That Is It: ʻo ia

Level 1

ʻO ia can mean “that is it” or “he, she”. The sentence shows which.

How It Works

ʻO ia is the third person subject form (Reference Grammar). It has more than one job:

WhereExampleMeaning
after a verbKe hele nei ʻo ia.He or she is going.
start of a naming sentenceʻO ia ke kumu.That is the teacher. / He or she is the teacher.
a short answerʻO ia paha.That could be so.

In the Reference Grammar, ʻO ia! and ʻO ia hoʻi! are also exclamations of agreement. In a sentence about a person, ʻo ia is the word for he or she (see No Grammatical Gender).

Examples (5)

  1. Ke hele nei ʻo ia.

    He is going. / She is going.

    After a verb, ʻo ia is the subject.

  2. ʻO ia ke kumu.

    That is the teacher. / He or she is the teacher.

    ʻO ia starts a naming sentence.

  3. ʻO ia ka puke.

    That is the book.

    Ia can point to a thing.

  4. ʻO ia paha.

    That could be so.

    ʻO ia is also a short reply.

  5. Ke ʻai nei ʻo ia i ka iʻa.

    He is eating the fish. / She is eating the fish.

    Same subject form with an object.

How It Connects

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

That Is It: ʻo iaLevel 1

Learn This First

ʻO ia is a very common start that uses ʻo and the pronoun ia.

Words in This Pattern

ʻo ia