Third Person and ʻO ia in Hawaiian

In Brief

Hawaiian ʻo ia can mean “he,” “she,” or “it”; it does not identify gender. Hawaiian also distinguishes exactly two, ʻo lāua, from three or more, ʻo lākou. In a basic action sentence, these subjects usually come after the action phrase: Hele ʻo ia means “He/She goes.”

Overview

The third person is how we talk about someone or something other than the speaker (“I/we”) and the listener (“you”): in English, he, she, it, and they. Hawaiian expresses these meanings with ʻo ia, ʻo lāua, and ʻo lākou. These forms are essential at A1 because they let you report what another person is doing, talk about a group, and identify someone by role or name.

Two differences from English matter immediately. First, ʻo ia has no grammatical gender: the same form can refer to a man, a woman, an animal, or a thing. Context supplies the English translation. Second, Hawaiian has a dual number—a form reserved for exactly two. English they may describe two or twenty people, but Hawaiian normally distinguishes ʻo lāua (“those two; they two”) from ʻo lākou (“they,” three or more).

You will also notice that the small marker ʻo accompanies these third-person pronouns when they function as subjects. It does not correspond to a separate English word. Learn ʻo ia, ʻo lāua, and ʻo lākou as complete subject units at first; later, you will see related pronoun forms in other grammatical roles.

How It Works

The three core subject forms

A pronoun is a word used in place of a name or noun: she can replace Leilani, and they can replace the children. The subject is the person or thing that performs an action or is described by the sentence.

Hawaiian subject	Usual English translation	Number	Reference
ʻo ia	he, she, it	singular	one person, animal, or thing
ʻo lāua	they two, the two of them	dual	exactly two
ʻo lākou	they, them as a subject	plural	three or more

Hawaiian does not require you to choose between “he” and “she.” For example, Hele ʻo ia can describe either a male or a female person. If gender is important, name the person or use a suitable noun; do not alter the pronoun.

What ʻo does

Here ʻo is a grammatical particle—a short marker that signals the function of what follows. Before a third-person pronoun subject, write it as a separate word:

• ʻo ia, not ʻoia
• ʻo lāua, not ʻolāua
• ʻo lākou, not ʻolākou

The ʻokina in ʻo is a letter representing a glottal stop, not decorative punctuation. It also matters in lāua and lākou: these words are not interchangeable. At the beginning of a sentence, capitalize the letter after the ʻokina: ʻO ia ke kumu. Within a sentence, use lowercase: Hele ʻo ia.

Not every Hawaiian subject takes ʻo. For example, first-person au (“I”) and second-person ʻoe (“you”) appear without it in Hele au and Hele ʻoe. The beginner rule in this lesson is narrower: use ʻo with ia, lāua, and lākou when they are third-person subjects.

Action and state: predicate first

Hawaiian commonly places the predicate first—the part that tells what the subject does or what is true of it. This differs from ordinary English word order, which normally begins with the subject.

Basic pattern	Hawaiian example	Meaning
verb/state + subject	Hele ʻo ia.	He/She goes.
ua + verb + subject	Ua ʻai ʻo lāua.	They two ate / have eaten.
state word + subject	Mākaukau ʻo lākou.	They are ready.
location expression + subject	Aia ʻo ia ma ka hale.	He/She is at the house.

An aspect marker is a small word that presents an action as completed, ongoing, expected, and so on. In Ua ʻai ʻo lāua, ua presents eating as completed. The whole action phrase comes before ʻo lāua.

For a beginner, a reliable building method is:

1. Choose the action or state: hele (“go”), ʻai (“eat”), mākaukau (“ready”).
2. Add the needed marker, if any: ua ʻai (“ate/has eaten”).
3. Add the third-person subject: ʻo ia, ʻo lāua, or ʻo lākou.

This gives Ua ʻai ʻo lākou: “They (three or more) ate.” Avoid copying English order as ʻo lākou ua ʻai in a neutral basic statement.

Identification and classification

Not every sentence describes an action. Hawaiian uses several noun-based patterns to identify or classify someone.

Definite identification links the pronoun with a specific role or identity:

• ʻO ia ke kumu. — “He/She is the teacher.”
• ʻO lāua nā kumu. — “They two are the teachers.”

There is no separate present-tense word equivalent to English is or are in these examples. Ke kumu means “the teacher,” so the sentence identifies the person as that specific teacher.

Classification with he places someone in a category:

• He kumu ʻo ia. — “He/She is a teacher.”
• He mau haumāna ʻo lākou. — “They are students.”

The contrast is useful: ʻO ia ke kumu identifies “the teacher,” while He kumu ʻo ia classifies the person as “a teacher.” English uses is in both sentences; Hawaiian builds them differently.

Negating a statement

The common negative marker ʻaʻole comes first. The rest of the negative pattern depends on the kind of predicate and its aspect, so negation is more than inserting a single word into the positive sentence. One important A1 pattern is:

ʻaʻole + subject + i + verb

• ʻAʻole ʻo ia i hiki mai. — “He/She did not arrive.”
• ʻAʻole ʻo lāua i ʻai. — “They two did not eat.”

Notice the subject’s position: it follows ʻaʻole, while i introduces the action being denied. Keep this as a whole sentence frame rather than translating English word by word.

Choosing between lāua and lākou

Before speaking, count the referents—the people or things the pronoun stands for:

• one: ʻo ia
• exactly two: ʻo lāua
• three or more: ʻo lākou

If two friends arrive, say Ua hiki mai ʻo lāua. If three friends arrive, say Ua hiki mai ʻo lākou. This distinction remains grammatical even though both sentences naturally use they in English.

Examples in Context

Hawaiian	English	Note
Hele ʻo ia i ke kula.	He/She goes to school.	One third-person subject follows the action.
Ua hoʻi ʻo ia i ka hale.	He/She returned home.	Ua marks the return as completed.
Maikaʻi ʻo ia.	He/She/It is good.	Context determines the English gender or whether “it” fits.
Aia ʻo ia ma Hilo.	He/She is in Hilo.	A basic location statement.
ʻO ia ke kumu.	He/She is the teacher.	Identifies a specific person by role.
He kumu ʻo ia.	He/She is a teacher.	Classifies the person as a teacher.
Ua ʻai ʻo lāua.	They two ate.	Lāua refers to exactly two.
Hele pū ʻo lāua.	The two of them go together.	The dual meaning is explicit in Hawaiian.
Aia ʻo lāua ma ke kahakai.	They two are at the beach.	Location with a dual subject.
ʻO lāua nā kumu.	They two are the teachers.	Definite plural identification.
Mākaukau ʻo lākou.	They are ready.	Lākou refers to three or more.
Ua hiki mai ʻo lākou.	They arrived.	A plural group completed the arrival.
He mau haumāna ʻo lākou.	They are students.	Classifies a group of three or more.
ʻAʻole ʻo ia i hiki mai.	He/She did not arrive.	Subject follows ʻaʻole in this negative pattern.
ʻAʻole ʻo lāua i ʻai.	They two did not eat.	The dual distinction remains in a negative sentence.

English translations must sometimes choose he, she, or it, but the Hawaiian sentence may not tell you which choice to make. Likewise, plain English they hides a distinction that Hawaiian states directly. A good translation communicates the likely meaning in context rather than pretending the two pronoun systems match perfectly.

Common Mistakes

Adding gender to ʻo ia

• Wrong idea: Hawaiian needs one third-person pronoun for a man and another for a woman.
• Right: Hele ʻo ia. can mean either “He goes” or “She goes.”
• Why: ʻO ia does not encode gender. Use context, a name, or a descriptive noun when identity matters.

Using lākou for a pair

• Wrong: Ua ʻai ʻo lākou. when only two people ate.
• Right: Ua ʻai ʻo lāua.
• Why: Lāua is dual, meaning exactly two. Reserve lākou for three or more.

Dropping ʻo from a third-person subject

• Wrong: Hele ia.
• Right: Hele ʻo ia.
• Why: In the basic subject pattern taught here, the third-person pronoun is introduced by ʻo. Learn the pair as ʻo ia rather than treating ʻo as optional.

Copying English subject-first order

• Wrong: ʻO ia hele i ke kula. as an ordinary neutral statement.
• Right: Hele ʻo ia i ke kula.
• Why: Hawaiian commonly begins with the predicate. English begins with “he/she,” but the Hawaiian action normally comes first.

Treating every “is” sentence alike

• Wrong: Using one memorized pattern for both “a teacher” and “the teacher.”
• Right: He kumu ʻo ia means “He/She is a teacher”; ʻO ia ke kumu means “He/She is the teacher.”
• Why: English relies on is, but Hawaiian distinguishes classification with he from definite identification with ʻo.

Removing i from the completed negative pattern

• Wrong: ʻAʻole ʻo ia hiki mai for “He/She did not arrive.”
• Right: ʻAʻole ʻo ia i hiki mai.
• Why: In this pattern, i introduces the action after the negative subject. Memorize ʻaʻole + subject + i + verb as a frame.

Usage Notes

English translations depend on context

A speaker can continue using ʻo ia after introducing a person by name. English translation then chooses he or she because English grammar demands that choice. Hawaiian itself need not repeat gender information. With objects, animals, weather, or a situation, it may be the natural English equivalent.

This means a Hawaiian sentence in isolation may have more than one correct English translation. Maikaʻi ʻo ia could be “He is good,” “She is good,” or “It is good,” depending on what ia refers to. Ambiguity is not an error; conversation usually makes the reference clear.

Dual number carries useful information

English speakers often overlook the dual because they feels sufficient. In Hawaiian, lāua immediately tells the listener that two participants are involved. Translate it as “they two,” “the two of them,” or simply “they,” whichever sounds natural in English, but remember the exact count when producing Hawaiian.

Pronunciation and spelling belong together

Keep the ʻokina in ʻo and lākou, and keep the kahakō (macron) in lāua. These marks are part of standard Hawaiian spelling and indicate real pronunciation contrasts. Copying the forms accurately from the start prevents you from learning a vague visual approximation.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master this section at A1, but it explains forms you will encounter later. The ʻo in this lesson marks a subject or participates in an identifying construction; it is not permanently attached to the pronoun in every possible role.

When a third-person pronoun is an object (the person or thing affected by an action), Hawaiian commonly uses iā before it:

• Ua ʻike au iā ia. — “I saw him/her.”
• Ua nānā ʻo ia iā lākou. — “He/She looked at them.”

Compare the roles:

• Ua ʻike ʻo ia. — “He/She saw.” Here ʻo ia is the subject.
• Ua ʻike au iā ia. — “I saw him/her.” Here iā ia is the object.

This subject–object contrast is why it is more accurate to learn ʻo as a marker than to say that ʻo ia is an indivisible equivalent of English he. Later study will also introduce emphatic and reflexive combinations such as ʻo ia nō (“that very person; indeed he/she”) and iā ia iho (“himself/herself”).

At more advanced levels, word order can be adjusted for focus, contrast, and particular sentence types. That does not cancel the beginner pattern. Start with predicate-first sentences such as Hele ʻo ia, and treat marked alternatives as later constructions rather than freely rearranging words according to English habits.

Practice Tips

1. Count before choosing. Look at pictures of one, two, and three or more people. Say ʻo ia, ʻo lāua, or ʻo lākou before making a sentence about each picture.
2. Build three-sentence sets. Keep the predicate unchanged and rotate the subject: Ua ʻai ʻo ia; Ua ʻai ʻo lāua; Ua ʻai ʻo lākou. This trains number without adding new vocabulary.
3. Contrast sentence types aloud. Pair He kumu ʻo ia (“a teacher”) with ʻO ia ke kumu (“the teacher”), then pair a positive sentence with its negative: Ua hiki mai ʻo ia / ʻAʻole ʻo ia i hiki mai.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — introduces the wider Hawaiian pronoun system, including person, dual number, and inclusive/exclusive distinctions.