Come and Go (Hele Mai/Aku) in Hawaiian

In Brief

Put mai after a movement verb when the movement is toward the speaker or the chosen viewpoint, and aku when it is away from that viewpoint. Thus hele mai means “come” or “move this way,” while hele aku means “go” or “move away”; the same contrast appears in hoʻi mai “come back” and hoʻi aku “go back.”

Overview

English usually builds direction into separate verbs such as come and go. Hawaiian often divides the same information between a verb and a directional particle (a short word that adds a direction): hele describes going or travelling, while mai and aku tell you how that movement relates to a viewpoint. This makes hele mai the natural choice for movement toward “here” and hele aku the choice for movement away from “here.”

This contrast is introduced at A2 because it is useful in invitations, instructions, travel plans, arrivals, and everyday accounts of where people went. It builds on the common action verb hele, but it also works with other verbs. In this article, the most important combinations are hoʻi mai/aku “come/go back,” hōʻea mai “arrive here,” and haʻalele “leave, depart.”

The beginner rule is simple: imagine an arrow. If the arrow points toward the speaker or the place whose perspective you are adopting, choose mai. If it points away, choose aku. Later, you will see that stories and quoted viewpoints can shift the center of that arrow, but you do not need that subtlety to start speaking accurately.

How It Works

The basic contrast

Hawaiian	English	Direction
hele mai	come; travel this way	toward the viewpoint
hele aku	go; travel away	away from the viewpoint
hoʻi mai	come back; return here	back toward the viewpoint
hoʻi aku	go back; return there	back away from the viewpoint

The directional follows the verb:

tense/aspect marker + verb + directional + subject + destination

In plain terms, a tense or aspect marker shows how the action sits in time. Hawaiian places markers such as ua for a completed event or e ... ana for an ongoing or expected event around the verb phrase.

• Ua hele mai ʻo ia. — He or she came.
• Ua hele aku ʻo ia. — He or she went away.
• E hele mai ana ʻo ia. — He or she will be coming / is going to come.
• E hele aku ana ʻo ia. — He or she will be going / is going to go.

Hawaiian commonly puts the verb phrase before the subject. In Ua hoʻi mai ʻo ia, the completed-action marker ua comes first, then hoʻi mai, and then the subject ʻo ia “he/she.” Do not move mai or aku in front of the verb to imitate English word order.

Commands and invitations with e

A positive command commonly begins with e:

• E hele mai! — Come!
• E hele aku! — Go! / Go away!
• E hoʻi mai! — Come back!
• E hoʻi aku! — Go back!

The subject can be added when needed: E hele mai ʻoe means “You come” or “Come here.” In conversation, tone and context determine whether a short command sounds warm, urgent, or abrupt. A fuller request can include e ʻoluʻolu “please” and e kōkua mai “help (toward me/us).”

Do not confuse directional mai after a verb with the negative-command marker mai before a verb:

• E hele mai! — Come! (mai follows hele and means “this way.”)
• Mai hele! — Don’t go! (mai precedes hele and makes a negative command.)

Position is therefore essential.

Naming a destination

A destination is commonly introduced by i “to”:

• E hele aku au i ke kula. — I will go to school.
• Ua hoʻi mai ʻo ia i ka hale. — He or she returned to the house.

The destination does not replace the directional. I ke kula names the endpoint; aku says that the movement is away from the viewpoint. Depending on context, a sentence may omit the directional when the contrast is not important: Ua hele ʻo ia i ke kula simply says that the person went to school.

Hoʻi: return in either direction

Hoʻi means “return” or “go back.” English return does not always reveal where the speaker is standing, but Hawaiian can make the viewpoint explicit:

• hoʻi mai — return toward here; come back
• hoʻi aku — return away from here; go back

Suppose you are at home speaking to someone who is away. “Come back home” naturally points toward you: E hoʻi mai i ka hale. If you are sending someone back to the office, the arrow points away: E hoʻi aku i ke keʻena. The best English translation may use “back” in both cases, so learn the Hawaiian form with a mental arrow rather than one fixed English equivalent.

Hōʻea: arrive or reach a place

Hōʻea means “arrive” or “reach.” Hōʻea mai presents the arrival as reaching the current or adopted viewpoint:

• Ua hōʻea mai lākou. — They have arrived (here).
• Āhea lākou e hōʻea mai ai? — When will they arrive?

An explicit place can follow when useful: Ua hōʻea mai lākou i Honolulu means “They arrived in Honolulu,” with Honolulu treated as the relevant destination or viewpoint in the conversation or narrative. The particle is not a mechanical part of every use of hōʻea; use it when the toward-here perspective matters.

Haʻalele: leave or depart

Haʻalele already means “leave” or “depart,” so it does not need aku to acquire that basic meaning. The place or thing left is commonly marked by i:

• Ua haʻalele ʻo ia i ka hale. — He or she left the house.
• E haʻalele ana mākou i ka hola ʻewalu. — We will leave at eight o’clock.

You may encounter a directional with verbs of departure when a speaker wants to emphasize the path away, but the safe A2 pattern is to learn haʻalele i + place separately from hele aku i + destination. The first focuses on leaving the starting point; the second focuses on going toward another destination.

Examples in Context

Hawaiian	English	Note
E hele mai!	Come!	Movement toward the speaker
E hele aku au.	I will go away.	Movement away from the speaker
E hele mai ʻoe i koʻu hale.	Come to my house.	An invitation toward the speaker’s place
Ua hele aku ʻo Kaleo i ke kula.	Kaleo went to school.	Aku points away; i introduces the destination
Ke hele mai nei ke kumu.	The teacher is coming now.	Immediate movement toward the viewpoint
E hele aku ana mākou i Maui ʻapōpō.	We will go to Maui tomorrow.	Planned movement away; mākou excludes the listener
Ua hoʻi mai ʻo ia.	He/She has returned.	Returning toward here
E hoʻi aku ʻoe i ka hale.	Go back to the house.	Returning away from here
Ua hoʻi mai nā keiki mai ke kula mai.	The children came back from school.	The final mai belongs to the “from” phrase
Ua hōʻea mai lākou.	They have arrived.	Arrival at the relevant viewpoint
Ua hōʻea mai ke kaʻa ʻōhua i ka hola ʻeiwa.	The bus arrived at nine o’clock.	Arrival viewed from the stop or destination
Ua haʻalele ʻo Malia i ka hale.	Malia left the house.	The place left follows i
E haʻalele ana kākou i ka hola ʻehiku.	We will leave at seven o’clock.	Kākou includes the listener
Mai hele aku!	Don’t go away!	Initial mai negates; final aku gives direction

The sentence Ua hoʻi mai nā keiki mai ke kula mai contains more than one mai. The mai immediately after hoʻi is directional: the children returned this way. The phrase mai ke kula mai means “from school”; Hawaiian commonly places mai on both sides of the source phrase. At A2, it is enough to recognize that these words perform different jobs even though they look identical.

Common Mistakes

Translating “come” and “go” without checking the viewpoint

• Wrong: E hele aku i koʻu hale! when you are at home inviting someone over
• Right: E hele mai i koʻu hale!
• Why: The person will move toward your location, so mai fits the arrow. English speakers sometimes choose a direction from the traveller’s perspective instead of the speaker’s.

Putting the directional before the verb

• Wrong: E mai hele!
• Right: E hele mai!
• Why: Directional mai follows the movement verb. Before a verb, mai is associated with a negative command, as in Mai hele! “Don’t go!”

Treating hele as a full equivalent of English “come”

• Wrong: Ua hele ʻo ia when the intended meaning is specifically “She came here.”
• Right: Ua hele mai ʻo ia.
• Why: Bare hele reports going or travelling but leaves the toward-here contrast unstated. Add mai when that contrast matters.

Using mai merely because a sentence contains “back”

• Wrong: E hoʻi mai ʻoe i ke kula when you are at home sending someone back to school
• Right: E hoʻi aku ʻoe i ke kula.
• Why: “Back” expresses return, but not its direction relative to the speaker. Hoʻi supplies the return meaning; mai/aku supplies the viewpoint.

Adding aku to every use of haʻalele

• Wrong: assuming haʻalele is incomplete without aku
• Right: Ua haʻalele lākou i Honolulu. — They left Honolulu.
• Why: Haʻalele itself means “leave/depart.” Add other directional detail only when the context calls for it.

Forgetting i before a named destination

• Wrong: E hele aku au ke kula.
• Right: E hele aku au i ke kula.
• Why: Aku shows direction relative to the viewpoint; i introduces the destination “to school.” They do different jobs.

Usage Notes

The English translation of mai is not always the standalone word “come,” nor is aku always “go away.” They are particles attached to many verbs, so natural translations vary. For example, lawe mai can mean “bring,” while lawe aku can mean “take away.” The reusable skill is recognizing the toward/away contrast rather than memorizing one English word for each particle.

Hawaiian spelling marks meaningful sounds. Write the ʻokina in hoʻi, hōʻea, and haʻalele, and the kahakō where a word requires it. These marks are letters or pronunciation markers that distinguish forms; they are not decorative punctuation.

Short imperatives depend heavily on situation and voice. E hele mai! may be a friendly “Come in!” or an urgent “Come here!” Adding a person’s name, a reason, or e ʻoluʻolu can make the social intention clearer.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master this section at A2, but it explains why mai and aku sometimes seem less literal in longer texts.

The deictic center (the “here” from which direction is judged) can be a place adopted by a storyteller rather than the speaker’s physical location. A narrator can mentally place the listener at a house, island, or earlier scene and describe someone as coming mai to that point. In quoted speech, the viewpoint may belong to the quoted speaker. When a particle surprises you, ask, “Whose here is this?”

Directional particles also combine with verbs that English does not classify as motion in exactly the same way. The toward/away image may become an idea of transfer, communication, extension, or continuation:

Hawaiian	English	Perspective
E hāʻawi mai i ka puke.	Give me the book.	Transfer toward the speaker
E lawe aku i kēia.	Take this away.	Carrying away from the viewpoint
E kōkua mai iaʻu.	Help me.	Help directed toward the requester
Ua ʻōlelo mai ʻo ia iaʻu.	He/She spoke to me.	Speech directed toward the viewpoint

At higher levels, you will meet the wider system of directional particles, especially aʻe and iho, alongside mai and aku. They can encode vertical direction and other extensions. Keep that broader system separate for now: mastering the clear mai = toward and aku = away contrast gives you the right foundation.

One further source of confusion is that mai can have several grammatical roles. Besides the directional after a verb, it appears in negative commands (Mai hele!) and in source expressions (mai Hilo mai, “from Hilo”). Word position and the surrounding pattern reveal which role is intended.

Practice Tips

1. Draw the arrow. Put “here” in the center of a page. Write hele mai, hoʻi mai, and hōʻea mai beside arrows pointing inward; write hele aku and hoʻi aku beside arrows pointing outward.
2. Change only the viewpoint. Imagine you are at home, then at school. Say “Come back” and “Go back” in each scene. This trains the choice between hoʻi mai and hoʻi aku without relying on the English word “back.”
3. Build four-part sentences. Combine a marker, verb plus directional, subject, and destination: Ua hele aku ʻo ia i ke kula; E hoʻi mai ana lākou i ka hale. Say each sentence aloud, keeping mai/aku directly after the verb.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Common Action Verbs — introduces hele and other everyday verbs used in these patterns.
• Further study: Perfective Aspect (ua) — helps place completed movement in the past or present-perfect context.
• Further study: Progressive Aspect (e...ana) — lets you describe movement in progress or expected movement.
• Advanced extension: Directional Particles — expands the system beyond mai and aku to particles such as aʻe and iho.