The Hawaiian Language

The Hawaiian language contains only eight consonants - H, K, L, M, N, P, W, and the silent 'okina or glottal stop, written ' and five vowels - A, E, I, O, U. Many Hawaiian words look intimidating because of their string of vowels; words longer than eight letters with five or more vowels may look difficult, but pronunciation is as simple as separating the string of syllables.

Pronunciation is also simple. Pronounce A "ah" as in father; E "ay" as in weigh; I "ee" as in marine; O "oh" as in no; U "oo" as in true. Consonants mirror their English equivalents, with the exception of W - when this letter begins any syllable other than the first one in a word, it is usually pronounced as a V. For example, 'Awa, the Polynesian drink, is pronounced "ava"; 'Ewa is pronounced "Eva"; but in the word wikiwiki (to hurry, hurry up), as a duplication of wiki (quick), neither W is pronounced as V.

Some useful words to know are:

• aloha - warm greetings, love, kindness, hello, goodbye
• mahalo - thank you
• 'ae - yes
• 'a'ole - no
• hana - to work
• holoholo - to go for a walk, ride, or sail
• honi - to kiss, a kiss
• hula - the dance of Hawaii
• kai - the sea, salt water
• mauna - mountain
• kapu - keep out, prohibited
• lani - heaven, the sky
• manuwahi - free
• moana - the ocean
• pali - cliff
• pupule - crazy
• hale - house
• nani - beautiful
• nui - big
• ohana - family
• wahine - female, woman, wife, sign on the ladies' room door
• wai - fresh water
• ka - the
• iki - little
• ipo - sweetheart