Saying Someone Is Not Doing It

Level 2

A present sentence like Ke ʻai nei au becomes ʻAʻole au e ʻai nei when you say no.

How It Works

A positive sentence about now wraps the verb in ke and nei. To say no, start with ʻaʻole. A pronoun subject moves up in front of the verb, ke changes to e, and nei stays at the end.

Yes	No
Ke ʻai nei au. I am eating.	ʻAʻole au e ʻai nei. I am not eating.
Ke hana nei ʻo ia. She is working.	ʻAʻole ʻo ia e hana nei. She is not working.

This row is only for the present. For something that did not happen, Poppy uses ʻaʻole i. For something that will not happen, she uses ʻaʻole e. When the subject is ia, you will usually see ʻo before it, as in the second pair.

Examples (5)

ʻAʻole au e heluhelu nei.
I am not reading.
The pronoun au comes before e and the verb.
ʻAʻole ʻoe e hiamoe nei.
You are not sleeping.
Nei closes the sentence, as it does in a positive one.
ʻAʻole ʻo ia e kuke nei.
She is not cooking.
ʻO comes before ia when ia is the subject.
ʻAʻole lākou e hana nei i kēia manawa.
They are not working right now.
A time phrase can follow the verb.
ʻAʻole māua e kākau nei i ka leka.
We two are not writing the letter.
The object phrase comes after nei.

Common Mistakes

Keeping ke after ʻaʻole.
ʻAʻole au ke ʻai nei.
ʻAʻole au e ʻai nei.
After ʻaʻole, ke is replaced by e.

How It Connects

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

Saying Someone Is Not Doing ItLevel 2

Learn This First

It turns the present marker ke ... nei into its negative.

Words in This Pattern

ʻaʻolee

Practice Saying Someone Is Not Doing It in Bubblegum

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