COMPARING QUALITIES

ʻOI AKU AND EMI MAI

ʻOi As A Stative Verb - The Best, Superior, Prominent

While it's more common to see ʻOi used in the ʻOi Aku sentence structure the word stands alone as a stative verb meaning: The Best. When coupled with "aku" (ʻOi aku) the phrase means "More Than". Wehewehe defines ʻOi as: Best, superior, superb, main, prominent, exceeding; to exceed, excel; left-over, extra, remaining, above, odd. Some examples include:

• ʻOi loa - The very best, superlative
• Hola ʻelua ā ʻoi - Two oʻclock or a little after (Note: this may be written with, or without the kahakō - ā)
• He ʻelua a ʻoi - Two or more (Note: this may be written with, or without the kahakō - ā)
• A ʻoe, emi mai - More or less
• He ʻoi ʻoe - You are the best
• ʻO ka lehua ka ʻoi kēla o nā pua - Lehua is the best of flowers
• ʻOi kēia mea ʻai - This food is the best! or, possibly, "This food remains"
• ʻOi kēlā kānaka - That person is the best! or, possibly, "That person is odd or extra"
• E ʻoi ana ʻo ia i ka haumana ma ka papa - She is going to be the best student in the class

And, of course, the phrase you hear referring to Maui:  Maui nō ka ʻoi - Maui is indeed the best

Note that this phrase is somewhat idiomatic in that it has dropped the leading ʻO in the underlying ʻO-Equational form and it has moved the nō intensifier ahead of the noun "ka ʻoi" - ʻO Maui ka ʻoi nō. Note, too, that you often see the phrase misspelled on signs and bumper stickers with the kahakō missing in nō. That makes it, "Maui no ka ʻoi" which translates to "Maui is for the best".

Notice in the last example above (E ʻoi ana ʻo ia i ka haumana ma ka papa) that the future verb tense is used with ʻOi. Verb tense and aspect can be used with ʻoi but, remember, when ua is used with a stative verb it doesnʻt imply past, completed action (as with "Ua hele au i ka paka" - I went to the park; I went there, now Iʻm done with the act of going there). Ua, with a stative verb, simply means that you came into the current state and, there you are, for example, "Ua hauʻoli au - I am happy (I came into the state of happiness). It doesnʻt mean, "I was happy". To imply that a state came into being in the past you would add a time reference: Ua hauʻoli au i ka pō aku nei - I became happy yesterday. The same thing is true for ʻoi: Ua ʻoi ʻo ia i ka haumana i ka pule aku nei - She was the best student in class last week.

The ʻOi Aku Sentence Structure (Pepeke ʻOi Aku) - More Than

The <quality/trait> of <object 1> is greater than (the quality/trait) of <object 2>

There are two ways that you might see the ʻOi Aku structure used, both meaning exactly the same thing:

1) The quality is stated once for Object 1, at the beginning of the sentence and is assumed (as implied in the parentheses in the examples), but not restated, for Object 2:

ʻOI AKU KA/KE <quality/trait> O <object 1> MA MUA O <object 2>

Examples:

ʻOi aku ka ʻono o kēlā iʻa ma mua o kēia moa - The deliciousness of that fish is more than (the deliciousness of) this chicken

ʻOi aku ke akamai o kāu keiki ma muo o kaʻu - The smartness of your child is more than (the smartness of) mine

ʻOi aku ka nui o kaʻu lāpaki ma muo o kāu pōpoki - The bigness of my rabbit is greater than (the bigness) of your cat

2) The quality is stated for both Object 1 and Object 2:

ʻOI AKU KA/KE <quality/trait> O <object 1> MA MUA O KA/KE <quality/trait> O <object 2>

Example:

ʻOi aku ka ʻono o kēlā iʻa ma mua o ka ʻono o kēia moa - The deliciousness of that fish is more than the deliciousness of this chicken

ʻOi aku ke akamai o kāu keiki ma mua o ke akamai o kaʻu keiki

Additional Notes:

• You may also see the directional "aʻe" used in place of "aku": ʻOi aʻe ka ʻono o kēlā iʻa ma mua o keia moa. - The deliciousness of that fish exceeds this chicken.
• To negate a Pepeke ʻOi Aku you put "ʻAʻole i" in front: ʻAʻole i ʻoe aku ka ʻono o kēlā iʻa ma mua o keia moa. - The deliciousness of that fish is not greater than the deliciousness of this chicken.
• You can emphasize the comparison with "loa": ʻOi loa aku ka ʻono o kēla iʻa ma mua o keia moa. - The deliciousness of this fish is much better than that chicken.
• You can express "once again" using "hou": ʻOi hou aku ka ʻono o keia iʻa ma mua o kēia moa. - Once again, the fish is more delicious than the chicken.

Comparing Qualities Possessed By Objects

Two objects could simply have qualities that are being compared. The quality is intrinsic to the object as a whole, for example: The girl is tall. Here, tallness is a quality that refers to the girl; she's standing there; you see here; she's tall. Tallness refers to the girl as a whole. On the other hand, and quality could be observed in an object that is possessed by someone or something, for example: The girl's hair is long. Here, longness applies specifically to the girl's hair, not her arm or her leg. The quality of longness is possessed by the girl's hair; you observe this quality about her hair and not about her as a whole. When a possessed object has a quality it appears in a normal possessive form. Consider these English and Hawaiian language examples:

OBSERVED OBJECT QUALITY: The girl is taller than the boy {You look at them and you see that the girl is taller - an observed quality}

ʻOi aku ka lōʻihi o ke kaikamahine ma mua o ka lōʻihi o ke keiki kāne. (ka lōʻihi=the longness)

ʻOi aku ka ʻakamai o kāu keiki ma mua o kaʻu keiki (ʻakamai=intelligence, smartness)

Note here that the children being compared are your's (kāu) and mine (kaʻu) and not something possessed by the children. There is no presence of a possessed object quality.

POSSESSED OBJECT QUALITY: The girl's hair is longer than the boy's hair {The hair is possessed by, respectively, the girl and the boy and, hence, the "longness" refers to the hair and not to the girl and the boy themselves.}

ʻOi aku ka lōʻihi o ko kaikamahine lauoho ma mua o ka lōʻihi ko keiki kāne lauoho

In this possessive example you see the use of the leading K-possessive "ko" which is the possessive form that is similar to the apostrophe "s" in English (the girl's hair).

Emi - To Reduce, Diminish, Decrease

Emi is a stative verb meaning that something is in the state of being reduced or lessened. It expresses the opposite state of ʻOi. As a stative verb, it's used just like ʻoi:

Emi ke kino - To lose weight (ke kino=the body; "The body is in the state of being reduced"

Emi ke kumukūʻai - The price is reduced; it's on sale (ke kumukūʻai=the price)

He ʻelua a emi - Two or less (ʻelua=two, a=and; contrast with He ʻelua a ʻoi=Two or more)

...a emi iki... - ...a little bit less than... (iki=little)

...a emi paha... - ...perhaps less than... (paha=perhaps)



Emi Mai And Emi Iho

In the same way that ʻOi is used to express the state of being "more", emi is used to express the state of being "less". You can draw attention to the difference in size of the quantities being compared (emi mai) or you can focus on the implied action that must have occurred to cause the difference in size (emi iho). The difference in the two usages is subtle.

Emi iho focuses on the action of getting smaller and reduced: Consider a statement that says that the price (ke kumukūʻai) of a shirt (ka pālule) has been reduced at the store (ka hale kūʻai). If you were telling someone about the sale you might want to express that the reduction in price at this store is more than the reduction in price at that store. First, notice that the reduction is greater; it has been reduced more; the "lessness" is greater. This is why the emi construction uses "ma mua o" (just like ʻOi aku); there's more reduction. Secondly, in what you want to express, you're focusing on the fact that one store lowered the price more than the other store. You're not focusing on the fact that the price is lower. This is where you would use "Emi iho". For example:

Emi iho ke kumukūʻai o ka pālule ma kēia hale kūʻai ma mua o kēlā hale kūʻai - The price has been reduced at this store more than at that store

Emi mai focuses on the actual smallness and decreased state: Here's the situation: You're standing in the store with a shirt in each hand and you're looking at the price tag. You say, "This shirt has a lower price than that shirt" (which is to say, "The state of reduction in price of this shirt is greater than the state of reduction in price of that shirt"). Here you would use "Emi mai". For example:

Emi mai ke kumukūʻai o kēia pālule ma mua o kēlā pālule - The price of this shirt is less than that shirt