Aloha kākou and Aloha mai kākou

[Bleyzzz]

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

[KekoaMonkey]

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.

• 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)

• 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

[Bleyzzz]

Mahalo!