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“Kaaawa” is Ka-a-a-wa

“Heeia” is He-e-i-a

“Molii” is Mo-li-i

“Hoomaluhia” is Ho-o-ma-lu-hi-a

“Nuuanu” is Nu-u-a-nu.

That seems too simple, and it is. If you tried to pronounce every vowel, speaking Hawaiian would turn into a nightmare. You wouldn’t live long enough to pronounce some words. Fortunately, several pairs of vowels often—but not always—form merged sounds.

Vowel pairs whose sounds merge

Like every other language, Hawaiian has vowel pairs whose sounds naturally “smooth” into each other. They’re similar to Italian or English diphthongs. The degree to which the two sounds are merged in Hawaiian is officially less than occurs in English, but most Hawaiian people I’ve talked with merge them fully. Vowel-pair pronunciation is approximately:

ae often smoothed txsxso “eye” as in “eyeful” or “i” in “ice” ai often smoothed as for “ae,” above ao often smoothed to sound like “ow” in “cow au often smoothed to “ow” in “cow”, too ei sometimes smoothed to “ay” as in “day eu smooth the sounds together a little, like “ayoo” oi usually like “oi” in “oil”—just what you’re used to ou often smoothed to “oh,” the long-o sound

Syllables