Asking How: pehea

Level 2

Start with pehea and name the thing or person you ask about.

How It Works

Pehea is the question word for “how”. It opens the question, and the thing you ask about follows it.

QuestionMeaning
Pehea ke kula?How is school?
Pehea ʻo Keoni?How is Keoni?
Pehea ka hana?How is the work going?
Pehea ʻoe?How are you?

Pehea can also ask how an action is done or how it happened. The Reference Grammar has Pehea i ʻeha ai kou lima? (“How was your hand hurt?”). Those longer questions use i … ai and e … ai, which Poppy teaches at Level 5.

Examples (5)

  1. Pehea ke kula?

    How is school?

    Pehea asks about a thing.

  2. Pehea ʻo Keoni?

    How is Keoni?

    ʻO marks the name.

  3. Pehea ka hana?

    How is the work going?

    Pehea can ask about progress.

  4. Pehea ʻoe?

    How are you?

    The same question greets a person.

  5. Pehea kāu haʻawina?

    How is your homework?

    Kāu belongs to haʻawina, so the question asks about your homework.

How It Connects

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

Asking How: peheaLevel 2

Learn This First

Pehea asks how, and it joins the greeting and the question word he aha.

Words in This Pattern

pehea