How to pronounce Hawaiian

Vowels

Here are the closest equivalents in English

a:ah
e:bait
i:beet
o:boat
u:boot

A long vowel is marked with a kahakō (macron), or line over the vowel. This is how the long vowels are written:

ā ī ē ō ū

As you'd expect, a long vowel lasts longer than a short one. The following pairs of words show how important it is to mark long vowels:

kane   skin disease
kāne   male

'aina   meal
'āina   land

Consonants

The 'okina (glottal stop) is written with the backward apostrophe: '. Just like any other consonant, the 'okina keeps pairs of words from being confused: for example, it's the only difference between kou (your) and ko'u (my) Here are a few more examples:

Putting Consonants and Vowels Together

Hawaiian words are put together very differently from English words. You can never find two or more consonants together, and every syllable (and thus, every word) ends in a vowel. A syllable can be made up of just one vowel, and so some Hawaiian words can consist or vowels alone. An example is ua (rain) (two syllables) or uia, (a kind of taro) (three syllables).

However, it's more common for a syllable to begin with a consonant. Here are some samples divided into syllables: ma-ha-lo 'thank you', ka-na-ka 'person', Ka-'a-'a-wa (place name).

Source: A pocket Guide to the Hawaiian Language, written by: Albert J. Shultz