See main article: Hawaiian language.
This article summarizes grammar in the Hawaiian language.
Hawaiian is a predominantly verb–subject–object language. However, word order is flexible, and the emphatic word can be placed first in the sentence.[1] Hawaiian largely avoids subordinate clauses,[1] and often uses a possessive construction instead.[1] Hawaiian, unlike English, is a pro-drop language, meaning pronouns may be omitted when the meaning is clear from context.[2]
The typical detailed word order is given by the following, with most items optional:
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.
Yes–no questions can be unmarked and expressed by intonation, or they can be marked by placing anei after the leading word of the sentence. Examples of question-word questions include:
See also Hawaiian Language: Syntax and other resources .
As Hawaiian does not particularly discern between word types, any verb can be nominalized by preceding it with the definite article. However, some words that are used as nouns are rarely or never used as verbs.[1] Within the noun phrase, adjectives follow the noun (e.g. ka hale liʻiliʻi "the house small", "the small house"), while possessors precede it (e.g. kou hale "your house"). Numerals precede the noun in the absence of the definite article, but follow the noun if the noun is preceded by the definite article.
Every noun is preceded by an article (ka‘i). The three main ones are:
In noun phrases, two numbers (singular and plural) are distinguished. The singular articles ke and ka and the plural article nā are the only articles that mark number:
In the absence of these articles, plurality is usually indicated by inserting the pluralizing particle mau immediately before the noun:
Most nouns do not change when pluralized; however, some nouns referring to people exhibit a lengthened vowel in the third syllable from the end in the plural:
In Hawaiian, there is no gender distinction in the third person. The word for third person (he, she, it) is ia. It is commonly preceded by ʻo as in ʻo ia and, following standard modern orthographical rules, is written as two words, but it can be seen as one when written by older speakers and in historical documents.
Hawaiian nouns belong to one of two genders, this gender system is not based on biological sex and is better analyzed as a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession, which is a common split in many of the world's languages. The two genders are 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:
| Demonstrative determiners | Proximal | Medial | Distal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | kēia | kēnā | kēlā | |
| Plural | kēia mau | kēnā mau | kēlā mau | |
| Singular (aforementioned) | ua ... nei | ua ... lā/ala | ua ... lā/ala | |
| Plural (aforementioned) | ua mau ... nei | ua mau ... lā/ala | ua mau ... lā/ala |
| Case | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Genitive | Accusative, Dative | |||||
| a-class | o-class | affectionate | |||||
| Singular (1) | 1st | au | kaʻu | koʻu | kuʻu | iaʻu | |
| 2nd | ʻoe | kāu | kou | kō | iā ʻoe | ||
| 3rd | ia | kāna | kona | Only used in 1st and 2nd person singular. | iā ia | ||
| Dual (2) | 1st | incl. | kāua | kā kāua | ko kāua | iā kāua | |
| excl. | māua | kā māua | ko māua | iā māua | |||
| 2nd | ʻolua | kā ʻolua | ko ʻolua | iā ʻolua | |||
| 3rd | lāua | kā lāua | kō lāua | iā lāua | |||
| Plural (3+) | 1st | incl. | kākou | kā kākou | ko kākou | iā kākou | |
| excl. | mākou | kā mākou | ko mākou | iā mākou | |||
| 2nd | ʻoukou | kā ʻoukou | ko ʻoukou | iā ʻoukou | |||
| 3rd | lākou | kā lākou | kō lākou | iā lākou | |||
Verbs can be analytically marked with particles to indicate tense, aspect and mood. Separate verb markers are used in relative clauses, after the negation word ʻaʻole, and in some other situations.[2]
| Tense/Aspect/Mood | Default | After ʻaʻole or in type I relative clause | Type II relative clause | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenseless | [verb] | (e) [verb] | e [verb] ai | |
| Perfective | ua [verb] | i [verb] | i [verb] ai | |
| Progressive | e [verb] ana/ala/lā | e [verb] ana/ala/lā | e [verb] ana/ala/lā | |
| Present | ke [verb] nei/ala/lā | e [verb] nei/ala/lā | e [verb] nei/ala/lā | |
| Intentive/infinitive | e [verb] | e [verb] | e [verb] ai | |
| Imperative | (e) [verb] | |||
| Prohibitive | mai [verb] |
The marker ala/lā implies greater spatial or temporal distance from the speaker than nei or ana.
In his "Introduction to Hawaiian Grammar," W.D. Alexander proposed that Hawaiian has a pluperfect tense as follows:
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:
Transitive verbs can be passivized with the particle ʻia, which follows the verb but precedes tense/aspect/mood markers. The agent, if specified, is marked with the preposition e, usually translated as "by" in English:
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.
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).
Pepeke Henua is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is located (in/on/at/etc. B)." The pattern is "Aia (ʻo) A..."
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.
| Pronoun | Nominative | Genitive "for" or "belonging to" | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person singular "I" | (w)au | naʻu | |
| Second person singular "You" | ʻoe | nāu | |
| Third person singular "he/she/it" | (ʻo) ia | nāna | |
| First person plural, dual inclusive "we; you and I" | kāua | na kāua |
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]
Causative verbs can be created from nouns and adjectives by using the prefix ho'o-, as illustrated in the following:
Reduplication[5] can emphasize or otherwise alter the meaning of a word. Examples are: