Aloha kākou and Aloha mai kākou
Hi, I was wondering what the difference between 'Aloha kākou.' and 'Aloha mai kākou.' is. I know that 'Aloha kākou.' means something like 'Hello to all of us.'. But what does the added 'mai' do?
Mahalo
2 Comments
Aloha e @ Blaze1909 , I am hoping I will be able to explain this clearly, but keep in mind to leave English greetings mindsets out for this one.
"Mai" in Hawaiian, used in this way, is a directional marker. It can mean very simply "toward the speaker". In this case letʻs look at the sentences you gave in your example.
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Aloha kākou. Greetings between all of us. All of us greet each other. Hello from me and all of you. (We are all included in this greeting process)
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Aloha mai kākou. Greetings that are coming into me and I am acknowledging this and sending this back out to all of you. Heartfelt greetings. A very familiar and fond sense of the greetings that we are sharing together.
The short answer is that it just makes it very familiar and warmer of a greeting, haha! Hope this helps! ^_^v
