Giving and Receiving in Hawaiian

In Brief

Use hāʻawi for “give,” loaʻa for “receive, get, or obtain,” and lawe for “take or carry.” The thing transferred is commonly introduced by i, while a person is introduced by iā: Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ka makana iaʻu means “He or she gave the gift to me.” Add mai for movement toward the speaker and aku for movement away from the speaker.

Overview

Giving and receiving involve more than choosing the right verb. A complete Hawaiian sentence often identifies the giver or receiver, the thing that changes hands, and the person toward whom it moves. The particles i and iā connect these parts, while directionals such as mai and aku show the transfer from a particular point of view.

This B1 topic builds directly on object markers. A direct object (the person or thing directly affected by an action) is usually marked with i when it is a thing and iā when it is a person or personal pronoun. English often relies mainly on word order—“give me the book” versus “give the book to me”—but Hawaiian keeps the markers visible.

There is also an important difference in perspective. Hāʻawi presents someone as giving something. Loaʻa presents something as becoming available to, being obtained by, or being received by someone. English translations may make both patterns look active, so learn each Hawaiian construction as a whole rather than replacing one English word at a time.

How It Works

The core transfer verbs

Verb	Core meaning	Typical use
hāʻawi	give, grant, present	A giver transfers an item, help, information, or permission.
loaʻa	be obtained, be received, be available; get	Something comes into a person’s possession or becomes available.
lawe	take, carry, bring	Someone moves or carries something; directionals clarify where.

The concept data also associates ʻaʻe with “offer.” Treat that gloss cautiously. In general Hawaiian usage, ʻaʻe is associated with stepping, mounting, or going aboard, and it is not a dependable all-purpose equivalent of English “offer.” For offering an item to someone, hāʻawi—often with a directional—is the safer productive choice. Also distinguish ʻaʻe from the directional aʻe “upward, onward, next.” The initial ʻokina changes the written word.

Giving: hāʻawi + thing + recipient

A common pattern is:

tense/aspect marker + hāʻawi + giver + i + thing + iā + recipient

In this pattern, the subject (the person performing the action) follows the verb phrase. A proper name or a third-person pronoun as subject is often preceded by ʻo.

• Ua hāʻawi ʻo Malia i ka lei iā Keoni. — “Malia gave the lei to Keoni.”
• Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ka makana iaʻu. — “He or she gave the gift to me.”

Here i ka lei is the thing given, and iā Keoni is the recipient. Before personal pronouns, the marker and pronoun are written together in familiar forms such as iaʻu “to me,” iā ʻoe “to you,” and iā ia “to him or her.”

Hawaiian can omit information that is already clear. In a command such as E hāʻawi mai i ka puke, the understood recipient is often the speaker because mai points toward the speaker. An explicit iaʻu can be added when needed: E hāʻawi mai i ka puke iaʻu.

Receiving: loaʻa + receiver + thing

With loaʻa, Hawaiian commonly puts the receiver in an i-phrase:

tense/aspect marker + loaʻa + i-series receiver + thing

• Ua loaʻa iaʻu ka leka. — “I received the letter.”
• Ua loaʻa iā lākou nā makana. — “They received the gifts.”

Do not force this into English subject–verb order. In Ua loaʻa iaʻu ka leka, ka leka is what was obtained, and iaʻu identifies the person to whom it became available. A useful literal prompt is “the letter was obtained by/to me,” although the natural English translation is simply “I received the letter.”

The same structure also covers “have obtained,” “found,” and “was able to get,” depending on context. Loaʻa therefore describes a result or state of availability, not only a ceremonial act of receiving something from a visible giver.

Taking and carrying: lawe

Use lawe when the focus is on taking or carrying an object:

tense/aspect marker + lawe + subject + i + thing

• E lawe ʻoe i kēia. — “Take this.”
• Ua lawe ʻo Kimo i ka ʻeke. — “Kimo took/carried the bag.”

English “take” and “bring” encode direction in the verb itself. Hawaiian often uses lawe with a directional particle:

Form	Viewpoint	Common English equivalent
lawe mai	carry toward the speaker or reference point	bring here, bring to us
lawe aku	carry away from the speaker or reference point	take there, carry away

Directionals normally follow the verb: E lawe mai..., not E mai lawe....

Commands and time markers

These verbs do not change form for person. Particles placed before the verb phrase help show command, time, or aspect (how an event unfolds).

Pattern	Function	Example
E + verb	command or request	E lawe ʻoe i kēia.
Ua + verb	completed event or resulting state	Ua loaʻa iaʻu ka leka.
Ke + verb + nei	action in progress	Ke hāʻawi nei ʻo ia i nā puke.
E + verb + ana	future or expected event	E hāʻawi ana au i ka makana.

The pronoun after an imperative can make the intended actor explicit: E lawe ʻoe i kēia means “You take this.” In a friendly request, E ʻoluʻolu “please” can soften the command: E ʻoluʻolu, e hāʻawi mai i ka puke.

Purpose is not a recipient

A transfer can include a purpose rather than a person receiving an item:

• Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ke kālā no ka hale. — “He or she gave money for the house.”

Here no ka hale means “for the house.” It explains the purpose or intended benefit. Compare it with iā Keoni, which identifies a human recipient. Do not automatically use iā for every English phrase beginning with “for.”

Examples in Context

Hawaiian	English	Note
E hāʻawi mai i ka puke.	Give me the book.	Mai directs the transfer toward the speaker.
E hāʻawi mai i ka puke iaʻu.	Give the book to me.	The recipient is stated explicitly.
Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ka makana iaʻu.	He or she gave the gift to me.	Thing with i; recipient with iā/iaʻu.
Ua hāʻawi ʻo Malia i ka lei iā Keoni.	Malia gave the lei to Keoni.	Both giver and recipient are named.
Ke hāʻawi nei ke kumu i nā puke i nā haumāna.	The teacher is giving the books to the students.	A non-pronominal plural recipient is introduced with i.
E hāʻawi aku i kēia leka iā ia.	Give this letter to him or her.	Aku points away from the speaker.
Ua loaʻa iaʻu ka leka.	I received the letter.	The receiver appears in the i-series form iaʻu.
Ua loaʻa iā ʻoe ka makana?	Did you receive the gift?	A natural yes-or-no question in context.
Ua loaʻa iā lākou nā puke hou.	They received the new books.	Plural receiver and plural item.
ʻAʻole i loaʻa iā mākou ke kālā.	We did not receive the money.	Negative completed event.
E lawe ʻoe i kēia.	Take this.	ʻOe states who should act.
E lawe mai i ka wai.	Bring the water here.	Lawe mai means movement toward the speaker.
Ua lawe aku ʻo Kimo i ka ʻeke.	Kimo took the bag away.	Aku establishes movement away.
Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ke kālā no ka hale.	He or she gave money for the house.	No ka hale expresses purpose.

Common Mistakes

Using English word order without object markers

• Wrong: Ua hāʻawi ʻo Malia ka lei Keoni.
• Right: Ua hāʻawi ʻo Malia i ka lei iā Keoni.
• Why: Hawaiian marks the transferred thing and the human recipient. Word order alone does not do the work that it can do in English.

Making the receiver the ordinary subject of loaʻa

• Wrong: Ua loaʻa au ka leka.
• Right: Ua loaʻa iaʻu ka leka.
• Why: The common receiving construction marks the receiver with an i-series form. Learn loaʻa iaʻu as a unit rather than translating English “I received” word by word.

Dropping the directional when viewpoint matters

• Unclear: E lawe i ka puke. — “Take/carry the book.”
• Clearer here: E lawe mai i ka puke. — “Bring the book here.”
• Why: Mai and aku identify the direction relative to the speaker or another reference point. English often chooses separate verbs, “bring” and “take.”

Treating purpose as a human recipient

• Wrong for the intended meaning: Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ke kālā iā ka hale.
• Right: Ua hāʻawi ʻo ia i ke kālā no ka hale.
• Why: “For the house” gives a purpose, not a person receiving the money. In addition, iā is not used before an ordinary inanimate noun phrase in this way.

Confusing mai with the time marker maʻi or ignoring diacritics

• Wrong: Writing maʻi when you mean the directional mai.
• Right: E hāʻawi mai i ka puke.
• Why: The ʻokina and kahakō (macron) distinguish words in Hawaiian. Copy the spelling of each particle carefully; do not treat the marks as optional decoration.

Using ʻaʻe as a general translation of “offer”

• Risky: Ua ʻaʻe ʻo ia i ka makana for “He or she offered the gift.”
• Safer: Ua hāʻawi aku ʻo ia i ka makana.
• Why: English “offer” has several senses. For presenting something to another person, hāʻawi aku clearly expresses the intended transfer. Check a Hawaiian dictionary and the local context before using the distinct verb ʻaʻe.

Usage Notes

Viewpoint controls mai and aku. The reference point is often the person speaking, but it can shift to the person or place being discussed. In a story, lawe mai may mean bringing something toward a house, group, or previously established location rather than physically toward the narrator.

Recipients do not all look identical. The broad beginner shortcut “i for things, iā for people” is useful, but surface forms vary. Proper names and singular personal pronouns clearly show iā: iā Keoni, iā ʻoe, iā ia. Some pronoun combinations have conventional spellings, especially iaʻu. With common noun phrases, including plural groups, forms such as i nā haumāna occur. Learn frequent recipient phrases from complete examples rather than inserting iā mechanically before every noun referring to a person.

Hāʻawi is broader than physical gift-giving. Depending on the following noun and context, it can describe giving help, information, permission, thanks, or attention. English may select a more specific verb, but the Hawaiian transfer pattern remains recognizable.

Politeness comes from the whole request. A bare E hāʻawi mai... is a normal command pattern; it need not sound hostile. Tone, relationship, context, and expressions such as E ʻoluʻolu help make it a courteous request.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Transfer sentences show how Hawaiian organizes events around perspective. Compare these two ways of describing a similar outcome:

• Ua hāʻawi ʻo Malia i ka puke iaʻu. — “Malia gave me the book.” The sentence highlights Malia as giver.
• Ua loaʻa iaʻu ka puke. — “I received/got the book.” The sentence highlights the book becoming available to me; the giver need not be named.

This is more than an active-versus-passive choice in English. The two Hawaiian verbs frame the event differently, so they are not interchangeable templates. Choose hāʻawi when the giver’s act matters and loaʻa when obtaining, availability, or the receiver’s result matters.

At a more advanced level, directionals can carry discourse meaning beyond literal motion. Mai can align an action with the speaker’s side or reference point, while aku can project it outward to someone else. This is especially useful with speech, requests, and exchanges across distance. Do not reduce every occurrence to a rigid “here” versus “there”; first ask whose viewpoint structures the scene.

You will also meet loaʻa in possession and possibility-like expressions, not just transactions. Its central idea—something being available or obtainable—helps connect those uses. Translate only after identifying that Hawaiian perspective.

Finally, spelling distinctions deserve advanced-level attention. aʻe without an initial ʻokina commonly functions as a directional with meanings such as upward or onward. ʻaʻe with an initial ʻokina is a separate lexical verb. Neither should be substituted automatically for hāʻawi aku merely because an English dictionary gloss contains “offer” in a specialized context.

Practice Tips

1. Build three-part exchanges. Write five sentences with a giver, an item, and a recipient. Underline i + thing once and iā/i-series + recipient twice: Ua hāʻawi ʻo Malia i ka lei iā Keoni.
2. Change the viewpoint. Take one sentence with lawe or hāʻawi and make a pair with mai and aku. Describe where the speaker is standing and why the directional changes.
3. Retell the same event twice. First use hāʻawi to foreground the giver, then use loaʻa to foreground the result: “Ana gave me the letter” / “I received the letter.” This prevents English word order from controlling your Hawaiian.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Object Markers (i/iā) — review how Hawaiian marks things, people, and pronouns after a verb.
• Useful companion: Imperative and Future (e) — explains the e patterns used in commands and future statements.
• Next step: Directional Particles — develops the viewpoint contrasts among mai, aku, aʻe, and iho.