You Nou rakou i hele a Kau keiki The pen of me 339 He me made or did make Dwell with me.{ FR Second Person Singular. O oe ke kahuna E pute oe Nuno makou i hana Aohe ou robe? You (are) the preacher Pray thou Thou alone us (didst) make (Did) not you hear? He aha kau noho wale nei? Why (do) you remain idle? Nau ka ai Nou ka kanaka Thine the food Thin the man Of thee they went Thy place A peculiar break in the first person singular possessive (which makes the pronouns resemble two syllables, while in the second person they are sounded as one long syllable) is the only dis tinction between them. The possessive and objective cases of the first person dual, and second person, orua, ye two, and the third person, raua, they two, have their several forms of nominative, possessive, and objective cases constructed in a manner similar to those of the singular. First Person Plural. Nom. The other cases and persons of the plural are as numerous and precise as in the singular and dual. The adjective pronouns are possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, and relative. Adjectives. The adjective follows the noun to which it belongs. There are several degrees of comparison, though the form of the adjective undergoes no change: the degrees are expressed by distinct words. There is, properly speaking, no superlative; it is, however, expressed by prefixing the definite article, as ke kiekie, ke nui, the high, the great. Verbs. The verbs are active, passive, and neuter. The regu lar active verb, in the Hawaiian dialect, admits of four conjuga tions, as rohe, to hear, hoo-rohe, to cause to hear, rohe-iä, heard, and hoo-rohe-ia, to cause to be heard. Some of the verbs admit the second and fourth, but reject the third, as noho, to sit, hoonoho, to cause to sit, and hoo-noho-ia, to cause to be seated. Others again allow the third and fourth, but not the second, as pepehi, to beat, pepchi-ia, beaten, and hoo-pepehi-ia, to cause to be beaten. The verbs usually precede the nouns and pronouns, as here au, go I, and e noho marie oe, sit still you, instead of, I go, and you sit still. The adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are numerous; but a description of them, and their relative situation in the construction of their sentences, would take up too much room. Their numerals resemble the Malayan more than any other part of their language. Eleven would be either umi-kumu-ma-kahi, ten the root and one, or umi-akahi-keu, ten one over; this would be continued by adding the units to the ten till twenty, which they call iva-kurua, forty they call kanahaa, for seventy-six they would say forty twenty ten and six, and continue counting by forties till 400, which they call a rau, then they add till 4000, which they call máno, 40,000 they call lehu, and 400,000 a kini; beyond this we do not know that they carry their calculations; the above words are sometimes doubled, as manomano kinikini, they are, however, only used thus to express a large but indefinite number. Their selection of the number four in calculations is singular; thus, 864,895 would be, according to their method of reckoning, two kini, or 400,000s, one lehu, 40,000, six mano, or 4000s, two rau, or 400s, two kanaha, or 40s, one umi, or ten and five. They calculate time by the moon; allow twelve to a year; have a distinct name for every moon, and every night of the moon, and reckon the parts of a month by the number of nights, as po akoru ainei, nights three ago, instead of three days ago. The following are some of the most common words in their language: The following specimen of native composition will convey some idea of their idiom. The translation is servile; and with this I shall close these remarks on their language. It is a letter written by the late king in answer to one I sent, acquainting him with my second arrival in the islands, on the 4th of Feb., 1823. "Mr. ELLIS, eo. Mr. ELLIS, attend "Aroha ino oe, me Attachment great (to) you, and your wife, with children all oukou ia Jehova ia laua o pau a orua. I ola of ye two. Preserved (have) you (been) by Jehovah they two Iesu Kraist. Eia kau wahi olero ia oe, Mr. Ellis, apopo a Jesus Christ. This (is) my word to you, Mr. Ellis, to-morrow kela la ku a ahiahi, a ku hoi mai. or the day after when evening, then I return. leila ua ite kaua. then (shall) meet we. no hoi. Ike ware tabu a I ka Ai makemake oe e here mai ianei maitai oe i na'rii o Tahiti. also. Seen indeed (have) you the chiefs of Tahiti. na'rii 0 Bolabola. only to the chiefs of Borabora.* Aroha ware " I ola ое ia Jehova ia Jesu Kraist. * The term for the Society Islands. "IOLANI." THE END. |
