Doing Something Now: ke ... nei

Level 1

Ke before the verb and nei after it say that something is happening now.

How It Works

Ke … nei is a frame around the verb. It is common in writing and formal speech for something happening now. In everyday talk, e … ana is also common for ongoing action. Ke … nei works the same for every person:

Frame	Verb	Subject
Ke … nei	ʻai	ke keiki

Ke ʻai nei ke keiki “The child is eating”. The verb does not change. Other small words, such as mai “toward me”, go between the verb and nei: Ke hele mai nei ʻo Malia.

Nei means “here, near me”. The Reference Grammar says ala is the form for something farther away, and that it is rarely seen. Nei is the one to learn first.

Examples (5)

Ke ʻai nei ke keiki.
The child is eating.
Ke goes before the verb and nei goes after it.
Ke heluhelu nei au.
I am reading.
The frame works the same for I.
Ke kuke nei ka makuahine i ka ʻuala.
The mother is cooking the sweet potato.
The object comes last, after the subject.
Ke hana nei nā kumu ma ke kula.
The teachers are working at the school.
The subject comes after nei.
Ke inu nei lākou i ka wai.
They are drinking water.
Nei closes the frame, and lākou follows it.

How It Connects

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

Doing Something Now: ke ... neiLevel 1

Learn This First

The marker pair ke ... nei shows an action in progress, and the pronoun goes right after the verb.

Where the Pronoun Goes
Know where the pronoun goes, because it sits after the verb in ke noho nei au.
Level 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Practice Doing Something Now: ke ... nei in Bubblegum

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