"The concert is tomorrow!"
Translation:Aia ka ʻaha mele ma ka lā ʻapōpō!
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OMGosh I am so confused by this lesson! For some reason I am just not getting it. I feel like this lesson needs to be re
The problem is DL is not a good place to learn grammar, since it’s mostly sentence translation. The only place to really talk about grammar is in the “tips,” and the Hawaiian tree doesn’t seem to have too many of those. (Most people don’t actually read them anyway, I think... they could be more conspicuous.) I suggest using another language learning resource in parallel with DL. I am using the textbook Nā Kai ʻEwalu, which explains all these constructs in detail.
Aia ka ʻaha mele ma kēia lā? = Is the concert today?
Aia ka ʻaha mele ma ka lā ʻapōpō! = The concert is tomorrow!
Is there a formula that will help us remember when to use "i" and when to use "ma"?
Either one works. Sometimes “ma” is a little more specific, since “i” has so many different uses, but my understanding is they are interchangeable in this case.
Wouldn't this be an equational sentence and use 'O ka?
The concert is tomorrow = Tomorrow is the concert?
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If I understand correctly, the issue is that ka ʻaha mele is not a day, so it doesn't make sense it equate it with another day (ka lā ʻapōpō). Instead, the concert has a location in time. Compare with the sentence
ʻO ka Pōʻakolu ka lā ʻaha mele. "Wednesday is the day of the song fest."
In that sentence, the day Wednesday is equated to the song-fest-day, so both nouns are days. I think there's a better explanation here
I think this is a great question. And the explanation below is exactly my understanding also. The difference is identity (pepeke ʻaike ʻO) vs location in time or space (aia).