Vowel Pairs

Level 1

In a pair like ai or ou, the vowels glide together. The first one is stressed.

How It Works

When two vowels sit together, Hawaiian often says them as one gliding sound. The Reference Grammar lists ei, eu, oi, ou, ai, ae, ao and au as the gliding pairs. The first vowel is stressed, and the second is said more quickly.

Pair	Word
ai	wai “water”
ei	keiki “child”
ao	ao “cloud, day”
ou	kou “your”
au	pau “finished”

The ʻokina keeps two vowels apart, so a word like iʻa has two separate sounds. Sources do not agree on every other pair, such as ui and oe, so say each of those vowels clearly.

Examples (5)

wai
water
The a and i glide together, with the stress on a.
keiki
child
The ei glides, and the stress is on the e.
ao
cloud, day
The a and o glide together into one syllable.
kou
your
The o and u glide, and the stress is on the o.
pau
finished
The a and u glide together, with the stress on a.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Vowel PairsLevel 1

Learn This First

A vowel pair is built from the single vowels, so the vowels come first.

a e i o uThe Five Vowels
Know the five vowels, because each pair is two of them said together, as in ai and au.
Level 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Where the Stress FallsLevel 2

Practice Vowel Pairs in Bubblegum

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