AIA

LOCATIONAL SENTENCES

Learning The Aia Sentence Structure

In Hawaiian grammar, this sentence structure is referred to as a Pepeke Henua (Pepeke=Grammatical structure, Henua=Place). "Aia" is not a "word" in the English language sense. It is, rather, a grammatical marker indicating that the sentence will be associating a thing with:

Location In Space: Something is located somewhere

The cat is on the table

Location In Time: Something happened, or will happen at some point in time

The party is on Saturday

Location With Someone Or Something: Something (or someone) has locational possession over something (or someone). This means that the idea of "possession" simply means that the thing is with someone, not that they own the thing or necessarily have control over it.

Anita has my car

The dog has the ball

In the sentence, "The cat is on the table", You can see that there are two parts to the sentence structure: Part 1) The thing (the cat) and, Part 2) where it's located (on the table).

• Aia ka pōpoki ma ke pākaukau - The cat is on the table (ka pōpoki=the cat, ma=on, ke pākaukau=the table)
• Aia ka pōpoke ma lalo o ke pākaukau - The cat is under the table (lalo=under, o=the connector between "under" and "table")

An Aia sentence can be a statement of fact or it can be a question; the structure is identical. In Hawaiian, questions are indicated by the tone of the voice. Consider this English language question, "Is the key on the table?". If you say it out loud you'll notice that the tone in your voice goes up slightly at the words "on the table", hence, indicating a question. In Hawaiian, the tone drops at the end of a question sentence. You'll have to hear someone asking a question in Hawaiian to appreciate this difference.

The structure of the Aia sentence can be "turned around" to place emphasis on either the thing or the place, as follows:

Emphasizing that it's my house that's on this street:

• Aia koʻu hale ma kēia alanui - My house is on this street (koʻu hale=my house, kēia alanui=this street)

Emphasizing that this is the street where my house is located:

• Aia ma kēia alanui koʻu hale
  

Aia Sentences Referring To Location In Space

This is typically the first form of the Aia sentence that a student learns. It's very simple: "Something is located somewhere"

• Aia ka peni ma ke pākaukau (Also: Aia ma ke pākaukau ka peni) - The pen is on the table
• Aia ka pāisi hāʻawe i ka hakakau (Also: Aia i ka hakakau ka pāisi hāʻawe) - The backpack is on the shelf 

{Note that there is really very little difference between "i" and "ma" in the Aia sentence}

• Aia ke keiki ma ke kula - The child as at school {The kaʻi "ke" doesn't force an implication of "the" school}

The Question Form {"i hea" is the ʻfill-in-the-blankʻ for the word "where"}

• Aia i hea ka peni? (Also: Aia ka peni i hea?) - Where is the pen?
• Aia i hea ka pāisi hāʻawe? (Also: Aia ka pāisi hāʻawe i hea?) - Where is the backpack?
• Aia i hea ke keiki? (Also: Aia ke keiki ma i hea?) - Where is the child?

Aia Sentences Referring To In Time

In Hawaiian thought, space and time are related. It wasn't until 1905 that Albert Einstein mathematically quantified the idea of "space-time" with his Special Theory of Relativity that the world was introduced to this concept. Hawaiian's knew it all along! In this context, something can be located in space or in time, and the Aia structure addresses both situations. Consider the following:

• Aia ka lūʻau i kēia lā - The luau is today
• Aia ka pāʻina ma ka Poʻaono

{The day of the week takes the kaʻi "ka" but is not read as "the" Saturday}

• Aia nō ʻoe ke hele i ke kulanui? - Are you still going to the university? (nō=intensifier, emphasizing the time as "still", ke hele nei=going right now, ke kulanui=the university)
• Aia nō ʻo ia ke hiamoe nei - She is still sleeping (ke hiamoe nei=sleeping right now)
• Aia ana au i koʻu hale i ka holo ʻilima o ka ahiahi - I will be home at 5:00pm (ka holo ʻilima=the fifth hour, o ka ahiahi=of the evening)

Negation And Tense With Aia Sentences

Negation: Replace "Aia" with "ʻAʻole"

ʻAʻole ka peni ma ke pakaukau - The pen is not on the table

ʻAʻole ka lūʻau i kēia lā - The luau is not today

Tense: Use "ana" for the future, add a time reference for the past

To say, "The cat is going to be on the table", implying future tense, you add the "futurizing" marker "ana" after Aia:

Aia ana ka pōpoki ma ke pākaukau. Itʻs that simple. While you can use "ana" after Aia there is no construction that uses the other verb tense markers (ua, ke/nei, etc.). If you wanted to say "The cat was on the table yesterday" you would add a time reference:

Aia ka pōpoki ma ke pākaukau i ka lā aku nei (ka lā=day, aku nei=previous, ie. yesterday).

Aia Sentences Referring To Temporary, Locational Possession

There are a number of Hawaiian words that express the idea of getting, having, obtaining, taking possession of, or fetching. They each convey a sometimes subtle difference in meaning. An Aia sentence can be used to refer to temporary possession based on the fact that something is, simply, located where you are; it's with you but you don't necessarily own it or control it. For example, Anita has lent you her car. You now have her car. The location of the car is with you but you don't own the car. You would say:

Aia ko Anita kaʻa au - I have Anita's car (The location of Anita's car is me)

The concept of locational possession extends to people. You could ask, "Who is she with?" This is, in effect, asking, "Who has her?"

Aia iā wai? - Who is he/she/it with? Who has him/her/it? (The location of him/her/it is with whom?)