Hawaiian verb classification
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Verb class
- In Hawaiian, verbs are classified into verb transitives (vt), verb intransitives (vi), and verb statives (vs). However, some verbs fall into more than one class. Additionally, any verb preceded by a determiner automatically becomes a noun; often, when nominalizing a verb, the nominalizing particle ‘ana directly follows the verb unless the verb is passivized by the passivizing particle ‘ia, in which case the passivizing particle will directly follow the verb and the passivizing particle will in turn be followed by the nominalizing particle 'ana; in this case the order will be "(Determiner) (verb) 'ia 'ana." Do not confuse the nominalizing particle 'ana with the Ø demonstrative ana which is found in the "E (verb) ana (subject)" pattern.
1) Verb transitive (Hamani) - verb transitives affect things beyond the subject, and as a result, they take direct objects. Examples of verb transitives include ‘ai (to eat), pepehi (to beat, strike, kill), hamo (to apply, as lotion, to smear), kia‘i (to guard), hānau (to give birth), hāinu (to give a drink, to make or aid someone in drinking), hānai (to feed; to raise, as a child), ho‘omano (to continue an action, in which case the action is nominalized and preceded by the direct object marker), ho‘okomo (to insert, to put in), holoi (to wash), ho‘ōki (to put an end to, to stop), aloha (to love), paepae (to support), apo (to hug, embrace), hō'au'au (to give a shower, to aid in bathing, as of a child), lou (to pick, as in grabbing fruits from a tree).
- Ex.1) E kia‘i aku ‘oe iā Kea'au. (Guard Kea‘au).
- Ex.2) Ua hamo ihola ke keiki i ka ‘aila ma kona lima a hinuhinu. (The child applied oil to his arm until it was shiny).
2)Verb intransitive (Hehele) - Intransitive verbs are limited to the subject, and therefore, do not take direct objects. Examples of intransitive verbs include hele (to go, come), hina (to fall), ala (to awaken), ‘oni (to move, fidget, wiggle), noho (to sit; to reside), ‘au‘au (to swim; to bathe oneself), ‘imo (to twinkle, as of a star), kahe (to flow, trickle, as of water).
- Ex.1) E hele mai ana nō au. (I'm surely going to come).
- Ex.2) Ua noho ihola ke keiki ma ka ‘ūhā o kona kupuna kāne. (The child sat on his grandfather's lap).
3)Verb stative (‘A‘ano) - Verb statives refer to states, conditions, and properties. Hence, they do not take direct objects. In Hawaiian, verb statives are further divided into adjectival statives verbs and loa'a stative verbs.
- A) As mentioned above, Adjectival stative verbs describe states, conditions, and properties. They can modify both nouns and verbs. Examples of adjectival stative verbs include pololei (correct, straight), hewa (wrong), loloa (long), peleleu (expansive), nui (big; numerous), hau‘oli (happy), ikaika (strong), pa‘akikī (hard, solid; difficult), ‘o‘ole‘a (hard, solid; harsh, as of words), kalakala (knotty; rough, as of words), ‘ula‘ula (red), melemele (yellow), ‘ele‘ele (black), ‘ōma'oma‘o (green).
- Ex.1) Ua hewa kāu pane ‘ana mai. (Your anwer is incorrect). In this sentence, the noun phrase "kāu pane" (your answer) is modified by the adjectival stative verb "hewa" (incorrect) to mean "Your answer is incorrect."
- Ex.2) Ua hao ikaika maila ka makani. (The wind blew strongly). In this sentence, the verb intransitive "hao" (to come with force) is modified by the adjectival stative verb "ikaika" (strong),
- Note: When adjectival stative verbs are followed by the object marker i (when the object is a common noun) or iā (when the object is a pronoun or proper noun), then the object following the object marker may be the cause or reason for the stative verb.
- Ex.1) Ua pa‘akikī kēia ha‘awina i nā hua‘ōlelo pohihihi. (This assignment is difficult as a result of the obscure wording). In this sentence, "pa‘akikī" means "difficult," and the subject "this assignment" (kēia ha‘awina) is difficult as a result of "the obscure words" (nā hua‘ōlelo pohihihi) since "the obscure words" is in the object position.
- EX.2) Kaulana Kaua‘i i ka ua. (Kaua‘i is famous as a result of the rain/ Kaua‘i is famous for rain). In this sentence, "kaulana" means "famous" and the cause of Kaua‘i's fame is "the rain" (ka ua).
- B) Loa‘a stative verbs are a class of stative verbs named after the stative verb loa‘a. Here are examples of the most common loa‘a stative verbs.
- Ex.1) Loa‘a (gotten, obtained) - Ua loa‘a ka ‘ike i ka haumana. (The knowledge is gotten to the student). In the loa‘a sentence pattern, the word loa‘a (gotten, obtained) modifies the noun phrase "ka 'ike" (the knowledge), stating that "the knowledge is gotten." In this sentence pattern, the noun, pronoun, or proper noun to whom or to what the subject following loa'a is obtained is in the object position; in this example, the person to whom the subject "the knowledge" (ka 'ike) is obtained is to the object "the student" (ka haumana).
- Ex.2) Hiki (can, able, possible) - Hiki iā ‘oe ke ka‘ahele iā O‘ahu. (You can tour O‘ahu). The loa‘a stative verb "hiki" is used in the above sentence pattern to mean "can," or "able." The object marker (iā) following hiki marks the pronoun "you" (‘oe) in the object position. In the hiki sentence pattern, the noun, pronoun, or proper noun in the object position is the one who can or is able to do perform the action; therefore, since ‘oe (you) is in the object position directly following hiki, it i is the pronoun "you" (‘oe) who is able to perform the action. The action that the noun, pronoun, or proper noun is able to perform is preceded by the infinitive "ke."
- Ex.2) Lilo (lost, gone, taken away) - Ua lilo ka papa he‘enalu i ke kai. (The surfboard was lost to the sea). In this pattern, the subject of the sentence is lost, gone, or taken away by the noun, pronoun, or proper noun in the object position. So, in this example the subject "the surfboard" (ka papa he‘enalu) is lost, gone, or taken away by "the sea" (kai) because "the sea" occurs in the object position.
- Ex.3) Maopopo (understood, comprehensible) - Maopopo kāna mau hana iā Kēhau. (His/her activities are comprehensible to Kēhau). In the "maopopo" (understood, comprehensible) sentence pattern, the subject of the sentence is the thing which is "maopopo" (understood), and the noun, pronoun, or proper noun in the object position is the animate object to whom the understanding is granted; that is, the noun, pronoun, or proper noun in the object position is the thing which understands the subject. In the case of this example, the subject "his/her activities" (kāna mau hana) is understood by the proper noun Kēhau since Kēhau is in the object position.
