The Hawaiian Alphabet

Unlike the English language with it's 26 letters, the Hawaiian alphabet has only 13 letters. (5 vowels and 8 consonants)

5 vowels, A E I O U

In addition the vowels can be long or short. The addition of the Kahakō (called a macron in other languages) causes the vowel sound to be drawn out/longer and stressed.
Vowels with their kahakō:

Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū

8 consonants, H K L M N P W and the ʻokina. (ʻ)

The ʻokina, also called a 'glottal stop' is considered a consonant in it's own right, and causes a slight pause in the word, sounding similar to the pause in the English 'oh-oh'.

A popular example of how an ʻokina and a kahakō can change the meaning of a word is "pau":

pau = finished, ended, all done
paʻu = soot, smudge, ink powder
paʻū = moist, damp
pāʻū = skirt

(The letters of the Hawaiian alphabet were established in 1826 by a committee of missionaries who used letters to represent the sounds as they heard them. Thus the letters R, T and V were dropped and replaced by L,K and W. However T is still used in some words, such as Tūtū, and W is often pronounced V, depending on the accompanying words to 'sound best'.)

Hawaiian Natural Order
The natural order in Hawaiian, as in the Māmaka Kaiao, is this:

A, Ā (i.e. A comes before Ā which comes before E, etc.)
E, Ē
I, Ī
O,Ō
U, Ū
H, K, L, M, N, P, W
‘ (‘okina)
Non-Hawaiian letters in roman-alphabet order.

Making words plural

Unlike English where most nouns can be made plural, usually by adding an s. Eg: Singular: The car. Plural - the cars, in Hawaiian there is no plural version of a noun, (A few exceptions exist, see below) so to indicate plural we change the ke or ka to nā no matter what letter the noun starts with.

Eg: Singular: Ke Kāne - the man. Plural: Nā Kāne - the men.
Singular: Ka Pali - the cliff. Plural: Nā Pali - the cliffs.

Nā is another example of a Kaʻi.

In addition, although Nā normally means "the" for plural objects, Mau is used with the following group of words to make objects plural: - kēia / kēnā / kēlā ("this / that") - ko'u, kou, kona.
For example: Maika'i kona mau hale.His houses are good.

Plural Exceptions

Note that these exceptions all relate to highly 'personal' words.

Hawaiian	English
Makua	Parent
Mākua	Parents
Kanaka	Person, human
Kanāka	Persons, humans
kahiko	Old person
kāhiko	Old people
ʻelemakule	Old man
ʻelemākule	Old men
kaikamahine	Girl, daughter
kaikamāhine	Girls, daughters
kupuna	Grandparent
kūpuna	Grandparents
wahine	Woman
wāhine	Women
luahine	Old woman
luāhine	Old women
akua	Family God
ʻaumākua	Family Gods
kahuna	Priest, sorcerer, expert
kāhuna	Priests, sorcerers, experts

To indicate being part of a group, the word kekahi is used. To indicate a larger number, mau is also added.

Examples

kekahi pipi (one of the cows)
kekahi mau pipi (some of the cows)