"My name is Kaʻiulani."

[YazzKwiinX]

How do you pronounce this sentence?

[AlanAbonyi]

Itʻs hard to represent Hawaiian sounds without using the international phonetic alphabet. Hereʻs a rough equivalent.

• a = father
• i = eat
• o = nope
• u = rude

The okina (looks like an apostrophe) is a quick break in your voice, like when saying "uh-oh". When an okina is placed in front of a vowel, you start pronouncing it abruptly (like the -oh in uh-oh).
ʻO Kaʻiulani koʻu inoa = -oh Kah-iyulanee koh-u eenoah

[Jessi784299]

thanks! i've been having a hard time pronouncing the okina when it's at the beginning of words, and that is helpful ! :)

[DABurnside]

I tried "'O ko'u inoa 'o Ka'iulani" because that is the sentence order DL gave me (My name is ...). I thought 'O has to precede the subject noun with or without a possessive (ko'u). Can someone say if my sentence actually wrong, or simply not the preferred format? Mahalo.

[kelii....]

It is grammatically correct, but if you have a proper name or pronoun, that usually goes first in an 'O... sentence.

[DABurnside]

Mahalo Lee572284

[MARYANN34585]

Wouldnt it be easier just to say o kaiulani au or kaiulani au?