Sudden Glimpses of Sense in Hawai'ian morphology

So I'm in the coffee shop looking through my Hawaiian dictionary for lack of anything more interesting to do, and I start to see words made up of other words I already know, like:

1. Thinking about "aku" and "mai" (as in "buy" and "sell"):
a'o mai = to learn a'o aku = to teach
ku'ai mai = to buy ku'ai aku = to sell

2. Thinking about the ho'o- prefix for verbs, that means something like "to cause":

maika'i = good; ho'omaika'i = congratulate, congratulations
hau'ole = happy, hana=work; (you learn 'hana' automatically in Hawaii because of "pau hana", work is over):
ho'ohanahau'ole = hobby (work that makes you happy)

3. "Kahuna" means chief or head, like "the big kahuna", and "pule" means "pray" (from English):
so "the prayer head" is "kahunapule", which is priest or minister. And the church is the "hale pule", the prayer house.


Speaking of "hale", Hawai'ian seems to have houses for everything:
hale ka'a: "car house" = garage
hale ku'ai: "buy house" = store
hale ki'i 'oni'oni: "moving picture house" = cinema
hala māka'i: "police house" = police station
hale pule: "pray house" = church

Ricky Gives Back the Neighbor's Stuff

New Words:

pupuka = ugly ["pupuka ma maka", ugly face]
ho'i = to return (a person going back someplace)
ho'iho'i = to return (giving something back)
mākonā = cruel, nasty, not nice
uē = to cry

Picked up from context:
a pau = all
kona = his
pono 'oe = you should, you must
iā'u = to me
Auē noho ie! = gosh! Oh no!

Ricky Buys New Clothes

New Words:

ku'ai mai = to buy [and ku'ai aku means to sell!]
lole = clothing
'olu'olu= nice, good [ke 'olu'olu = please]
lawa = enough

Ricky Plays with the Neighbor's Dog

New Words:

pā'ani = to play
māluhiluhi = tired
'īlio = dog
ha'awi aku = to give (away, to)

[Story to come]

Ricky Finds the Purple Bananas

I've actually been having Hawai'ian class fairly regularly despite the late post date -- just have some catching up to do!

"Freebie" words picked up by context in this lesson or elsewhere:
poni = purple
wale nō=only
polōli=hungry (I'm not sure where I got this one, actually)
'ai = to eat

Official words for the lesson:
kaumaha = sad
honu = turtle
mai'a = banana
'imi no = to search for

Makemake 'o Ricky e hele aku i Waimea Bay. Makemake 'o Ricky e 'ao'aokai me na honu 'oma'oma'o. Makemake 'o Ricky e 'imi no na honu ma Waimea Bay. Akā kaumaha 'o Ricky, no ka mea a'ohe ka'a 'o Ricky. A'ohe hiki iā 'o Ricky e 'imi no na honu.

Ōlelo 'o Ricky, "Hiki īa'u e kalaiwa i ke kalaka nui o hoa noho i Waimea Bay!" 'I'ini loa 'o Ricky ke kalaiwa i ke kalaka ahinahina. Hele aku 'o Ricky ma ka hale o hoa noho.

Kalaiwa 'o Ricky i ke kalaka i Waimea Bay. 'Ao'aokai 'o Ricky ma Waimea Bay. 'I'ini loa 'o Ricky ke 'ao'aokai. 'Imi 'o Ricky no na honu. 'Ao'aokai loa 'o Ricky. Aia na honu! 'Ao'aokai me na honu 'oma'oma'o ma Waimea Bay. Hau'ole loa 'o Ricky, no ka mea 'i'ini loa 'o Ricky na honu 'oma'oma'o.

Mahope iho polōli loa 'o Ricky. Polōli na honu 'oma'oma'o. Makemake 'o Ricky a me hono 'oma'oma'o e 'ai mau mai'a. Akā a'ole mamake 'o Ricky e 'ai mau mai'a melemele. A'ole 'i'ini 'o Ricky mau mai'a melemele. 'I'ini 'o Ricky mau mai'a poni wale nō. 'Imi 'o Ricky me na honu no mau mai'a poni. Akā aia ka pilikia: a'ohe mau mai'a poni ma ka Waimea Bay. Kaumaha 'o Ricky. Kaumaha na honu, no ka mea a'ohe mau mai'a poni ma ka Waimea Bay.

Ōlelo na hono, "Hiki iā 'o Ricky e kalaiwa ma Waikiki. Aia mau mai'a poni ma ka Waikiki."

Kalaiwa 'o Ricky ma Waikiki. Hele aku na honu 'oma'oma'o me 'o Ricky ma Waikiki. 'Ai na mai'a poni lakou. Keia manawa [now- "this time"] a'ole kaumaha 'o Ricky a me na honu 'oma'oma'o. Hau'ole loa no ka mea 'imi loa'a [found] lakou na mai'a poni.