Describing a Thing

Level 1

The describing word comes after the noun, the opposite of English.

How It Works

In English the adjective comes first: “the big house”. In Hawaiian it follows the noun:

HawaiianEnglish
ka hale nuithe big house
ke keiki liʻiliʻithe small child
ka wai anuanuthe cold water

A word like kēia or a possessive goes before the noun, and the adjective still follows it: kēlā hale kahiko “that old house”. The same words can start a sentence of their own, as the next lesson shows.

Examples (5)

  1. ka hale nui

    the big house

    Nui follows hale.

  2. ke keiki liʻiliʻi

    the small child

    Liʻiliʻi follows keiki.

  3. ka wai anuanu

    the cold water

    Anuanu follows wai.

  4. kēlā hale kahiko

    that old house

    Kēlā goes before the noun, and kahiko follows it.

  5. He puke ʻulaʻula kēia.

    This is a red book.

    The adjective follows the noun inside the he phrase.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the adjective before the noun, as English does.

    ka nui hale
    ka hale nui

    The describing word follows the noun in Hawaiian.

How It Connects

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

Describing a ThingLevel 1

Learn This First

A describing word follows the noun inside a phrase, so articles come first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.