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 ʻaʻole, as in:

Another exception is when an emphatic adverbial phrase begins the sentence. In this case, a pronoun subject precedes the verb.^[1]: p.29

Interrogatives

Yes–no questions can be unmarked and expressed by intonation,^[3]: p.32 or they can be marked by placing anei after the leading word of the sentence.^[1]: p.23 Examples of question-word questions include:

See also Hawaiian Language: Syntax and other resources Archived 2010-05-22 at the Wayback Machine.

Articles

Every noun is preceded by an article (ka‘i). The three main ones are:

• ke and ka – definitive singular – ke for words starting with letters k, e, a and o (usually memorised as ke ao "the cloud" rule) exceptions include words called nā kūʻēlula "the rule defiers" eg. ke pākaukau "the table", ke ʻō "the fork" and ke mele "the song"). For all other words ka is used.
• he – indefinite singular
• nā – plural (definite or indefinite)

Number

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:

• ka pu‘u "the hill" vs. nā pu‘u "the hills"

In the absence of these articles, plurality is usually indicated by inserting the pluralizing particle mau immediately before the noun:

• he hale "a house" vs. he mau hale "houses"
• ko‘u hoaaloha "my friend" vs. ko‘u mau hoaaloha "my friends"

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:

• he wahine "a woman" vs. he mau wāhine "women"
• ka ‘elemakule "the old man" vs. nā ‘elemākule "the old men"
• ia kahuna "the aforementioned priest" vs. ia mau kāhuna "the aforementioned priests"

Gender

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modern orthographical rules, is written as two words, but it can be seen as one when written by older speakers and in historical documents.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:

• ka mea "the thing"
• kona mea "his thing (nonspecific)"
• kāna mea "his thing (which he created or somehow chose)"
• ka mea āna i ʻike ai "the thing that he saw"
• kāna (mea) i ʻike ai "what he saw"
• kēia ʻike ʻana āna "this thing that he saw (purposefully)"
• kēia ʻike ʻana ona "this thing that he saw (purportedly)" where the seeing isn't much import

Tense, aspect, and mood

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]

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^[1] proposed that Hawaiian has a pluperfect tense as follows:

• ua + verb + ʻē: pluperfect tense/aspect (ua hana ʻē au "I had worked")

However, this is debatable since ʻē simply means "beforehand, in advance, already".^[4] 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:

• Ua hana paha au. Perhaps I worked.
• Ua hana mālie au. I worked steadily, without disruption.
• Ua hana naʻe au. I even worked.

Passive Voice

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:

• Ke kūkulu ʻia lā ka hale e mākou. The house is being built by us

Equative sentences

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).

Other verbal particles

Other post-verbal markers include^{[5]: pp.228–231}

• verb + mai: "toward the speaker"
• verb + aku: "away from the speaker"
• verb + iho: "down"
• verb + aʻe: "up", "adjacent"
• stative verb + iā + 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:^[3]: p.24

• nani "pretty"; hoʻonani "to beautify"
• nui "large"; hoʻonui "to enlarge"
• hui "club"; hoʻohui "to form a club"