Pointing Out the One: ʻo ... ka mea

Level 3

ʻO ... ka mea names the one who does something.

How It Works

Hawaiian Study teaches this as an ʻo equational sentence: ʻo names the one, and ka mea opens a clause about the one. The same pattern with he means “is a ...”.

SentenceMeaning
ʻO Leilani ka mea e kuke nei.Leilani is the one who is cooking.
ʻO koʻu hoaloha ka mea i hele i Maui.My friend is the one who went to Maui.

Use e with nei or ana for now or later, and i for the past.

The pattern points at one person or thing out of a group, so it answers a question like ʻO wai ka mea e hele ana? “Who is the one going?”. The part after ka mea is a clause about that person. If you only want to say what someone is, such as a teacher, use he instead: He kumu ʻo Leilani. “Leilani is a teacher.”

Examples (4)

  1. ʻO Leilani ka mea e kuke nei.

    Leilani is the one who is cooking.

    The clause says what Leilani is doing now.

  2. ʻO ke kumu ka mea e heluhelu ana i ka puke.

    The teacher is the one who will read the book.

    Ana points to later.

  3. ʻO koʻu hoaloha ka mea i hele i Maui.

    My friend is the one who went to Maui.

    I marks something already done.

  4. ʻO wai ka mea e hele ana?

    Who is the one who is going?

    ʻO wai asks about the one.

How It Connects

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

Pointing Out the One: ʻo ... ka meaLevel 3

Learn This First

This sentence names the one who did something.

Words in This Pattern

ʻokamea