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The Swedish alphabet has 29 letters:
Swedish pronunciation shown below, with examples of each sound.
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EXAMPLES |
A
a |
Can be short (before
two consonants)
or long (at end of
word) |
katt
(cat)
far
(father) |
B
b |
As in English |
barn
(child) |
| C
c |
Mainly in foreign
words, and then pronounced in the same way |
cykel (bicycle)
|
D
d |
As in English |
dag
(day) |
E
e |
Soft vowel, can
be short or long
Like ear
|
penna (pen)
med (with) |
F
f |
As in English |
fem
(five) |
| G
g |
Hard as in go,
in front of a, o,
u, å
Like j in front of soft vowels,
e,
i, y, ä,
ö
|
gata
(street)
god
(good)
ge
(give)
göra
(make) |
H
h |
Is not silent, but
as in English hot |
het
(hot) |
I
i |
Can be short (like
English miss)
or long (like ea)
in English |
hiss
(lift)
liv
(life) |
J
j |
Soft sound, like
y in you
in English |
ja
(yes) |
K
k |
Hard sound in front
of hard vowels a, o,
u, å
Like ch
in child in front of soft
vowels e, i,
y, ä,
ö |
kan
(can)
kål
(cabbage)
köpa
(buy) |
L
l |
As in English |
liter (litre) |
M
m |
As in English |
månad
(month) |
N
n |
As in English |
näsa
(nose) |
O
o |
Short (like o
in English, but with softly rounded lips)
Long (like oo in English
but with tightly rounded lips)
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blomma
(flower)
bok
(book) |
P
p |
As in English |
pojke
(boy) |
Q
q |
Hard as in k,
always used with u,
used in foreign words |
Equador |
| R
r |
In central and northern
Sweden, r is pronounced as
in Greek.
In southern Sweden, r is
more gutteral, more like German |
röd
(red) |
S
s |
Soft sound |
se
(sea) |
T
t |
As in English |
tid
(time) |
U
u |
Short (like oo
in English, but with softly rounded lips)
Long (like oo in English
but with very tightly rounded lips, rather like French u) |
hund
(dog)
hus
(house) |
V
v |
As in English |
vertebrater
(vertebrates) |
W
w |
Like English
v. Only exists in names and in foreign words |
WC (wc) |
X
x |
Hard as in ks |
taxi
(taxi) |
Y
y |
Short and long sounds,
with no exact English equivalent, like very tight French u |
ny
(new)
syster
(sister) |
Z
z |
Soft sound, exists
only in names and foreign words |
zoo (zoo) |
Åå |
Short vowel, like
short English o
Long vowel, like long English o
|
åtta
(eight)
månad
(month)
|
Ää |
Short vowel, like English
exit
Long vowel, like English bear
|
lätt
(easy)
äta
(eat) |
Öö |
Short vowel, like German
o
Long vowel has no equivalent in English |
böcker
(books)
söt
(sweet) |
There are some combinations that must be learnt.
NG |
As in English sing |
ung (young) |
GN |
Nasalised |
regn (rain) |
SK |
Hard in front of hard vowels a, o, u, å
Soft (like English sh) in front of soft vowels e, i, y, ä, ö) |
ska (shall), sko (shoe), skriva (write)
skina (shine), skär (pink) |
SCH, SJ, SKJ, STJ, SION, TION |
There are all soft sounds (sh) |
sjö (lake), skjuta (shoot), stjärna (star) |
KJ, TJ |
Pronounced like English ch |
kjol (skirt), tjock (thick) |
Swedish is a tone language, which means that there can be more than one tone in a single word. That is why Swedish can sound as if they are singing when they speak. This is something that cannot be dealt with in these extremely simplified basic lessons.
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