A-Class and O-Class Possessives and Possessive Kaʻi
There are two domains of possessives in Hawaiian: “o-class” and “a-class”. We call these «kinoʻō» and «kinoʻā», respectively. The choice of which to use depends on context and how we want to express the relationship of the owner to the item owned. In English language, we do not apply this type of thinking to our possessive patterns, so this may take a little while for you to get used to.
| kinoʻā | a-class possessives | think of action and agency, subjective viewpoint |
| kinoʻō | o-class possessives | think of organization and objective viewpoint |
The following table shows the first six possessive kaʻi you generally learn in Hawaiian:
| English | kaʻi kinoʻō | kaʻi kinoʻā | kinoʻō example | kinoʻā example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | koʻu | kaʻu | koʻu hale my house | kaʻu poi my poi |
| your (1) | kou | kāu | kou kaʻa your car | kāu ʻōlelo your word(s) |
| his / her | kona | kāna | kona lei her lei to wear | kāna lei the lei she made |
Explanations
There have been many attempts to explain the structure and thinking behind a- and o-class possessives in Hawaiian (and other Polynesian languages) since the mid-1800s. It’s very difficult to be precise. William Pila Wilson (who wrote the UH Nā Kai ʻEwalu textbook) did his doctorate dissertation on the topic in the 1970s, and is the best source of academic knowledge in this area. What I teach comes essentially from Pila —my kumu in the mid-1990s— combined with my own way of breaking this complicated topic down.
Regardless of which analysis or explanation you choose to use as the basis for understanding Hawaiian a- and o-class possessives, every system should give you the same result: you should be able to decide on a-class or o-class for the things around you fairly quickly.
Below are some simple and general guidelines that you need to learn. Once again, the goal is to be able to quickly choose which domain, a or o, that should be used.
Here is the main point you must remember first and foremost:
Kinoʻō and Kinoʻā at a Glance
Here is a different way of putting the criteria for kinoʻā and kinoʻō into little boxes.
| Kinoʻō (o-class) e.g., koʻu, kou, kona | Kinoʻā (a-class) e.g., kaʻu, kāu, kāna |
|---|---|
| anything you go into, live in, work in, etc; where you live (place), times in life; modes of transportation | easy to throw away or get rid of, temporary; something you can eat, consumables |
| things that usually don’t change: body parts, birthday, your class or hālau, etc. | you created it or had a hand in making it or using it; verbs for actions you do |
| knowledge, feelings, emotions, ideas | words, body language, movement |
| family (your generation or higher) | family (below you in family tree) |
| friends, co-workers, classmates. etc | lovers, partners; anything favorite |
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ʻŌlelo Online Virtual Classroom · kumu Kaliko Beamer-Trapp · Lesson revision 8 (December 2025) · This is a work in progress; feedback is welcome.