Hawaiian Lesson 3

Kā Naiʻa Palapala ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi - Haʻawina ʻEkolu
Naiʻa's writings for learning Hawaiian - Lesson Three: Time for some action!

Stative verbs are all well and good – we can say how blue or sexy or amazing or ugly something is – but what about verbs as English speakers usually think of verbs? In other words, let's get some action going!

Vocabulary...
Nā Hamani (transitive verbs)
Haʻawi – to give
Hele aku – to go
Hele mai – to come
Nānā – to look
Kiʻi – to get
ʻAi – to eat
Aloha – to love

Hana – to work

Nā Kikino
Mea ʻai – food (lit. thing (to) eat)
Puke – book

Verb Sentences

In Hawaiʻi, the verb usually goes right near the beginning of the sentence. Next is the subject, that is, what/whoever is performing the action, and after that is the direct object, or what/whoever the action is being performed on (in "Lehua eats the chocolate", Lehua is the subject, eats is the verb, and chocolate is the direct object). We could say that Hawaiian is a VSO language, that is, verb-subject-object. As in any language, this is not a rigid order, but it's right for simple sentences.

Examples:
Nānā ke keiki – The child looks.
Nānā ke keiki i ke kai. – The child looks at the sea.
ʻAi ke kane. – The man eats.
ʻAi ke kane i ka mea 'ai. – The man eats the food.
Ha'awi au i ka pua i ke keiki. – I give the flower to the child.

Alia!, you're saying, wait a minute! What are those little "i" things there for? Ah, I say, those are little grammatical particles. You put them in front of the objects. Thusly, in this case, they are "object markers" (amazing, huh?). They go in front of direct objects and indirect objects. (in "I give the flower to the child", the flower is the direct object, the thing I'm giving. The child is the indirect object, the one getting the flower). "i" also functions as a place/time marker, it is placed in front of a place or time, for example:
Hele au i Hawaiʻi. – I go to Hawaiʻi.
Nānā ke keiki i ka puke i ka hale. – The child looks at the book in the house.
ʻAi au i ka mea ʻai i ka ʻawakea. – I eat food in the afternoon.
I ke kakahiaka, haʻawi au i ka mea ʻai i ka pōpoki i ka hale. – In the morning, I give food to the cat in the house.

Imperatives

If you're directing someone to do something, "e" is place in front of the verb.

Examples:
E Lilinoe, e kiʻi ʻoe i ka pöpoki! – Lilinoe, get the cat!
E ʻai iho ʻoe i ka mea ʻai! – Eat the food!
E hele mai ʻoe i Hawaiʻi! – Come to Hawai'i!
E hele aku ʻoe! – Go! Go away!
E haʻawi ʻoe i kēlā pua nani i ka wahine. – Give that pretty flower to the lady.

The subject (in this case "ʻoe") is often left out if it is obvious. In informal situations, the "e" at the beginning is sometimes dropped as well.

There is a list of common, simple imperative commands here (Leilani's page)

Negative Imperatives

For telling someone not to do something. These are just as straightforward as the positive ones, you simply use "mai" instead of "e".

Examples:
Mai hele aku! – Don't go!
Mai ʻai 'oe i kënā! – Don't eat that!
Mai nānā i ka lā. – Don't look at the sun.

There is a list of common, simple negative imperative commands here (Leilani's page)