Do you know someone who does not pronounce their vowels correctly? Or perhaps it is yourself. There are no more excuses with this visual 🙂 Share it with your friends and family and lets learn Tongan 🙂

The Tongan vowel A for beginners! All you need to know about the vowel A.

•   IT IS ALWAYS PRONOUNCED AS (AH)!
• There are marks (diacritical marks) added to the vowels which gives it a special pronunciation.

1. The toloi (macron) gives it a long vowel (ā) AH sound.
2. The fakaʻua (glottal stop) gives it a short sharp (ʻa) AH sound.
3. The fakamamafa pau (definitive accent) gives it an exaggerated (á) AH sound at the end of a word. Think of resume and resumé.

COMPARE with the more complex English vowel a:

• THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO PRONOUNCE THE A VOWEL

1. MAN has an (ae) sound
2. MARS has an (aer) sound
3. MAKE has an (ei) sound
4. MA has an (ah) sound