A or An: he

A or Some: He

Level 1

He means “a” or “an”. Start with he and the kind of thing, then say what you are naming.

How It Works

He is the Hawaiian “a” or “an”. It starts a sentence that says what kind of thing something is. The thing you point to comes last:

He + kind	Subject	Meaning
He puke	kēia	This is a book.
He ʻīlio	kēlā	That is a dog.

Use he mau for more than one: He mau puke kēia “These are books”. Wikipedia and the Reference Grammar both use this pattern.

The Reference Grammar does not let he stand next to ka or ke. To name a particular thing, use ʻo instead, as in ʻO ka puke kēia “This is the book”.

He puke kēia.
This is a book.
He starts the sentence and names the kind of thing.
He ʻīlio kēlā.
That is a dog.
Kēlā points to something far from both of you.
He kalo kēnā.
That is taro. (near you)
Kēnā points to something near the listener.
He mau pōpoki lākou.
They are cats.
He mau makes it plural, and lākou is the subject.
He hale nui kēlā.
That is a big house.
An adjective follows the noun inside the he phrase.

Using he with ka.
He ka puke kēia.
ʻO ka puke kēia.
He means “a”, so it does not sit next to ka or ke. Use ʻo for a particular thing.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

A or An: heLevel 1A or Some: He

He is another small word placed before a noun, so learners meet ka and ke first.

Patterns that build on this one.

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