What Language Is Spoken in Hawaii? (Plus Words to Know)

The short answer: the language spoken in Hawaii is English, day to day — but Hawaii has two official languages, English and Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi), and most locals also speak a third, Hawaiian Pidgin. So you will get by entirely in English, hear Hawaiian woven through place names and culture, and catch Pidgin in everyday local conversation.

That three-language reality is the islands' history in a nutshell — the Hawaiian of the Native population, the English of annexation and tourism, and the Pidgin born on the plantations where dozens of immigrant languages had to meet.

This guide answers what language is spoken in Hawaii clearly, tells the moving story of how Hawaiian nearly disappeared and came roaring back, explains Pidgin, and gives you the handful of Hawaiian words worth knowing — including how to say hello, thank you, and I love you — before your trip.

Table of contents

• The three languages of Hawaii
• Is Hawaiian still a living language?
• What is Hawaiian Pidgin?
• Hawaiian words every visitor should know
• How to say hello, thank you, and I love you
• How to pronounce Hawaiian words
• Hawaiian words you'll see everywhere
• A few Pidgin phrases you'll hear
• Using Hawaiian respectfully
• FAQ

The three languages of Hawaii

Ask "what language do they speak in Hawaii?" and the honest answer is three, layered on top of each other.

English is the everyday language and what you will use for your entire trip — at hotels, restaurants, shops, and tours. Hawaii is a U.S. state, and English is universal, so a visitor never needs another language to get by. If that is all you needed to know, there it is: yes, they speak English in Hawaii.

Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) is the Indigenous language of the islands and, since 1978, a co-official language of the state — the only U.S. state with an Indigenous official language alongside English. You will hear and see it constantly: in place names (every "Ka-" and "-loa" and "Wai-"), in words woven into daily life, in chant and song and hula. It is a living language, not a relic, and its story is remarkable.

Hawaiian Pidgin — formally Hawaiʻi Creole English — is the local creole that hundreds of thousands of residents speak in everyday conversation. It is not broken English; it is its own language with its own grammar and rhythm, and it is a badge of local identity. You will overhear it among locals and see it in local advertising, even if people switch to standard English with visitors.

So which one will you actually use? English, almost entirely — the other two you will mostly encounter rather than speak. But understanding that all three coexist explains a lot of what you will notice: why every place name looks unfamiliar, why a sign mixes English and Hawaiian, why two locals chatting sound different from the staff greeting you at the hotel. Hawaii is genuinely multilingual in a way most of the U.S. is not, and that layering is part of what makes the islands feel like their own place rather than just another state.

Is Hawaiian still a living language?

Yes — but it came terrifyingly close to not being, and that history is worth knowing because it shapes how you should treat the language today.

In 1896, a few years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Hawaiian was banned as the language of instruction in schools. Children were punished for speaking their own language, and within a couple of generations the number of fluent speakers collapsed. By the 1980s, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi was considered an endangered language, with native speakers numbering only in the hundreds outside one isolated island.

Then came one of the great language-revival stories anywhere. Starting in the 1980s, Hawaiian-language immersion preschools (Pūnana Leo) and then immersion schools brought the language back to children, university programs trained new speakers, and Hawaiian was written back into public life. Today thousands of people speak ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi again, children are raised in it, and you can study it from preschool through a PhD. The University of Hawaiʻi's Hawaiian language program is one engine of that revival.

Here is the one opinion this guide will offer, and it follows from that history: learn a few words sincerely, and treat the language with respect — it was nearly killed on purpose, and its comeback is a point of deep pride. A tourist who says "mahalo" warmly and tries to pronounce place names is welcomed. The language is not a theme-park prop; it is a living thing a community fought to save.

You can see the revival everywhere once you know to look: bilingual signage, Hawaiian-language radio and news, the macrons and ʻokina appearing correctly in print again, and a generation of keiki who speak ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi as a first language. It is, by any measure, one of the most successful Indigenous-language revitalizations in the world — a genuine bright spot in a global story that is usually one of loss. Knowing that history turns those unfamiliar words on the map from exotic decoration into something with real weight behind it.

Photo: Thavatchai Samui on Unsplash

What is Hawaiian Pidgin?

Hawaiian Pidgin is the secret third language of Hawaii, and understanding what it is — and is not — will deepen your whole trip.

Pidgin (linguistically, Hawaiʻi Creole English or HCE) was born on the sugar plantations in the 1830s, when Native Hawaiians and waves of immigrant laborers — Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Puerto Rican — had to communicate across a dozen languages. Out of that necessity grew a new tongue, blending English vocabulary with Hawaiian, Portuguese, Cantonese, Japanese, and more, in its own grammar and melody. An estimated 600,000 people in Hawaii speak it.

Crucially, Pidgin is not "bad English" or a sign of poor education — that is an old and hurtful misconception. Linguists recognize it as a full creole language with consistent rules, and in 2015 the U.S. Census Bureau formally recognized it as a language of Hawaii. For locals it carries warmth, humor, and belonging; it is the language of home, of talking story, of comedy and poetry.

A quick example of how different it sounds: where standard English says "the food is delicious," Pidgin might be "da grindz so ono." It is compact, musical, and full of words borrowed from every plantation culture — "pau" from Hawaiian, "bocha" (bath) from Japanese, and many more. Linguists study it precisely because it is such a rich, rule-governed creole, and a growing movement of writers and poets publishes in Pidgin proudly.

As a visitor, you do not need to speak Pidgin, and you absolutely should not fake the accent — nothing marks an outsider faster than a tourist performing Pidgin. But it helps to recognize it, to enjoy it when you hear it, and to understand that when a local shifts into Pidgin with friends, you are hearing a living piece of Hawaii's plantation-era soul.

Hawaiian words every visitor should know

You do not need to learn Hawaiian to visit, but a handful of words will deepen your trip and show respect. These are the ones worth knowing.

A few of these deserve a closer look. Aloha is the famous one, and it means far more than hello and goodbye — it carries love, affection, compassion, and a whole way of being (the "aloha spirit" is a real, even legally referenced, concept in Hawaii). Mahalo is your workhorse: say thank you, and say it often and sincerely. ʻOhana, family, extends to the chosen family and community, not just blood relatives.

The directional pair mauka (toward the mountains) and makai (toward the sea) is genuinely useful — locals give directions this way, and signs use them, so knowing them helps you navigate. Pau (finished) shows up everywhere, especially in pau hana, the beloved after-work wind-down. And ʻono (delicious) is the only review your plate lunch needs.

Pono is worth dwelling on, because it is bigger than its translation. Often rendered as "righteousness" or "balance," it is a core Hawaiian value about doing what is right and keeping things in harmony — it even appears in the state motto. And keiki (child) you will see on everything from menus to beach-safety signs, a reminder of how central family is to island life.

Learn these eight and you will understand a surprising amount of what you see on signs, menus, and in conversation — and you will be the kind of visitor who arrived having done a little homework, which locals notice and appreciate. None of it is required to enjoy Hawaii, but each word is a small door into the culture, and pushing a few of them open makes the whole trip richer.

How to say hello, thank you, and I love you

A few key phrases come up again and again, so here is how to say the essentials in Hawaiian.

• Hello / goodbye: Aloha (ah-LOH-hah). The same word works for both, and for love. You can add aloha kakahiaka (good morning), aloha ʻauinalā (good afternoon), and aloha ahiahi (good evening).
• Thank you: Mahalo (mah-HAH-loh). For extra warmth, mahalo nui loa means "thank you very much."
• I love you: Aloha au iā ʻoe (ah-LOH-hah ow ee-AH oh-eh). A lovely thing to learn for the romantic among you.
• How are you?: Pehea ʻoe? (peh-HEH-ah oh-eh).
• Yes / no: ʻAe (eye) / ʻAʻole (ah-OH-leh).

You will also hear e komo mai (welcome / come in), a hui hou (until we meet again), and pono woven into farewells and blessings. None of this is required — English covers you everywhere — but dropping a warm "mahalo" or learning to say "I love you" in Hawaiian for someone special is a small, genuine pleasure, and it is the kind of effort the islands return.

These phrases carry particular weight at life's big moments, which is partly why couples marrying or renewing their vows in Hawaii so often weave them in. Learning to say "aloha au iā ʻoe" to your partner on a Hawaii beach, or closing a toast with "a hui hou," turns a few syllables into something you will both remember — and if you are planning that kind of trip, our Hawaii honeymoon guide covers the romantic side of the islands. The language rewards sincerity over fluency — nobody expects a visitor to be perfect, and the warmth of the attempt is the whole point.

Photo: Sean Bernstein on Unsplash

How to pronounce Hawaiian words

Hawaiian looks intimidating — all those vowels and apostrophes — but it is actually wonderfully consistent once you know a few rules.

The Hawaiian alphabet has just 13 letters: five vowels (a, e, i, o, u), seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, w), and the ʻokina (ʻ), a glottal stop that counts as a consonant. Every letter is pronounced, and the vowels are steady, like in Spanish or Italian: a = "ah," e = "eh," i = "ee," o = "oh," u = "oo."

Two marks matter. The ʻokina (that backwards apostrophe, as in Hawaiʻi) is a real consonant — a brief catch in the throat, like the pause in "uh-oh." The kahakō (a line over a vowel, ā) just means you hold that vowel a beat longer. Both change meaning, so they are not decoration.

The trick to long place names is to break them into syllables and say each vowel: Hu-mu-hu-mu-nu-ku-nu-ku-ā-pu-aʻa is just small, regular pieces strung together. Take Likelike (Highway) — it is "LEE-keh-LEE-keh," not "like-like." Slow down, hit every vowel evenly, and you will pronounce Hawaiian better than most visitors.

A couple more that trip people up: Haleʻiwa is "ha-leh-EE-va" (that w after a vowel often sounds like a soft "v"), and Kamehameha is "kah-MEH-hah-MEH-hah," four even beats, not "kah-meh-HAH-meh-hah." The single best habit is to resist the urge to anglicize — do not force Hawaiian words into English stress patterns. Say every vowel, keep them pure and even, and pause at the ʻokina. If you want the authoritative pronunciation and meaning of any word, the Hawaiian dictionary at wehewehe.org is the reference locals and students use, and it is genuinely fun to browse.

Hawaiian words you'll see everywhere

Beyond the greetings, a cluster of Hawaiian words shows up so often on signs, menus, and in daily life that recognizing them makes Hawaii far easier to navigate.

• Kapu — forbidden, off-limits, sacred. If a sign says kapu, do not go; it can mean private property or a culturally sacred site.
• Wahine / Kāne — woman / man. You will most often meet these on restroom doors, so it is worth knowing which is which.
• Wikiwiki — fast, quick (yes, the software "wiki" is named after the Wikiwiki airport shuttle in Honolulu).
• Honu — the green sea turtle you will hopefully meet snorkeling.
• Lūʻau — the feast and celebration, originally named for the taro leaf in the food.
• Lānai — a porch or balcony (and the name of an island).
• Haole — a non-Hawaiian, especially a white person or foreigner; usually neutral, context-dependent.
• Keiki / Kūpuna — children / elders, both deeply respected in island life.

You will also see mahalo on trash cans (a gentle "thank you for not littering") and aloha on every other sign. Knowing this everyday vocabulary turns a wall of unfamiliar words into a place that suddenly makes a lot more sense — and connects what you see to the living Hawaiian culture behind it.

Food menus are their own little vocabulary lesson, too: poke, lomi, kalua, haupia, lūʻau, poi, liliko'i, and huli huli all turn up on local menus, and recognizing them helps you order well — our Hawaiian food guide decodes the plate. The same goes for the natural world, where honu (turtle), manō (shark), nēnē (the state goose), and ʻōhiʻa and koa (native trees) label the wildlife and plants you will meet. Hawaiian is not confined to a classroom here; it is the working vocabulary of the islands, hiding in plain sight on every sign and menu.

A few Pidgin phrases you'll hear

You will not speak Pidgin as a visitor, but recognizing a few phrases lets you enjoy the local color you will overhear. Here are some classics.

• Da kine — the all-purpose word for "the thing whose name I'm not saying," a verbal placeholder of genius. Context is everything.
• Grindz / grind — food / to eat. "Ono grindz" is delicious food.
• Shoots / shoot — okay, sounds good, let's do it. A friendly yes.
• Howzit — how's it going, hello.
• Pau — done, finished (shared with Hawaiian). "I pau already."
• Talk story — to chat, hang out, share stories. A beloved island pastime.
• Brah / braddah — brother, friend, dude.
• Broke da mouth — so delicious it "broke the mouth." The highest food praise.

A few more you might catch: try as a softener ("try wait" = please wait), stay used for the present tense ("I stay tired"), no can (cannot), can as an enthusiastic yes, and bumbye (after a while, eventually). The grammar is genuinely different from standard English, which is exactly why linguists classify it as its own creole rather than an accent.

Hearing "eh, da grindz broke da mouth, brah" and roughly understanding it is one of the small joys of paying attention in Hawaii. Enjoy Pidgin as a listener, smile along, and resist any urge to imitate the accent — appreciation lands warmly, imitation does not. If you are curious, local comedians and Pidgin-language books are a far better and more respectful way in than trying it out on the person at the rental-car counter.

Photo: Ken Mages on Unsplash

Using Hawaiian respectfully

A little cultural awareness turns a few learned words from potentially awkward into genuinely welcomed. The guidelines are simple and kind.

Do use the everyday words — mahalo, aloha, ʻono, mauka and makai — naturally and warmly. Do make an honest effort to pronounce place names rather than mangling them or refusing to try; locals appreciate the effort far more than they mind the stumbles. Do respect "kapu" signs absolutely, and treat sacred words and places with care.

Don't fake a Pidgin accent or perform "local" — it reads as mockery even when you mean well. Don't treat Hawaiian as a novelty or a punchline, and don't slap "aloha" and "mahalo" onto everything as a gimmick. And don't assume; if you are unsure whether a word or practice is appropriate, ask, or simply observe.

The throughline is sincerity. Hawaiians fought to save this language from deliberate extinction, and they generously share it with visitors who approach it with respect. Come having learned a few words honestly, pronounce them with care, and you participate — in a small, real way — in the aloha that makes these islands what they are. That spirit, more than any vocabulary list, is the language of Hawaii worth taking home.

In that spirit, since we are a Hawaii business: the aloha we try to put into a beach picnic is the same idea — care, warmth, and welcome made tangible. Learn a little of the language and you will feel that current running under everything here.

FAQ

What language is spoken in Hawaii?

English is the everyday language and what visitors use throughout their trip. Hawaii has two official languages, English and Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi), and most locals also speak Hawaiian Pidgin, an English-based creole. You can get by entirely in English while hearing Hawaiian in place names and culture and Pidgin in local conversation.

Do they speak English in Hawaii?

Yes. Hawaii is a U.S. state and English is universal — at hotels, restaurants, shops, tours, and everywhere a visitor goes. You never need another language to travel in Hawaii, though learning a few Hawaiian words like aloha and mahalo is a welcomed sign of respect.

Is Hawaiian a real language?

Absolutely. Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) is the Indigenous Polynesian language of the islands and a co-official state language since 1978. It was banned in schools in 1896 and nearly died out, but a remarkable revival through immersion schools and university programs has brought thousands of speakers back, and children are once again raised speaking it.

What is Hawaiian Pidgin?

Hawaiian Pidgin (Hawaiʻi Creole English) is a creole language that developed on Hawaii's sugar plantations in the 1800s, blending English with Hawaiian, Portuguese, Japanese, Cantonese, and other immigrant languages. About 600,000 people speak it, and the U.S. Census recognized it as a language in 2015. It is a full language and a marker of local identity, not "broken English."

How do you say hello and thank you in Hawaiian?

Hello (and goodbye, and love) is aloha (ah-LOH-hah). Thank you is mahalo (mah-HAH-loh), or mahalo nui loa for "thank you very much." These two words are the most useful for any visitor to learn, and saying them warmly and sincerely is always appreciated.

How do you say "I love you" in Hawaiian?

"I love you" in Hawaiian is aloha au iā ʻoe (ah-LOH-hah ow ee-AH oh-eh). It is a beautiful phrase to learn for a partner, a wedding, or a vow renewal in the islands, and a meaningful step up from simply saying aloha.

How do you pronounce Hawaiian words?

Hawaiian has only 13 letters, and every one is pronounced. The five vowels are steady — a "ah," e "eh," i "ee," o "oh," u "oo" — and you say each one. The ʻokina (ʻ) is a glottal stop (like the catch in "uh-oh"), and the kahakō (ā) lengthens a vowel. Break long words into syllables and pronounce each vowel evenly.