"the girl"

Translation: ke kaikamahine

[Jenny13eans]

Why is it ke instead of ka

[PauloChen2]

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In English, the word "a" has two forms: "a" and "an", determined by the sound that the following word begins with. "An apple", but "a pear". So it is in Hawaiian. "Ka" has two forms: "ke" before words starting with "k", "e", "a", or "o" (and a scattered few other words), "ka" elsewhere.

The usual mnemonic is "ke ao" (the cloud). It contains all the letters, makes sense as a phrase, and is an application of the rule.

Note that a word that starts with an ‘okina does not fit the "ke ao" rule.

[Daniel738284]

Shouldnt it have said ka and not ke?

[deactivated user]

No, it shouldn't. «Ka» changes to «ke» before words starting with k, e, a, o.

[Teo972975]

Ok