ʻŌlelo Online, Your Online Hawaiian Language Classroom

0505V Hawaiian Number Prefixes #1: ʻA-, ʻE-

Using ʻA- and ʻE- as Number Prefixes

This was a fun 22 minute video to make! It’s all about the prefixes ʻa- and ʻe- used with numbers. I hope you enjoy it!

Level Check

Before starting this video, you should know how to count to 10 at least; if you need to, go and catch the videos you may have missed in the 0500 Series about Hawaiian numbers first.

Discussion

These two prefixes ʻa- and ʻe- are used before the number base words from one (1) to nine (9) only. Although they are both very similar and can probably be used in place of each other from a technical standpoint, there are certain things that use only ʻa- or ʻe- commonly. An example of ʻa- is the days of the week in Hawaiian, (Pōʻakahi, Pōʻalua, etc) which you will learn in this video. An example of ʻe- would be when giving out phone numbers, although it is also common to leave off the prefix also, as mentioned in 0504V Numbers Zero and One, Quantity and Question.

Numbers From One To Nine

#	Base Number	ʻE- Prefixed	ʻA- Prefixed
1	kahi	ʻekahi	ʻakahi
2	lua	ʻelua	ʻalua
3	kolu	ʻekolu	ʻakolu
4	hā	ʻehā	ʻahā
5	lima	ʻelima	ʻalima
6	ono	ʻeono	ʻaono
7	hiku	ʻehiku	ʻahiku
8	walu	ʻewalu	ʻawalu
9	iwa	ʻeiwa	ʻaiwa

Next Steps

Now get out your notepad and take this lesson! The outline is shown below so you have an idea of what you will learn. If you have any feedback on this or any of the lessons or other material on ʻŌlelo Online, please don’t hesitate to send your feedback!

Next up in this 0500 Numbers Series will be 0506V Using Numbers #1 which will allow us to put these numbers to use in easy ways.

Video Outline

Introduction
Counting in a series from one to nine
Days of the week using the prefix ʻa-
Phone numbers using number bases or with prefix ʻe-
Cardinal, Ordinal, and Nominal
ʻAkahi as used in mele (songs)
Samples for practice
Moving Along

Length: 23 minutes

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0506V Using Numbers #1

Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers in Hawaiian

This 20 minute video will explain the use of numbers both before and after content words in Hawaiian; that is, the use of numbers either as kaʻi or kāhulu.

Discussion

First, let us define a couple of new terms:

kaʻi: in simplified terms, a kaʻi is a word that “leads” (alakaʻi ) a noun, adjective, adverb, or verb and acts similarly to a determiner in English (such as the cat, my cat, some cats, which cat, nine cats, both cats, and so on). Some common Hawaiian examples are he, ka, ke, nā, koʻu, kou, kona, and kekahi.
kāhulu: a kāhulu is a word or phrase added after another word to add some sort of additional description to that word (this is called a “modifier” in English).

You may wish to consult the reference page 0699R Hawaiian Parts of Speech if you wish to read a little more detailed definition of kaʻi and kāhulu. You will use these two terms over and over as you learn Hawaiian language.

English Language Equivalents

In English, we use numbers in three major ways: numbers can be cardinal, ordinal, or nominal. For this lesson, we will be covering cardinal and ordinal numbers. (Nominal numbers are covered in a separate lesson).

Cardinal numbers (think “cardinal = counting”) are used to tell how many of something we may have, thus showing quantity. They are used before the item you are referring to. For example:

two islands
four canoes
40 paddlers

Ordinal numbers (think “ordinal = order”) are used to tell the order of something in a set. They are also used before the item you are referring to in English, but they have their own fancy endings, like -st, -nd, -rd, and -th. For example:

the second island
the fourth canoe
the 40th paddler

Hawaiian Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

In Hawaiian, cardinal numbers (counting things) go before the item we are talking about, whereas ordinal numbers (ordered things) go after the item. We can define this using Hawaiian terms by saying that cardinal numbers act as kaʻi, and ordinal numbers act as kāhulu. See the following table to compare.

#	Cardinal	as Kaʻi	Ordinal	as Kāhulu
2	two islands	ʻelua moku	the second island	ka moku ʻelua
4	four canoes	ʻehā waʻa	the fourth canoe	ka waʻa ʻehā
40	40 paddlers	40 hoe waʻa	the 40th paddler	ka hoe waʻa kanahā

Zero and One: Unusual Cases

There are a couple of numbers we have to watch out for, and those are zero and one. You were introduced to them in video 0504V Numbers Zero and One, Quantity and Question, so you should review that video if you need a refresher. Here’s what they look like in the context of this lesson:

#	Cardinal	as Kaʻi	Ordinal	as Kāhulu
0	no islands	ʻaʻohe moku	the zero island	ka moku ʻole1
1	one canoe	hoʻokahi waʻa	the first canoe	ka waʻa mua2
1	one paddler	hoʻokahi hoe waʻa	the #1 paddler	ka hoe waʻa ʻekahi3

Footnotes

1. We would have to imagine some situation where saying “the zero island” would make sense, of course, like in a mathematics lesson for kids perhaps.
2. Using “mua” for the first item in a set or list is best practice.
3. This would be the best way to point out paddler #1 versus paddler #40 in a race, for example.

Level Check

Just to double check before we start, make sure you know how to count (which you will find in 0502V Hawaiian Number Basics: From 1 to 100) and that you know about zero and one (0504V Numbers Zero and One, Quantity and Question).

Watch the Video!

In the video for this lesson, you will be introduced to the concepts of kaʻi and kāhulu, and you will learn how to construct phrases like those shown in the examples above. The link for the video is at the bottom of this page.

Next Steps

After you are done watching the video, don’t forget to start using these small steps of understanding in your daily lives. You will find, I believe, that learning the language in very small steps with plenty of time to practice little by little over many days will allow it to “sink in” and end up in long-term memory, where we want it!

Next in this 0500 Numbers Series is Telling Time On The Hour.

You may also elect to jump directly to the start of the 0600 series of videos which will give you a deeper understanding of kaʻi (articles and determiners) and how to make short phrases of your own in Hawaiian!

Video Outline

Introduction
Numbers used as kaʻi (such as “two cars”)
What is a kāhulu? (adjectival or adverbial word)
Examples with numbers
Review
Next Steps

Length: 20 minutes

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0504V Numbers Zero and One, Quantity and Question

Selecting the right words for Zero and One in Hawaiian

In this 20 minute video, you will learn the difference between zero and one as numbers (digits), and zero and one as quantity in Hawaiian. You will also learn how to ask “how many?” using the word ʻehia. We will read out phone numbers together and you will also have a chance to practice some examples of what we learn in this lesson before the 20 minutes is done!

Level Check

Before watching this video, make sure you know how to say the numbers one through nine. If you need to review, please go to 0502V Hawaiian Number Basics: From 1 to 100. You may also find the 0500 Series Index a great place to start if you arrived here directly from a web search.

Zero and None

In English, we use the words “no” or “none” to refer to quantity, as in “there are no cars” and “he has two cars but I have none”. We use the word “zero” or “nought” to mean the number itself, as in “this is the digit zero: 0”.

A similar thing happens in Hawaiian: no or none in quantity is ʻaʻohe, and zero or nought is ʻole. This will be discussed more in the video (links are at the bottom of this article).

One

The number “one” in English, on the other hand, is used for both the digit and for quantity: One, two, three; one car, one house. But in Hawaiian, it acts like zero does: hoʻokahi for quantity; kahi or ʻekahi commonly for the plain number one.

Examples

“E nā keiki, e helu kākou i nā huahelu mua ʻehā: ʻole, kahi, lua, kolu.”
(Children, let’s count the first four numbers: zero, one, two, three.)
“ʻEhia manu e kau ana ma ke kumulāʻau? ʻAʻohe!“
(How many birds are sitting in the tree? None!)
“Aia hoʻokahi wale nō kīʻaha ma ke pākaukau.”
(There is only one glass on the table.)

Learn More And Practice

Now is a good time to go and watch the video. So have your notepad at the ready and learn something new!

After you are done, take some time to use the words in your daily lives. I think “ʻaʻohe”is especially useful as a quick Hawaiian-style reply when someone might ask you if you have any [something] left, as in “Hey mommy, are there any cookies left in the jar?” and you reply, “ʻAʻohe!”. Or maybe you are feeling benevolent and when a little one asks, “Dad, can I have some [insert favorite candy name here] before I go outside?” and you reply, “Hoʻokahi – just one!”

There are more examples of ways to practice shown in the video.

Next Steps

Next up in this numbers series will be 0505V Number Prefixes #1: ʻA-, ʻE- in which you will learn how to add the common prefix ʻe- to the base numbers from one to nine in order to summarize quantity; and the prefix ʻa- to show a series.

Video Outline

Introduction
Zero as a digit (ʻole)
None (ʻaʻohe)
One as a digit (kahi, ʻekahi)
One as quantity (hoʻokahi)
How to say “How many?”
Samples for practice
Summary

Length: 20 minutes

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Traditional Hawaiian Number Groups

Lesson 0503V Traditional Hawaiian Base-4 Grouping System

This 15 minute video covers the traditional Hawaiian base-4 number system used to group objects, much in the same way that English uses “a dozen” or “four score”. These are the beautiful numbers 4, 40, 400, 4000, 40,000, and 400,000. What a pattern!

Discussion

One thing I love about teaching is that I often learn something new just by virtue of re-explaining something over and over. It was in this video – and thus thanks to all of you! – that I discovered that these six number names (kāuna, kaʻau, lau, mano, kini, and lehulehu) are used to group things, not necessarily to just count. I was always taught that these were “traditional counting numbers” and not of much use today. Furthermore, the Pukui-Elbert Dictionary uses the term “formulistic number” to describe these numbers; but I have no clue what that term really means in this context. Does any normal student? If any of you know, please add a comment or send me an email or post in the forums! Mahalo!

Unfortunately, these grouping terms are rarely used in Hawaiian language these days, except perhaps in humorous conversation. Nevertheless, perhaps they will come back into use as we rediscover how to re-incorporate kuanaʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian world-view and Hawaiian thinking processes) back into the language over the next decade or so. This is one of my main goals and I hope that continuing to teach Hawaiian over the next few years will help me formulate my thinking on this topic.

Kuanaʻike Hawaiʻi

We need to start building sentences in our minds with a Hawaiian mindset, not an English-language-based mindset as is often the case in Hawaiian language classrooms of today (including, in many cases, my own!). I believe that this is one of the main characteristics that distinguishes the Hawaiian of today from that of the kūpuna elders and ancestors of years past. Now that grammar, vocabulary, and spelling have been essentially standardized for classroom use, the time has come for us to add back the “secret sauce” into the language: the kuanaʻike Hawaiʻi.

Numbers, Numbers Everywhere!

Returning to the topic of this video, I hope you enjoy it and learn something new! When I watched the video myself after recording it, I realized that I made a mistake in my counting of 4 x 8 and said it was “24”, which of course it is not! ahahaha! I had the numbers 3 and 8 stuck in my head for some reason – must have been an overload of multi-tasking while making the video! So “24 canoes” should be “6 kāuna waʻa”, not “8 kāuna waʻa” which would be 32 of course!

So please find the link to the video at the bottom of this article, and forgive the math.

Next Steps

Next up in the numbers series will be 0504V Numbers Zero and One, and Quantity vs. Question in which you will learn about how the numbers ʻekahi and hoʻokahi work, among other things.

The main index for this section, should you wish to go back, is at the 0500 Series Index

Video Outline

Numbering based on the number 4
4 and 40 as exact numbers
400, 40,000, 400,000 as “fuzzy” numbers
Kāuna
Kaʻau
Lau
Mano
Kini
Lehu / Lehulehu
“Nalowale”

Length: 15 minutes

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Hawaiian Number Basics: 1 to 100

Counting From One To A Hundred in Hawaiian

In this 22 minute video, you will learn about the basics of Hawaiian numbers and how to count from 1 to 100. I show you the formulaic pattern that can be used to create any number from 11-99, with only one exception (20)!

Discussion

You really only need to learn about 14 words to get from zero to one hundred! Isn’t that great?

Knowing the number base names (1-9) as well as understanding how the number-building pattern repeats itself all the way from 11 to 99 are the two main goals for you as you watch this video. You will want to take notes, so get your pen and paper ready!

Most importantly for this lesson, memorize how the numbers are built, which is what I will teach you in this video. After all, why try to memorize a huge set of 99 individual words like that when you can build them quickly in your head knowing the formula I will teach you?

Learn Your Numbers

The first thing to learn is the set of numbers from 1 to 9 which is the first part of this video. (The number zero is ʻole, and you will learn more about ʻole in 0504V Zero and One, Quantity vs. Question.)

Numbers 0 – 9
0 ʻole	1 kahi	2 lua	3 kolu	4 hā	– –
5 lima	6 ono	7 hiku	8 walu	9 iwa	10 ʻumi

I will then take you from 10 to 19 and introduce the “joining” or “glue” sound -kūmā- which allows you to create 11 by saying “10-kūmā-1”, 12 by saying “10-kūmā-2”, and so on up to “10-kūmā-9”.

The only really unusual number is 20: iwakālua (which oddly seems like it should mean something to do with 9 and 2). For further reading, you may be interested in a short article I wrote, 0502E Thoughts on the Number Twenty, about why the number iwakālua seems to be so strange and why we just have to accept it the way it is. You may want to read it after you have finished watching this video, however.

Using iwakālua combined with the joining word -kūmā- that was explained in the video, you can create many many more numbers all the way to 100!

Numbers 20 – 29
20 iwakālua	21 iwakālua-kūmā-kahi
22 iwakālua-kūmā-lua	23 iwakālua-kūmā-kolu
24 iwakālua-kūmā-hā	25 iwakālua-kūmā-lima
26 iwakālua-kūmā-ono	27 iwakālua-kūmā-hiku
28 iwakālua-kūmā-walu	29 iwakālua-kūmā-iwa

To complete the lesson, you should see if you can write out the remaining numbers 30 to 99 which I do not cover explicitly in this video. This is what will allow you to figure out the system by yourselves which is a great way to get the pattern fixed in your minds. Start by learning the prefix kana- which allows you to say 30, 40, 50, and so on to 90.

Numbers 30 – 90
30 kana-kolu	40 kana-hā
50 kana-lima	60 kana-ono
70 kana-hiku	80 kanawalu
90 kana-iwa	–

It may seem to you that the numbers are extraordinarily looooong in Hawaiian, especially compared to English. But after you practice saying them for a while, you will find that they appear to get “shorter” and don’t take too much of your time to say. I think that word length (or “time to produce”) is one of the pressures that push L2 speakers (second-language speakers) to use L1 numbers (those from their first acquired language) over the L2 equivalents. Let’s not allow ourselves to fall into that rut and keep on using our L1 numbers just because they seem “easier”. Take time with this lesson to really get the sounds of the words into your mind and into your mouth!

Watch The Video

Go to the video link at the end of this article to view the video and get going with Hawaiian numbers if you wish to start right away!

Practice, Practice, Practice!

It is important to practice saying the numbers in Hawaiian. You can easily put the numbers to use every day to get them set in your mind

count the tiles in the shower
read aloud car license plates (number plates)
read speed limit signs out loud
look through your contacts and say the telephone numbers
learn your own phone number(s) by heart!
write every number from 0 to 100 to learn the patterns and spelling and train “muscle-memory”
clearly and slowly pronounce the numbers at first, and then increase your speed later
record yourself and be judgemental when you listen back (compare to my examples)
create flash cards with the written-out numbers on one side and the figures on the other
read Sudoku grids out loud

Let me know in the comments below if you find other great ways to practice. I hope you found this additional material helpful!

Next Steps

The next video to watch in this series, if you are interested in learning more about using numbers in Hawaiian, is 0503V Traditional Hawaiian Number Groups in which I share how Hawaiians traditionally used a set of about six words (kāuna, kaʻau, lau, mano, kini, lehu) to group objects easily in the same way that we might use “dozen” and “score” in English. Following that will be a couple more videos focusing on the basics of numbers before we start using them in sentences.

And in case you missed the link earlier, there is an article in this set called 0502E Thoughts on the Number Twenty which might provide an interesting distraction on your path through this 0500 Series of lessons about Hawaiian numbers.

Video Outline

Number basic parts 1 to 9
Numbers 10 to 19
More about 10 and 20
Numbers 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90
One Hundred 100!

Length: 22 minutes

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Aloha!

Rev. 2016-01-24, 2011-11-13, 2011-10-06

The Kaʻi Determiners #2: Ka, Ke

How to say “The” in Hawaiian — Video Lesson 0602V

Introduction

Aloha kākou! This is the second in the set of videos about the kaʻi determiners (which precede memeʻa content words such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives).

If you arrived here without knowing anything about kaʻi, please be sure to see 0601V The Kaʻi Determiners #1: He.

This video lesson is about 18 minutes long and will teach you the kaʻi “ka” and “ke” (meaning “the”) and compare the rule English language speakers use to select the correct version of “the” (“thee” or “thuh”) to the rule Hawaiian speakers use to select ka or ke for the definite article.

Discussion

These two kaʻi are so very important and are always taught early on in language classes. After watching the video, you should make sure you practice the “KEAO” rule well enough to quickly decide whether to use ka or ke before any content word you see or hear. There is a worksheet (below) that you can use to get started.

Note that the “KEAO” rule does not work 100% of the time; there are quite a few exceptions to memorize for everyday Hawaiian speaking. But the rule will allow you to get “85%” accuracy, which is fantastic for such a simple rule. It will allow you to get the kaʻi right most of the time, and therefore lessen the amount of brain processing you have to do when trying to speak.

As you become more fluent in Hawaiian, you will learn all of the exception words and have no trouble with them. Throughout the upcoming lessons, you will learn a few of the most important ones to get you on your way.

Vocabulary Words

While watching the video, you will also have the chance to learn several new vocabulary words. As with the previous lesson about the kaʻi “he” —0601V The Kaʻi Determiners #1: He— you should practice saying these kaʻi + memeʻa building blocks of Hawaiian out loud to yourself over and over, to both learn the vocabulary and to train yourself to quickly produce them without overthinking them.

Extra Resources

There is a printable PDF lesson overview which accompanies this video: 0602G Kaʻi #2 Lesson Worksheet. Practice with your own words or invent your own worksheet after completing this lesson; it will be fun and it will really help!

Next Steps

After you are done watching the video and doing the PDF worksheet, you will want to move on to the next video lesson: V0603 The Kaʻi Determiners, #3: Kekahi.

e aloha ʻōlelo
(let us love the language)
– Kaliko

Video Outline

Review of the kaʻi “he”
“The” in English having more than one form
How we decide on which “the” to use when speaking English
Hawaiian uses “ka” and “ke” for “the” (singular)
The “KEAO” rule
Examples and proper pronunciation
Review and mini-quiz
Common exception words to the “keao” rule
Next steps

Length: 18:45

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0403V Pronunciation #3: The Glottal Stop

Introduction to the Glottal Stop (ʻOkina)

In this video, you will learn about what we call the ʻokina, which is commonly known as a glottal-stop in English. The term ʻokina is very widespread today; but the older term ʻuʻina is equally valid, if less known by new speakers. ʻUʻina was the term my hānai (adoptive) mother, Aunty Nona Beamer, used to use for its name.

Level Check

Before doing this lesson, you should know how to pronounce the vowels and consonants and you should know about the kahakō. If you missed any of those previous lessons, go back to 0401V Pronunciation #1: The Alphabet or 0402V Pronunciation #2: Macrons to catch up. This video is actually a continuation of 0402V.

Discussion

The ʻokina, or ʻuʻina, are used in both spoken and written Hawaiian language. You will learn how they play a very important role as valid as any other letter (such as “k” for example). You will be able to practice your pronunciation by comparing pairs of words with and without ʻokina.

Some people seem to think that the ʻokina in Hawaiian is a completely new thing; this is not, however, the case. The glottal stop exists in all Polynesian languages and has been spoken for countless generations. What is relatively new is the need to actually represent the ʻokina with a character in written text.

Hawaiian was first written in codified form in the early 1820s, following the arrival of several American missionary groups. The missionaries, of course, were interested in translating the Bible into Hawaiian. As English language speakers, they did not have a method to consistently represent glottal stops in the written language (and in English we essentially ignore glottal stops anyway). So Hawaiian was written without consistent glottal-stop markings, but since everyone reading Hawaiian was a fluent speaker, he or she would know how to properly pronounce the words by the context of the sentence.

The writing of Hawaiian without ʻokina, or even kahakō for that matter, was the norm throughout the thousands of pages of Hawaiian newspaper texts which were to be printed over the following hundred years. Everybody still pronounced the ʻokina and kahakō of course; it’s just that they were not represented on the page, except in a few cases with an apostrophe or a dash character. (See 0403R How To Write The ʻOkina for more information about how the ʻokina was, and is, written.)

Fast-forward to the mid-1900s and into the 1960s and 70s, and the language had suffered such a decline in speakers that the only people learning Hawaiian for the first time were not children in Hawaiian-speaking households, but students of Hawaiian language at schools such as Kamehameha and the University of Hawaiʻi. Thus the need for the ʻokina to be a written character: in order to make sure that these new speakers could read and write and pronounce the words correctly without having any prior knowledge of how they sounded. This practice continues to this day.

And so here we all are, learning about ʻokina. Enjoy!

Next Steps

You will know enough after watching this far in the 0400 Series to be able to move on to the first in the 0500 Series (0501V Spelling Hawaiian Words in Hawaiian), which will teach you the names for the letters of the alphabet and how to use them to spell out words. If, on the other hand, you want to go and practice some more with the ʻokina first, go to 0403P Pronunciation Practice: ʻOkina to make sure this set of lessons in basic pronunciation has been completed.

Video Outline (Part Two)

Introduction
The meaning of “ʻokina”
How to write the glottal stop character
Finding ʻokina in English
Practice
Why we need ʻokina and kahakō
Comparison between 1834 and today
Closing

Length: 17 minutes

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0402V Pronunciation #2: Macrons

Modern Hawaiian Orthography Using Macrons (Kahakō)

Welcome to the second video in the Pronunciation series. This is where you should be if you are just starting out with Hawaiian and want to understand the meaning of the bar line on top of certain vowels in written Hawaiian (for example, “manō”). We call these lines “kahakō” in Hawaiian, or “macrons” in English.

Level Check

If you have arrived here and somehow missed the first video in the Pronunciation series, please go to 0401V Pronunciation #1: The Hawaiian Alphabet.

The Macron Diacritical Marker (Kahakō)

The macron line is technically known as a diacritic or diacritical marker in English:

diacritical (di·a·crit·i·cal) marker: a mark or a sign serving to indicate a different pronunciation of a letter above or below which it is written.

Audible Examples of Kahakō

Click on either one of the speaker icons below to hear both words being pronounced one after the other. Do you hear how the second word (“lōlō”) has longer sounding vowels? Try saying them along with the reader.

lolo	brain
lōlō	paralyzed, numb; Fig., stupid or crazy

Discussion

You can see that there are lines over each letter “o” in “lōlō”. Those are the macrons. As mentioned above, we call them “kahakō” in Hawaiian; the word is made from kaha, a mark or line + kō, to draw out or lengthen.

In the video below, you will learn how kahakō change the pronunciation and meaning of those words in which they appear, as well as some other facts about modern Hawaiian orthography. You will be able to practice your pronunciation by comparing pairs of words with and without kahakō. The links for the video are at the bottom of this page.

Vocabulary Used In The Video

The following section has been included in case you wish to learn the meaning of some of the words in included in the video (below). I don’t expect that you go and try to memorize all of these words; the most important thing at this point is that you practice actually saying the variations with and without kahakō. Therefore, the words are included in a box with a “disclosure triangle” which you can use to either show or hide the list. (I think the disclosure triangle defaults to being open in Firefox, however.)

Vocabulary List (click to drop down)

Words from 0402V in the order presented

kahakō	macron (literally, a lengthened sound)
lanai	stiff-backed (same as nanai)
lānai	a veranda, porch, or deck
halau	no meaning
hālau	a place of learning or working (as in a hālau hula, hula school)
mala	sore, as after working out or exercising too much
māla	a patch of ground for planting food
kala	to forgive; a type of fish with a rough skin
kālā	money (from the American “dollar”; sometimes written dālā)
makaukau	no meaning
mākaukau	to be ready or prepared; to be capable of doing something
ahe	a light breeze
āhē	the sound you make when you breathe a sigh of relief
akeke	no meaning
akēkē	possibly a type of puffer fish
aue	tall or far apart (essentially unused today)
auē1	the sound you make when you say “gosh”, “oh my”, “alas”, etc.
hanapepe	a common mispronunciation of the place name
Hanapēpē	a place on Kauaʻi (lit, hana+pēpē, crushing bay)
aui	no meaning
auī2	the sound you make when hurt, like “ouch!”
hakali	no meaning
hakalī	a spot high up in the air
hihi	to entwine, as a vine; to be infatuated with someone
hihī	no meaning
noki	no meaning
nōkī	deep inside something
lo	no meaning
lō	an earwig (insect)
lupo	a wolf (from Latin lupus or Greek lukos)
lūpō	possibly same as ulupō, dark color of dense forest growth
mano	many (about 4000)
manō	a shark
pohano	no meaning
pōhānō	wheezing (from hānō, asthma or similar problem)
pupu	smallness, either actual or imputed to convey affection, scorn, etc. (cf. “wee” in Scottish)
pūpū	a shell; something small to eat (like an appetizer)
malu	shade or protection
malū	underhanded or secretive (as in doing something bad)
kuhuluku	no meaning
kūhulukū	“goosepimples” or “chicken skin”
kupu	to sprout out of the ground, as a plant
kūpū	to gel or thicken, as a sauce or gravy (cf. mākū)

Footnotes

1. the word “auē” is often written “auwe” or “auwē”, but we should not continue this practice, because it is not possible to ever say “auvē” (with the V sound). The word contains a “w-glide” which American missionaries wrote using a “w” because that’s how they were used to writing such things. There are several words of this type in Hawaiian.
2. as with “auē” above, you may see this written with a “w-glide” as “auwi” or “auwī”. It is never possible, however, to say “auvī”, so we must drop this artifact of English-American spelling.

Next Steps

Following this video is 0402P Pronunciation Practice for Kahakō which will allow you to practice distinguishing similar pairs of words both with and without kahakō. Then, you should move on to the next video in this Series, 0403V Pronunciation #3: The Glottal Stop all about what we call the ʻokina.

If you wish to see a listing of all the content in the 0400 Series on Pronunciation, please find it here.

Video Outline

Markings over letters
The Macron (Kahakō)
Examples
Practice

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0501V Spelling Hawaiian Words in Hawaiian

How To Spell Words Using The Hawaiian Alphabet

Have you ever wondered how to spell out the letters of a word in Hawaiian? You will learn in this video how to do so using the Hawaiian “names” for the letters.

Discussion

Spelling words in Hawaiian is one of the areas that I think is often quickly glossed over by Hawaiian language teachers early on, possibly because it’s just so exciting to get right into grammar lessons and simple sentences. I believe that being able to spell words out correctly early on allows for instructors and students alike to check and refine pronunciation in isolated chunks (the individual letters) before bad habits become ingrained. That is, for the teacher and students to agree on using the Hawaiian alphabet when spelling Hawaiian words leaves less room for misunderstanding especially when speaking of “a”, “e”, and “i”.

Interestingly, it often seems hard for advanced students to learn how to spell smoothly after being so used to using the English “names” for the letters in Hawaiian. The same goes for using long numbers, fractions, telephone numbers, and so on, which remain deep-seated due to this knowledge coming from the “L1” (primary language of the speaker). I have seen many examples of this in students of all levels.

Get Started!

So let’s start right now learning how to spell in Hawaiian. Since we will also use Hawaiian spelling in the more advanced videos, make sure you spend time getting this down and practicing it by yourself using some random Hawaiian words from your own vocabulary lists or even from the Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian dictionary available online!

For a quick glance at the “names” of Hawaiian letters in the alphabet, see the table below before you go and watch the video. The top rows are the letters, and the lower rows are the names we give to each letter. The video links follow at the end of this article.

The Hawaiian Alphabet

Nā Woela (vowels)
a	e	i	o	u
ʻā	ʻē	ʻī	ʻō	ʻū

Nā Kōneka (consonants)
h	k	l	m	n	p	w	ʻ
hē	kē	lā	mū	nū	pī	wē	ʻokina

Next Steps

After you watch the video and practice by yourself, and then feel you are ready to move on, the next video in this set is 0502V Hawaiian Number Basics: From 1 to 100.

Video Outline

Introduction
Pronunciation
Hawaiian “names” for letters
Vowel names
Vowels with macrons
Consonants
Review
Practice

Length: 21 minutes

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Pronunciation #1: The Hawaiian Alphabet

Lesson 0401V

Hawaiian Vowels and Consonants

In this lesson will be introduced to the basics of pronunciation in Hawaiian as well as the standard Hawaiian alphabet of 13 letters. You will also learn how to say the names of the letters in Hawaiian.

This was the very first video recorded by kumu Kaliko for ʻŌlelo Online in 2010 and it is the first one you should view if you are starting out learning Hawaiian language!

How To Use This Lesson

Make sure you take the time to really learn how to properly pronounce the vowels. If you are a native English speaker, remember that the vowels in Hawaiian are very “pure” and do not glide from one vowel to another as you pronounce them (as they often do in English). This idea will be explained in the video.

Discussion

The consonant sounds are similar to their English counterparts. One consonant to watch out for, however, is the “L”. If you are a speaker of American English, be careful not to curl your tongue and create a large cavity in your mouth when pronouncing the letter “L”. The Hawaiian “L” has the tip of the tongue much closer to where you would place it to say a soft “D”; the “L”, however, requires allowing the air to flow around the sides of the tongue, whereas the “D” stops the air. Play around with making various sounds until you get the idea of this. Have fun!

Another consonant that you will want to experiment with is the “P”. In English, we don’t think anything of pronouncing the “P” with lots of air coming out of the mouth (between the lips). This is called a “plosive” sound. But in Hawaiian, try to make your “P” a little more like a “B” – in other words, see if you can come to a middle ground between the two consonants. This will allow for a “P” which is not too plosive. If you have the chance, listen to a few YouTube videos of Tongan language speakers; you will find the same consonant spoken there (and in many places in Polynesia). Many new Hawaiian language speakers coming from an English language background will pronounce their “K”s and “P”s with too much air coming out of their mouths during production. Try to learn the true Polynesian sounds early on, so you have a more genuine Hawaiian sound as you learn how to speak the language.

The same is true for the Hawaiian (and Polynesian) “K”. Make sure it is closer where a “G” comes from in the back of your mouth, but of course it shouldn’t fully sound like a “G”. Again, listen to any of the Hawaiian language samples in the Books section of ʻŌlelo Online to hear the sound of the “K” and all of the other letters in Hawaiian.

Overall, I find that if you try to keep the consonant sounds as “close to you” as possible –that is, try to keep the consonant sounds from “projecting” too far away from your mouth– then you will have much better overall Hawaiian pronunciation.

Next Steps

Next you should do the 0401P Pronunciation Practice: Vowels lesson to practice what you learned here.

Then, the next video lesson will be 0402V Pronunciation, Part Two: Macrons.

me ke aloha – with aloha
Kaliko

Video Outline

Introduction
Vowels
Consonants
Summary

Length: 7 minutes

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