LANGUAGE
From written signs to everyday conversation.
Mandarin Chinese / Taiwan
Bopomofo / Zhuyin
注音符號A set of phonetic symbols used to show Mandarin pronunciation. Syllables are assembled from an initial, a medial or final, and a tone.
The first version was created in 1913 and released in 1918. It remains a practical reading, dictionary, and keyboard tool in Taiwan.
- SYMBOLS
- 37
- TONES
- 5
- ALSO CALLED
- Zhuyin / Zhuyin Fuhao
Initials
21Medials
3Finals
13Tones
5HAWAIIAN / FOUNDATIONS
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
Start with the words you need.
Build your own sentences.
The words for everyday life.
Find a situation, read the phrase, or show the native text. Learn common replies as well as questions.
Pronunciation & how to use these phrases
Start with the writing charts, then listen to complete words. Device speech depends on installed voices and may use a different regional accent. Spelling and sound do not match one-to-one.
ʻOkina and kahakō distinguish words and pronunciation; keep them in names. English remains widely used in travel settings. Do not assume every resident speaks Hawaiian. Learning path: recognise words and phrases → build simple sentences → practise questions and replies → expand tense and connected speech → read and discuss longer texts. These foundation lessons are available now; later stages will grow with the collection.
15 phrases
Basics
Communication
Bathrooms
Food & ordering
Shops & payment
Help
Reply
Taxi & transport
Airport
Further reading & cultural sources
HAWAIIAN / GRAMMAR REFERENCE
8 chaptersForms, rules & structure
Contemporary Hawaiian foundations. ʻOkina and kahakō are part of accurate spelling; English grammatical labels are used cautiously.
Grammar terminology
- Noun
- A word used to name or classify an entity: person, place, object, substance, idea.
- Adjective
- A word that describes a property; its form and position depend on the language.
- Pronoun
- A form used to refer to a participant or entity without repeating a full noun phrase.
- Determiner
- A word such as an article, demonstrative or possessive that helps specify a noun phrase.
- Verb
- A word heading a predicate, often describing an action, event or state.
- Conjugation
- A pattern of verb forms expressing grammatical distinctions such as person, tense or mood.
- Declension
- A pattern of noun, pronoun or adjective forms, often marking case, number and gender.
- Case
- A distinction marking a noun phrase’s grammatical role or its relationship to a governing word.
- Gender
- A grammatical classification of nouns; it need not match sex or have a transparent meaning.
- Agreement
- A form changes to match features of another expression, such as person, number, gender or case.
- Tense
- A grammatical way of locating a situation relative to a time of reference.
- Aspect
- How a situation is viewed: for example ongoing, habitual, completed or prior to a reference point.
- Mood
- A grammatical distinction associated with assertion, possibility, commands, wishes or other clause functions.
- Finite form
- A verb form that can serve as a clause’s main inflected verb, contrasting with infinitives and participles. The precise criteria vary by language.
- Participle
- A verb-derived form used in constructions such as modifiers, compound tenses or passives; its roles vary by language.
- Infinitive
- A nonfinite verb form in languages that have one; it is not automatically equivalent to English “to + verb”.
- Subject / object
- Grammatical relations in a clause, not universal synonyms for “doer” and “receiver”.
- Clitic
- A short grammatical form that depends phonologically on a neighboring word.
- Transitive
- Describes a verb construction that takes a direct object.
- Register
- A variety of expression associated with context, relationship or level of formality.
Noun phrases, determiners & number
- Hawaiian nouns do not have grammatical gender agreement or a European case-ending system. Determiners and relation markers organize noun phrases.
- Ka/ke mark definite singular reference, nā plural. Ke commonly appears before k/e/a/o, but lexical exceptions must be learned. He introduces indefinite/classifying phrases, with he mau for a plural class.
| Construction | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| definite singular | ka hale | the house |
| ke-pattern | ke keiki | the child |
| plural | nā hale | the houses |
| indefinite | he hale | a house |
| indefinite plural | he mau hale | some houses |
| demonstrative | kēia hale | this house |
Worked examples
He hale kēia.
This is a house.
How it works: He introduces class membership; kēia identifies the referent being classified.
Location
Aia introduces location; i hea asks where.
Aia i hea ka hale?Where is the house?
Read the model, complete the gap, then change one word and explain what changes.
Try it yourself
1 / 1 · 0 correctComplete the model using the rule.
Aia i ___ ka hale?
All words · vocabulary quiz
1 / 20 · 0 correctChoose the English meaning.
wai
waiwater
waiwater
ʻaifood / to eat
ʻaifood / to eat
waiūmilk
waiūmilk
palaoabread / flour
palaoabread / flour
kopecoffee
kopecoffee
kītea
kītea
laikirice
laikirice
halehouse
halehouse
kahua mokuleleairport
kahua mokuleleairport
kaʻavehicle
kaʻavehicle
pukadoor / opening
pukadoor / opening
hemaleft
hemaleft
ʻākauright / north
ʻākauright / north
kēia lātoday
kēia lātoday
ʻapōpōtomorrow
ʻapōpōtomorrow
ʻekahione
ʻekahione
ʻeluatwo
ʻeluatwo
ʻekoluthree
ʻekoluthree
kōkuahelp
kōkuahelp
alohalove / greeting
alohalove / greeting
Between the words
Hawaiian is a living Indigenous language with a revitalization community. It is distinct from Hawaiʻi Creole English, often called Pidgin.
Aloha.
A living languageHawaiian is a living Indigenous language with a revitalization community. It is distinct from Hawaiʻi Creole English, often called Pidgin.
Aloha.
ʻOkina and kahakō distinguish words and pronunciation; keep them in names. English remains widely used in travel settings. Do not assume every resident speaks Hawaiian.
Read the situation
1 / 1 · 0 correctRecall the opening greeting from this collection.
Practice scores last for this visit.Hawaiian audio is unavailable on this device. All exercises work without audio.