This article summarizes grammar in the Hawaiian language.
Video Hawaiian grammar
Syntax
Hawaiian is a predominantly verb-subject-object language. However, word order is flexible, and the emphatic word can be placed first in the sentence. Hawaiian largely avoids subordinate clauses, and often uses a possessive construction instead.
Hawaiian, like English, is a non-pro-drop language. Nonetheless, there is an exception with commands, where the use of subject pronouns is optional. In these cases, the subject pronoun is seldom used if the context deems it unnecessary, as in e hele i ke kula "[imperfective] go to the school", "go to school"; here, the subject "you" is understood, and can be omitted.
The typical detailed word order is given by the following, with most items optional:
- (a) Tense/aspect signs: i, ua, e, etc.
- (b) Verb
- (c) Qualifying adverb: mau, wale, ole, pu, etc.
- (d) Passive sign: 'ia
- (e) Verbal directives: aku, mai, etc.
- (f) Locatives nei or l?, or particles ana or ai
- (g) Strengthening particle: no
- (h) Subject
- (i) Object or predicate noun
Exceptions to VSO word order
If the sentence has a negative mood and the subject is a pronoun, word order is subject-verb-object following the negator ?a?ole, as in:
Another exception is when an emphatic adverbial phrase begins the sentence. In this case, a pronoun subject precedes the verb.
Interrogatives
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.
Maps Hawaiian grammar
Nouns
A verb can be nominalized by preceding it with the definite article. Within the noun phrase, adjectives follow the noun (e.g. ka hale li?ili?i "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.
Gender
In Hawaiian, there is no gender distinction based on biological sex. The word for third person (he, she, it) is ia. It is commonly preceded by ?o as in ?o ia but should always be written as two words, never as one.
Hawaiian nouns belong to one of two genders, known as the kino ?? (o-class) and the kino ?? (a-class). These classes are only taken into account when using the genitive case (see table of personal pronouns below).
Kino ?? nouns, in general, are nouns whose creation cannot be controlled by the subject, such as inoa "name", pu?uwai "heart", and hale "house". Specific categories for o-class nouns include: modes of transportation (e.g. ka?a "car" and lio "horse"), things that you can go into, sit on or wear (e.g., lumi "room", noho "chair", ?eke "bag", and lole "clothes"), and people in your generation (e.g., siblings, cousins) and previous generations (e.g. makuahine "mother").
Kino ?? nouns, in general, are those whose creation can be controlled, such as waiho?olu?u "color", as in ka?u waiho?olu?u 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 ??) to a "of "(kino ??) is especially important for prepositional and subordinate phrases:
ka mea "the thing"
kona mea "his thing (nonspecific)"
k?na mea "his thing (which he created or somehow chose)"
ka mea ?na i ?ike ai "the thing that he saw"
k?na (mea) i ?ike ai "what he saw"
k?ia ?ike ?ana ?na "this thing that he saw (purposefully)"
k?ia ?ike ?ana ona "this thing that he saw (purportedly)" where the seeing isn't much import
Demonstrative determiners
Personal pronouns
Verbs
Tense, aspect, and mood
Verbs can be analytically modified to indicate tense, aspect and mood as follows:
- ua + verb: perfective aspect, past tense; or perfect tense/aspect (ua hana au "I worked", "I have worked"). Note that the pre-verbal marker ua is often omitted in speech.
- i + verb: past tense (i hana au "I worked"); or, perfect participle (i hana "having worked", "who had worked")
- e + verb + ana: imperfective aspect (e hana ana au "I was working", "I will be working")
- ke + verb + nei: present tense, progressive aspect (ke hana nei au "I am working")
- e + verb: future tense/mood (e hana au "I will work"); or, infinitive (e hana "to work"); or, imperative mood (e hana ?oe "Work thou!")
- mai + verb: negative imperative mood (mai hana ?oe "Do not work thou!")
- verb + ?ia: passive voice where the agent is marked by e (Ua hana ?ia ka honua e ka Haku. The world was created by the Creator.)
In his "Introduction to Hawaiian Grammar," W.D. Alexander proposed that Hawaiian has a pluperfect tense as follows:
- ua + verb + ??: pluperfect tense/aspect (ua hana ?? au "I had worked")
However, this is debatable since ?? simply means "beforehand, in advance, already". Andrews [Gram. 1.4] suggested the same thing that Alexander forwards. However, Ua hana ?? 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. ?? therefore is acting like a regular Hawaiian adverb, following the verb it modifies:
Ua hana paha au. Perhaps I worked.
Ua hana m?lie au. I worked steadily, without disruption.
Ua hana na?e au. I even worked.
Equative sentences
Hawaiian doesn't 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 ?Aike He "A is a B"
Pepeke ?Aike He is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is a(n) B". The pattern is "He B (?o) A." ?O marks the third person singular pronoun ia (which means "he/she/it") and all proper nouns.
He kaikamahine ?o Mary. Mary is a girl.
He kaikamahine ?o ia. She is a girl.
He Hawai?i k?l? kaikamahine. That girl is (a) Hawaiian.
He haumana ke keiki. The child is a student.
Pepeke ?Aike ?O
Pepeke ?Aike ?O is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is B." The pattern is " ?O A (?o) B," where the order of the nouns is interchangeable and where ?o invariably marks the third person singular pronoun ia and all proper nouns (regardless of where it is in the utterance).
?O Mary ?o ia. ?Oia ?o Mary. She is Mary.
?O Mary n? ia. ?Oia n? ?o Mary. It's Mary.
?O wau ?o Mary. ?O Mary wau. I'm Mary.
?O ?oe ?o Mary. ?O Mary ?oe. You are Mary.
?O Mary ke kaikamahine. ?O ke kaikamahine ?o Mary. Mary is the girl. The girl is Mary.
?O ka haumana ke keiki. ?O ke keiki ka haumana. The student is the child. The child is the student.
Pepeke Henua (Locational equative)
Pepeke Henua is the name for the simple equative sentence "A is located (in/on/at/etc. B)." The pattern is "Aia (?o) A..."
Aia ?o Mary ma Hilo. Mary is in Hilo.
Aia ?o ia maloko o ka wai. He/she/it is inside (of) the water.
Aia ka haumana mahea? Aia mahea ka haumana? Where is the student?
Pepeke ?Aike Na
Pepeke ?Aike 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.
Pepeke ?Aike Na Examples:
Na?u ke ka?a. The car belongs to me. That's my car.
Na Mary ke keiki. The child is Mary's. It's Mary's child.
N?na ka penikala. The pencil belongs to him/her/it.
N?u n? au. I belong to you. I'm yours.
Note:
?O k?ia ke ka?a n?u. This is the car I'm giving to you.
He makana k?l? na ke ali?i. This is a present for the chief.
Other verbal particles
Other post-verbal markers include
- verb + mai: "toward the speaker"
- verb + aku: "away from the speaker"
- verb + iho: "down"
- verb + a'e: "up", "adjacent"
- stative verb + i? + agent: agent marker
Causative verb creation
Causative verbs can be created from nouns and adjectives by using the prefix ho'o-, as illustrated in the following:
- nani "pretty"; ho'onani "to beautify"
- nui "large"; ho'onui "to enlarge"
- hui "club"; ho'ohui "to form a club"
Reduplication
Reduplication can emphasize or otherwise alter the meaning of a word. Examples are:
- 'au "to swim"; 'au'au "to bathe"
- ha'i "to say"; ha'iha'i "to speak back and forth"
- ma'i "sick"; ma'ima'i "chronically sick"
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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