Hawaiian Words and Phrases

How To Say It In Hawaiian On Special Occasions

Happy Anniversary	hauʻoli lā hānau
Congratulations	Aloha nui
Happy Birthday	Hauʻoli Lā Hānau
Happy Mothers Day	hauʻoli lā Makuahine
Happy Fathers Day	lā hauʻoli nā lā
Merry Christmas	Mele Kalikimaka
Happy New Year	hauʻoli makahiki hou
All my love	Aloha Nui Loa
Good luck	Pomaikia’i
Best wishes	lana ‘iʻo ka manaʻo

Most Common Hawaiian Phrases

Aloha kakahiaka	Good morning
Aloha auinala	Good afternoon
Aloha ahiahi	Good evening
Aloha ‘oe	Farewell
E komo mai	Welcome
Pomaika’i	Good luck
Hana hou!	One more time! Encore
Mahalo	Thank you
Kokua	Help or support
Mauka	Towards the mountain; used when giving directions.
Makai	Towards the ocean; used when giving directions.
Ohana	Family. Also used to describe close relationships beyond blood relatives like community, organization or workplace.
Kama’iana	Locals refer to this as a long time resident of Hawaii. The literal meaning is child of the land.
Keiki	Child, children
Lanai	Patio or balcony. Also the island of Lanai.
Pau	Finished, done, completed.
Pau hana	Happy hour, after work; when pau with work.
Ono	Delicious

Meaning of Aloha

Aloha has a broad meaning and is used to evoke good intentions and feelings of love and affection. A salutation in greetings and departures, Aloha means hello and goodbye.

Meaning of Mahalo

Although you’ll often find the “Mahalo” printed on trash cans throughout Hawaii, Mahalo means Thank You (opala means trash in Hawaiian).
Mahalo nui loa means thank you very much.

How To Pronounce Hawaiian Words

The Hawaiian language is a simple and easy to learn language. It may seem intimidating at first, with its use of many vowels, but if you learn the basic pronunciation and take your time to break up the words in syllables, words are easy to pronounce. The Hawaiian alphabet contains 12 letters: five vowels and eight consonants. The five vowels are: A, E, I, O, U; the seven consonants are H, K, L, M N, P, W. Traditionally, native speakers pronounce the W as you would sound a V. For instance, the word Hawaii would be pronounced, huh-vai-ee.

Vowels in the Hawaiian language are pronounced as follows:

A	ah, as in car
E	eh, as in set
I	ee, as in bee
O	oh, as in solo
U	oo, as in spoon

Hawaiian Love Phrases

I love you	Aloha Au Ia ‘Oe
I desire you	Nou No Ka `I`ini
My beloved	Ku`u Lei
My precious sweetheart	Ko Aloha Makamae E Ipo
Warm love and affection	Aloha Pumehana
All my love (often used as a sign off on a letter)	Aloha Nui Loa

Hawaiian Slang Words

Howzit?	How are you? Used as a greeting.
Grinds	Food. “Ono grinds” or delicious food.
Da kine	“You know” or whatchamacallit. Used when you don’t want to use the actual word or phrase.