Elongated and short vowels

Many words in Somali have elongated (long) vowels. English words have them also (e.g. the long 'a' sound in 'bath'), but in Somali elongated vowels are represented by an extra letter.  Hence,

'a' (short vowel) : 'aa'( elongated vowel)
'e' (short vowel) : 'ee'( elongated vowel; like the 'ee' sound in 'bear')
'i' (short vowel) : 'ii'( elongated vowel)
'o' (short vowel) : 'oo'( elongated vowel; like the 'o' sound in 'door' )
'u' (short vowel) : 'uu'( elongated vowel; like the 'u' sound in 'food')

Above is a good video that shows the difference between long and short vowels. Short vowels in Somali is 'Shaqal gaab', long vowels are 'Shaqal dheer'.