HAWAIIAN GOODNESS
Even for the Mainlander
Duolingo Category #2: Determiner
For the "Determiner" category, there is a Tips section. Take a peek at that, and/or my explanation below.
Lessons Taught
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Beginning Vocab
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How to say "the"
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How to say "this / that"
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" E " before a general noun
Beginning Vocab
- Noho = Chair
- Hale = House
- Kāne = Man
- Wahine = Woman
→ Wāhine = Women [plural]
- Keiki = Child
- Keiki kāne = Boy [literally "male child"]
- Kaikamahine = Girl [Keiki + wahine smooshed together; literally "female child"]
→ Kaikamāhine = Girls [plural]
How to say "the"
Hawaiian nouns aren't gendered like they are in Romance languages, so if you've learned Spanish, French, Italian, etc., don't worry! You don't have to memorize which nouns are Masculine or Feminine all over again!
When saying "the [noun]" in Hawaiian, you do have to pay attention to the beginning letter of the noun.
1. If the noun begins with the letter K, E, A, or O, then your word for "the" (also known as the Definite Article) will be "ke." For example:
Ke kāne.
[The man.]
The Hawaiian word "kāne" begins with "K," one of the letters listed above, so it is preceded by the word "ke."
2. If the noun DOESN'T begin with the letter K, E, A, or O
(which will be the majority of the time, including when the
noun starts with the ʻokina/apostrophe), then your word for
"the" will be "ka." For example:
Ka wahine.
[The woman.]
The Hawaiian word "wahine" DOESN'T begin with K, E, A, O, so it is preceded by the word "ka."
3. If the noun is plural, then your word for "the" will be "nā." We no longer care about the K, E, A, O rule, and nothing happens to the noun (there is no added plural "s" or anything!). For example:
Nā hale.
[The houses.]
Nothing changed to the word "hale," but we know it's plural because of the preceding "Nā."
The word "wahine" turns to "wāhine" (added macron) and "kaikamahine" turns to "kaikamāhine" (added macron) when plural. Memorize these small exceptions, there aren't many others! Compare:
Ka wahine, nā wāhine.
[The woman, the women.]
Simply put:
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Kēia = This
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Kēnā = That [close to listener, but far from speaker]
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Kēlā = That [far from listener AND far from speaker]
The only difference between "kēnā" and "kēlā" to mean "that" in Hawaiian, is the proximity of the noun to the person the speaker is talking to.
For example, Becka and Maria are talking:
-There is a house next to Becka. Becka says to Maria, "This house is mine." Becka would be using "kēia hale."
-There is a house next to Maria. Becka says to Maria, "That house is yours." Becka would be using "kēnā hale" [the house is close to Maria, but far from Becka].
-There is a house far from Becka AND far from Maria. Becka says to Maria, "That house [over there] is Luisa's." Becka would be using "kēlā hale."
"Kēlā hale" - that house, far from you and me!
In the last post, we went over using "E" before a name to directly talk to someone. You can do this with general nouns too, but when you do, you have to use the Definite Article (the word "the"). For example:
Aloha, e ke keiki.
[Hello, child.]
[NOT: Hello, the child.]
[NOT: Aloha, e keiki]
~~~
How to say "this / that"
*You can remember this list more easily if you remember that those letters form the words "Ke ao" (meaning "the cloud") which in itself shows the word "ao" obeying this rule, and thus being preceded by "ke"!
There are a few exceptions to this rule, but there aren't that many
and will be stated as they're introduced.
It's important to know the difference between "kēnā" and "kēlā" since Duolingo will test you on this from time to time, but for the most part, for convenience's sake, they'll stick to using "kēlā."
" E " before a noun
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:
Noho.
Ka noho.
Hale.
Ka hale.
Kēia hale.
Ka wahine.
Kaikamahine.
Ke kaikamahine.
Kēia kaikamahine.
Nā hale.
Ke keiki.
Nā keiki.
Nā wāhine.
Ka wahine, nā wāhine.
Keiki kāne.
Ke keiki kāne.
Wāhine.
Kēlā hale.
Kēlā wahine.
Aloha, e ke keiki.
~~~
Translations:
Chair.
The chair.
House.
The house.
This house.
The woman.
Girl.
The girl.
This girl.
The houses.
The child.
The children.
The women.
The woman, the women.
Boy.
The boy.
Women.
That house.
That woman.
Hello, child.
~~~~
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