"Hānai koʻu māmā i kāna keiki kāne hanauna."

Translation: My mom adopted her nephew.

[BarbaraLea954887]

He ninau. Why is there not a past tense marker with this verb? Why not "Ua hānai..." for "adopted"?

[HklaniClee]

First, there should have been a past-tense marker: UA. Second, adopt is usually "lawe hānai" to differentiate it from "raise" or "feed." Niʻihau speakers will say "lawe hānai hoʻohiki" to specify LEGALLY adopt. And yes, it's possible to use other verb markers: e lawe hānai, e lawe hānai ana, etc.

[Limu780489]

So did my mom adopt her own nephew or the nephew of someone else? Does Hawaiian differentiate. Can anyone please answer this question?

[Mele679126]

Mahalo e. I have the same question.

[GeraldMath4]

I wonder how one would say "is going to adopt," if that is even possible.

[Dorka531071]

"E hānai ana"?

[GeraldMath4]

"E lawe hānai ana" much safer. See HklaniClee's new comment above.

[Mankou9]

Why did my answer "My mom adopts her nephew" get counted wrong? Shouldn't both the present and past tense be accepted (since there's no "ua" marker)?

[GeraldMath4]

Unless it's a newspaper headline or a photo caption, the tense of "My mom adopts her nephew" suggests it's something she does regularly, so probably not what the Hawaiian would mean.