Introduction
This lesson is all about the types of words we call «kaʻi» and «memeʻa». We use them in combination to create kaʻi+memeʻa “sequences” which comprise one of the three basic building blocks of Hawaiian sentences.
The Kaʻi
First, we will start by focusing on the kaʻi. The word «kaʻi» comes from «alakaʻi» meaning “to lead / leader” or “guide”. Some kaʻi in English are “a/an”, “the”, “this”, “that”, ”these”, “those”, and “some”. We use kaʻi before nouns, as in “a car”, “some children”, or “these words”.
Comparison to English
Kaʻi in English grammar are called “articles” and “determiners”, but you only need to know that if you are interested in comparing Hawaiian to English. If you have no idea what those English grammar terms mean, then there is no need to go and try to learn them in order to speak Hawaiian; just focus on Hawaiian kaʻi as I explain them here.
Hawaiian Style
In Hawaiian, kaʻi lead content words like nouns and indicate if the content words are singular or plural; the content words themselves do not have to change to “agree” with the kaʻi. This is different from English where we have to change the content word (and sometimes even the kaʻi) to suit. For example, “the car” vs. “the cars”, or “this box” vs. “these boxes”. In Hawaiian, those would be «ke kaʻa» vs. «nā kaʻa», and «kēia pahu» vs. «kēia mau pahu» respectively. Both «kaʻa» and «pahu» stayed the same while the kaʻi changed.
This lesson focuses on singular kaʻi; you will learn plural kaʻi in another lesson.
① The Kaʻi «he» Meaning “a” or “an”
| Content Word | Meaning | Kaʻi + Content Word | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| moʻo | gecko | ➜ | he moʻo | a gecko |
| pōpoki | cat | ➜ | he pōpoki | a cat |
| manu | bird | ➜ | he manu | a bird |
| ʻīlio | dog | ➜ | he ʻīlio | a dog |
| pipi | cow | ➜ | he pipi | a cow |
| puaʻa | pig | ➜ | he puaʻa | a pig |
| ʻelepani | elephant | ➜ | he ʻelepani | an elephant |
Kaʻi Can Do Wonderful Things
Of course we can use kaʻi like «he» before nouns as shown in the table above; but kaʻi can also be used before adjectives and verbs in Hawaiian to make them act like nouns. That’s amazing! We don’t have to add any letters to the content word, like “-er” for instance to change “run” to “runner” in English.
Some examples are shown below.
| Content Word | Type | Meaning | With kaʻi «he» | Sounds like a noun meaning… | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| holoholo | verb | to run | ➜ | he holoholo | a thing that runs; a runner |
| nani | adj. | pretty | ➜ | he nani | a pretty thing |
| hale | noun | house | ➜ | he hale | a house |
| kapakahi | adj. | crooked | ➜ | he kapakahi | a crooked thing |
| niu | noun | coconut | ➜ | he niu | a coconut |
| ʻike | verb | to know | ➜ | he ʻike | an understanding |
| kipa | verb | to visit | ➜ | he kipa | a visit; a visitor |
| manō | noun | shark | ➜ | he manō | a shark |
| kāpulu | adj | messy | ➜ | he kāpulu | a messy thing, a messy place |
| lele | verb | to fly | ➜ | he lele | a thing which flies; a flight |
| pōloli | adj | hungry | ➜ | he pōloli | a hungry person |
② The Kaʻi «ka» and «ke» Meaning “the”
There are two kaʻi in Hawaiian which are similar to the word “the” (singular) in English. They are «ka» and «ke». Here are some examples along with the rule to help you choose which one:
| ka hale | the house |
| ka lei | the lei |
| ka poi | the poi |
| ka ʻelepani | the elephant |
| ke ala | the pathway |
| ke ehu | the sea spray |
| ke kumu | the teacher |
| ke one | the sand |
«KEAO» Rule
The “95% rule” we use to know which of these two kaʻi to use is called «ke ao» (the cloud).
✓ use «ke» before words beginning with k, e, a, or o.
✓ use «ka» for all the others (including ʻokina!)
• there are some exception words; perhaps 20 or so are all you really need to know to speak conversational Hawaiian all day long. You will learn them little by little as needed.
ʻŌlelo Online Virtual Classroom · kumu Kaliko Beamer-Trapp · Lesson revision 6 (August 2024) · This is a work in progress; feedback is welcome.