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- "Lōʻihi kona ʻanakala!"
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I think I need an explanation about word order. This is directly translated "tall his uncle"? I found this order online: verb–subject–object. How does it work in this sentence? the verb I mean. There is no "is"in the sentence. Am I missing something somewhere?
I just realized I'm completely lost outside my comfy 3 largest European language groups.
This is the link I'm using at the moment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_grammar
"Tall (is) his uncle." The distinction between parts of speech is not as rigid in polynesian languages. Lōʻihi means "tall", but it also means, essentially "to be tall". ke Ua = the rain. ua = to rain ʻka ōleleo = the language, ʻōlelo = to speak
So (including the other reply) if the adjective is in front of the noun it means that it refers just to that and I can add is,are.. (in my head, so I can understand at the beginning)? So this is how we know that farmer was smart farmer and not happy farmer? The one in front defines what is the subject, and the last adjective defines what is happening to it - he was happy?
Also with ke Ua and ua - if it's ke, ka, na (plural) in in front does the verb always changes to a noun? Just started so don't have words for example, but like ke snow, snowing, ke knitter, knitting, ke car, driving (at this point have a break for a proper laugh)
And last one for now: how do you know it's past tense?
Thank you very much my new best friend!
"So (including the other reply) if the adjective is in front of the noun it means that it refers just to that and I can add is,are.. (in my head, so I can understand at the beginning)? So this is how we know that farmer was smart farmer and not happy farmer? The one in front defines what is the subject, and the last adjective defines what is happening to it - he was happy?"
Thatʻs right. When "adjectives" are used as adjectives, theyʻre placed after the noun they refer to, much like in the romance languages. If you place them BEFORE the noun theyʻre describing, they essentially become descriptive verbs. (Though again, even trying to describe them using European "parts of speech" isnʻt quite right.)
"Also with ke Ua and ua - if it's ke, ka, na (plural) in in front does the verb always changes to a noun? Just started so don't have words for example, but like ke snow, snowing, ke knitter, knitting, ke car, driving (at this point have a break for a proper laugh)"
I donʻt know if I could go so far as to say "always", but essentially yes. Or, maybe more accurately, if you take a word (which out of context can often be several different parts of speech) and add a "noun marker" to it, such as "ka/ke, nā, he, ʻo, koʻu/kou/kona..." then youʻve signalled that youʻre using the word as a noun.
Tenses of verbs are signalled by particles. Some of these come before the "verb", and some come in two part before and after the "verb". But there is no inflection for conjugation or tenses.
As Douglas Julian said tenses of verbs are signaled with particles so a simple case : Ke 'ai nei au I eat. I 'ai au I ate
It is also important to point out that Ke ... nei is not used for adjectives used as verbs. I am happy now is not Ke hau‘oli nei. Ke ... nei is really for actions that can be completed.
Just for fun I translated it to "her uncle is high". Of course that isn't the right translation, but now I'm too curious how you'd say "high" in Hawaiian? There are plenty of words in other languages, such as "stoned" and so on. Any suggestions?
This is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo annoying I put her and its wrong even tho it SAYS IT!!!!
Because Google Translate is a free site that uses free labor and algorithms to do the translating. It's not a reliable source of translation.
