Hoʻomoʻa and Kuke are interchangeable
Revisiting "He"
Negative "He" statements
If you had a hard time grasping Collective Nouns and how they can affect the translation of ka/ke, take some time to revisit that post, as this section will be very similar and will draw from that topic.
1. Up to this point, the sentence structure using He has been intensively practiced since it was introduced:
He haumana kēia.
[This is a student.]
It is safe to say that He, when used at the beginning of the sentence, is usually translated as a / an.
However, just like we learned in the last category with ka/ke, there are times where we don't translate the word at all, since it will sound awkward in English. For example:
He wai kēia.
[This is water.]
It would sound weird to translate this sentence as "This is a water."
Try translating from English to Hawaiian, it's a bit more difficult:
Is that poke?
[He poke kēlā?]
Here, we see, as discussed in the last category, that Hawaiian nouns must always have an article behind it. In these cases, the article He.
2. When making He sentences negative, we do two things: add ʻAʻole to the beginning of the sentence like we usually do with negative sentences, and switch the two sides of the sentence. For example:
Positive He statement
He haumana kēia.
[This is a student.]
Negative He statement
ʻAʻole kēia he haumana.
[This is not a student.]
We switched what used to be at the beginning ("he haumana") with what used to be at the end ("kēia") of the sentence. This is similar to what we did when we first learned about Negative Statements, but with He sentences the switch always happens - not just with pronouns. Here is another example:
Positive He statement
He waiū kēia.
[This is milk.]
Negative He statement
ʻAʻole kēia he waiū.
[This is not milk.]
There are two ways to use "Nui" in Hawaiian.
1. Nui can act as a normal Adjective to mean Big, large. For example:
ʻAi nā keiki i ka laulau nui.
[The children eat the large laulau.]
Nui is acting as an Adjective describing the noun laulau.
2. Nui can also play a part in our new sentence structure to mean "There is a lot of [noun]" or
"There are a lot of [nouns]." The formula is simply "Nui ka/ke/nā [noun]." For example:
Nui ka laulau.
[There is a lot of laulau.]
Note that Nui can also be acting as an Adjective here as well, following the sentence structure introduced in this post. So "Nui ka laulau" can also mean "The laulau is large." The difference in translation depends on context.
This Duolingo category introduces one vocab term that follows a new grammar concept that we will see more of in future categories: the Compound Verb. A Compound Verb in Hawaiian is a verb that is immediately followed by a noun acting as a Direct Object (with no preceding article - as we've learned recently, this is odd to not include in Hawaiian grammar), instead of using the regular grammar structure "i ka/ke [Direct Object]." Here is an example:
Puhi palaoa ʻo Kaʻiulani.
[lit. Kaʻiulani bread-bakes.]
[Kaʻiulani bakes bread.]
We'll often translate these sentences with the second English translation, although the first is more accurate.
This Duolingo category frequently mentions the following native Hawaiian (and other Polynesian Island) foods that are common to eat and prepare in Hawaii.
Breadfruit (or ʻulu in Hawaiian) is a common fruit that can be eaten ripe, roasted (pūlehu), or pounded into poi as an alternative to taro (below).
Enjoy this ancient Hawaiian myth about a mischievous young boy who recklessly plucked the breadfruit of Maui, almost extinguishing the plant from the island!
The taro root (or kalo in Hawaiian) is a plant that traditionally is boiled, peeled, and pounded into the dish called Poi (below). You can also prepare it in a variety of ways similar to potatoes, like baked! Taro is also commonly put into a well-known Hawaiian dessert called kūlolo (similar to haupia).
Ever wonder what Poi is? It's just taro/kalo (sometimes breadfruit/ʻulu) pounded into a paste and poured into a bowl. To state your preference for how thick or thin you want your poi, you can request how many fingers it would require to eat the poi: "one-finger" is rather thick poi, "three-finger" is thin.
Poi (and taro) used to be staple foods of Hawaii, which is why it is also commonly referred to as ʻai, or "food"! It can come in many different colors.
Poke is a Hawaiian word that means "to slice" or "to cube." Poke as a Hawaiian dish is made up of raw fish (usually tuna or octopus) that is cut up into cubes! The bowl may also include ingredients such as salt, seaweed, and candlenut. Poke can also be seasoned with Japanese-style ingredients, like sesame seeds and soy sauce.
Kālua pork (or puaʻa kālua in Hawaiian) is pig that is slowly cooked in the traditional underground oven called an imu. It is a common ingredient in the dish called Laulau (right image). Laulau is a Hawaiian dish consisting of kālua pork, perhaps some taro/kalo and other vegetables, wrapped up in taro/kalo leaves, and wrapped up again in Ti leaves before being slowly steamed in the imu.
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Sentence Structure: "Nui"
Compound Verbs
Culturally Hawaiian Foods:
A good tip for remembering this sentence structure is to recall that this can answer the question
"He aha kēia?" To answer, as we always do, we replace the question word "aha?" with the answer.
So "He wai kēia" makes sense as an answer, even before trying to translate the sentence into English!
There are only a couple of these Negative He structures tested in this category. You'll see a couple more in future sections, but only occasionally.
You can still translate the English into our regular Hawaiian structure:
"Puhi ʻo Kaʻiulani i ka palaoa." This way offers a translation that emphasizes "THE bread," but essentially they mean the same thing since the ka can still indicate a Collective Noun.
Compound Verbs will be introduced here and there throughout the Duolingo course. Just memorize them as they come along. The two words put together act as a single verb and make speaking Hawaiian easier instead of saying
"i ka/ke [Direct Object]" every time. However, you cannot guess when to do this. There is a list of Compound Verbs, and you cannot make a single verb into a Compound Verb arbitrarily.
Breadfruit, Kalo/Taro, Poi, Poke, Kālua pig, Laulau
Here is another example of Duolingo trying to immerse you with some traditional Hawaiian customs/items, without explicitly telling you what they are. Let's go over them!
Breadfruit (ʻulu in Hawaiian)
Taro (Kalo in Hawaiian)
Poi (Poi or ʻai in Hawaiian)
Pounding taro (kalo) into poi
The plants at the bottom of the image are taro plants
If you're interested in seeing the pounding of taro/kalo into poi in progress, visit this video from the Hawaiian language learning series
"Ka Leo ʻŌiwi."
Poke
Kālua pork (Puaʻa kālua in Hawaiian)
Laulau
PRACTICE!
Practice what you learned by translating these sentences copied/pasted from this category of Duolingo. The English translations are below. When you feel confident enough, try translating the English into Hawaiian!
Then: try it on Duolingo!
Hawaiian Sentences:
He kalo kēia?
He poke kēlā?
He puaʻa kālua kēlā?
He poke ʻono kēia!
He wai huʻihuʻi kēia.
He pia huʻihuʻi kēia.
He kope huʻihuʻi kēia.
He kuki kokoleka kēia.
He moa kōʻala kēlā?
He moa kōʻala kēia.
He laulau kalo kēia.
He ʻulu nui kēia.
He wai kēia?
He wai kēia.
He inu kēia.
He waiū hou kēia?
ʻAʻole kēia he kalo.
ʻAʻole kēia he waiū.
E ʻai kāua i ka moa kōʻala.
E ʻai kākou i ka poke.
E kōʻala ʻoe i ka moa.
E hoʻomoʻa kākou ma ka lumi kuke.
E pūlehu i ka ʻulu.
E ʻai i ka poi.
E inu kāua i ka pia.
Inu kāua i ka waiū.
Puhi kākou i ke kuki kokoleka.
ʻAi nā keiki i ka laulau nui.
Aia ke kope ma ka lumi kuke.
Kuke ʻo Kaleo i ka laiki.
Inu kāua i ka wai hua ʻai.
ʻAi ʻo Kaleo i ka poi.
Huʻihuʻi ka wai hua ʻai.
ʻOno ka ʻuala wela o Kohala.
ʻAʻole ʻono ka laiki.
Inu kākou i ka wai hua ʻai.
Pūlehu ka makuahine i ka ʻuala.
ʻOno ka poi.
Aia ka poi ma ka lumi kuke.
Wela ka laiki.
Pūlehu ka tūtū kāne i ka ʻulu.
Aia i hea ka laiki wela?
Kuke ʻo Kaleo i ka ʻulu.
Inu ʻo Keoki i ka wai.
Aia ka wai ma ka lumi kuke.
Inu au ma ka lumi kuke.
ʻAi ʻo Kaʻiulani i ke kalo nui.
Aia ka pia ma ka lumi kuke?
Inu ʻo ia i ke kope wela.
Huʻihuʻi ka lumi moe.
Inu ʻoe i ka wai hua ʻai?
Kuke au i ka iʻa.
Aia nā ʻuala ma ka hale.
Kōʻala ka makua kāne.
ʻAi ʻo Kēhau i ka puaʻa kālua.
Inu ʻoe i ke kope huʻihuʻi?
Puhi au i nā kuki kokoleka.
Puhi ʻo ia i ka palaoa.
Puhi palaoa ʻo Kaʻiulani.
ʻOno ka ʻulu pūlehu.
ʻOno ʻo ia i ka palaoa.
Nui ka poi.
Nui ka laulau.
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Translations:
Is this taro?
Is that poke?
Is that kālua pig/pork?
This is delicious poi!
This is cold/iced water.
This is cold beer.
This is iced coffee.
This is a chocolate cookie.
Is that grilled/barbecued chicken?
This is grilled/barbecued chicken.
This is taro laulau.
This is a large breadfruit.
Is this water?
This is water.
This is a drink.
Is this fresh milk?
This is not taro.
This is not milk.
Let's both eat barbecued chicken.
Let's all eat poke.
Grill the chicken.
Let's cook in the kitchen.
Roast the breadfruit.
Eat poi.
Let's drink beer, you and I.
You and I drink water.
We bake cookies.
The children eat the large laulau.
The coffee is in the kitchen.
Kaleo cooks the rice.
You and I drink juice.
Kaleo eats poi.
The juice is chilled.
Kohala'as hot sweet potato is tasty.
The rice is not delicious.
We drink juice.
The mother roasts the sweet potato.
Poi is delicious.
The poi is in the kitchen.
The rice is hot.
The grandpa broils the breadfruit.
Where is the hot rice?
Kaleo cooks the breadfruit.
Keoki drinks water.
The water is in the kitchen.
I drink water in the kitchen.
Kaʻiulani eats the large taro.
Is the beer in the kitchen?
She drinks hot coffee.
The bedroom is chilly.
Do you drink juice?
I cook fish.
The sweet potatoes are in the house.
The father barbecues.
Kēhau eats the kālua pork.
Do you drink iced coffee?
I bake the chocolate cookies.
He bakes the bread.
Kaʻiulani bread-bakes.
Broiled breadfruit is delicious.
She craves/is hungry for bread.
There is a lot of poi.
There is a lot of laulau. (The laulau is large.)
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