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  5. "Kaleo is his name."

"Kaleo is his name."

Translation:ʻO Kaleo kona inoa.

February 14, 2019



Why is the 'O necessary at the beginning of this sentence?


'O is required before all proper names when you are saying something about them in a sentence.

If you are calling their name instead then you put e in front of it: E Kaleo 'o wai kona inoa? ("Hey Kaleo, what is his name?)

If you are saying something about something of theirs then you use o without the 'okina: 'O wai ka inoa o Kaleo? ("What is Kaleo's name?") Of course that's a weird question since it uses his name, but I think it demonstrates the grammar well.

Note that the 'o is also required in front of the question word "wai" (as in these example sentences) and in front of the pronoun "ia".

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