Huneʻaʻau are Hawaiian words that indicate tone or mood when speaking and always appear at the end of phrases. There are 7 huneʻaʻau: nō indicates assurance, hoʻi indicates connection, kā expresses shock or surprise, paha conveys uncertainty, naʻe shows contradiction, lā adds force, and anei forms polite yes-no questions. Huneʻaʻau provide additional meaning about the speaker's intent or feelings.

1. Huneʻaʻau

2. Huneʻaʻau
• huneʻaʻau are little words that are
used to indicate the feeling of a
speaker or his “mood” when he is
speaking.
• these words are never used by
themselves
• they always appear at the end of a
poke after another word
• there are 7 huneʻaʻau to learn

3. nō
• indicates assurance
• used to translate words of emphasis
like “still” “just” “even” “itself”
Aia nō ʻo ia i Hilo.
Makemake nō au i
kēlā.

4. hoʻi
• indicates a feeling that two things are
connected
• often used to translate “too” “also”
“either”
Ua hele au i Kona a i Hilo
hoʻi.
ʻEha hoʻi koʻu ihu.

5. kā
• indicates shock or surprise
• has no real English equivalent
ʻO ʻoe kā kāna moʻopuna!
He ʻono kā!

6. paha
• indicates a feeling of uncertainty
• often used to translate “maybe”
“could have” “might” “I think”
Ua hele paha ʻo ia i Keaukaha.
Aia paha lākou ma loko o ka hale.

7. naʻe
• indicates a feeling of contradiction
• often used to translate “however” and
“but”
ʻAʻole naʻe au i hele.
ʻO Kimo naʻe kona pāpā.

8. lā
• adds force
• used with question words such as wai,
aha, pehea, hea, etc.
• often used to translate “the heck”
ʻO wai lā kēlā?
Aia i hea lā ʻo Kalani?
ʻAʻole lā!

9. anei
• indicates a yes-no question
• using anei makes the sentence
sound more polite and “full”
Ua ʻike anei ʻoe iā Mahina?
E hele anei ana ʻoe i Waimea?