"He aha ʻo Kēhau?"

Translation:What is Kēhau?

October 12, 2018

26 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/tsuj1g1r1

What does this mean though? Is this how you ask "what does Kēhau do?" or is the kind of question whose answer is "He wahine ʻo Kēhau."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Zach_Factor

Yeah, its kinda confusing the way they phrase it, but "He aha 'o Kēhau" is a way to ask "what is Kehau's job?"

But just like how you shouldnt use "What are you" in an English conversation, I dont think you should use it in a Hawaiian conversation either. I would use "He aha kou hana" instead.

This could also be a question asking about the gentle wind / breeze called Kēhau that West Hawai'i is famous for. It depends on the context and how you look at it.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LardNarIsMyBias

Mahalo for explaining it!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/tnAu8

Yeah. Like, Kehau is a ..... dog, a nice person, a mother, a witch for Halloween or in general ;)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/rabelon

Hawaiian is generally more concerned with what people do, not with what title people hold. In Hawaiian, they would ask "He aha kona hana o Kehau" which is "what work does Kehau have?" Even when asking if Kehau is a boy or girl, it would not be asked that way.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Nico838548

Sounds like you have a bit more experience with hawaiian than i do but wouldnt it make more sense grammatically to ask "he aha ka hana o kaleo" instead of "..kona.."?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/KarinLynn1

Then why isn't "what does Kēhau do" correct?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kelii....

It is a fairly acceptable gloss of the meaning if you are asking What is Kehau in terms of profession. Since there is no verb in that Hawaiian language sentence, I think that is why they do not accept What does Kehau do? as a possibility.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Ctxkh1Me

Is He aha ʻo Kēhau? a sentence that a Hawaiian person might plausibly ask, or would they find awkward/unusual?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kelii....

It is plausible.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RonRGB

What is Kēhau? Perhaps: What is Kēhauʻs professon? What is Kēhauʻs job? What is Kēhauʻs work? What does Kēhau do for a living?

"He aha ʻo Kēhau?" = What is Kēhau?

He mahiʻai ʻo Kēhau. Kēhau is a farmer.

He mākaʻi ʻo Kēhau. = Kēhau is a cop.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/IgorRusski

How about the word "wai" we used before for "what"? I'm confused


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kelii....

Wai would elicit a name, while He aha would elicit a descriptor - teacher, farmer, police officer, etc.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Emi451169

Wai, as far as I understood, is more used as "who", e.g " 'O wai kou tūtū kāne?" (Who is your grandpa?)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GeraldMath4

"Pay attention to the accents," I was scolded. But I don't know how to do a kaha ko in Firefox if they don't pop up the little special keyboard. It's too bad the first romanizers of Hawaiian didn't treat long vowels as double. "Keehau" would be easy to type and to pronounce.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RickGregg1

I have the same issue as Gerald. I do not know how to type a kahako on my keyboard.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GeraldMath4

I found out how to do it only a few minutes later. When typing in those boxes, holding down an e or o somehow gives me a choice of a bunch of macrons, tilde, umlaut, etc.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Alisebeck

It doesnt make sense, especially since in other parts it says kehau is a student and other things. So what is "what is kehau" supposed to mean?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Elizabeth479929

I agree with RonGRB. It seems to be asking what does Kehau do?

What is Kehau? Kehau is a teacher, student, farmer, etc.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/MarkGallag14419

Kēhau. I highlighted her name in Windows 10 from the Hawaiian sentence then copied and pasted it into the answer.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/joao_o_ovo

What does "he aha" mean? I thought "he" meant "a"...


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GeraldMath4

Not exactly, but you could think of "he aha" as "a what." "Kehau is a what?"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/selamyohan

I put "Kehau is a what?" but was told it was wrong... why is that?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kelii....

report that. It is the literal translation of the Hawaiian. It is not common to say that in English but it is possible.

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