Introduction to Swedish/Alphabet
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The Swedish alphabet contains 29 letters:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz Åå Ää Öö
The last three letters, Å, Ä, and Ö, are regarded as distinct letters, separate from A and O. Whereas in English you might use the term "A - Z", in Swedish it would be "A - Ö". Unlike in English, Y is always a vowel, except in the case of some loanwords. W has not been included in the Swedish alphabet for a long time, but since 2006 the Swedish Academy considers W as a separate letter. However, this is not fully accepted in dictionaries and other instances yet.
The Vowels
Vowels are divided into short and long vowels, similarly to English. Just as in English, the short and long versions of vowels are pronounced differently. When reading new words you should pay attention to whether the vowels are short or long. The basic rule is that a vowel is short if it is followed by more than one consonant, similar to English. Much like English, though, there will be exceptions to the rule.
Long Vowels
| Letter | Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ɑː |  listen mat, /mɑːt/, "food" |
ar in start (British English) |
| E | eː | listen hel, /heːl/, "whole" |
Like ea in yeah, but with wide lips |
| I | iː | listen sil, /siːl/, "sieve" |
ee in sheet (British English) |
| O | uː | listen bot, /buːt/, "penance" |
oo in pool (British English) |
| U | ʉ̟ː | listen ful, /fʉ̟ːl/, "ugly" |
oo in pool (Australian English) |
| Y | yː | listen syl, /syːl/, "awl" |
Like ee in sheet, but with circular lips (British English) |
| Å | oː | listen mål, /moːl/, "goal" |
aw in law (British English) |
| Ä | ɛː | listen häl, /hɛːl/, "heel" |
ea in yeah |
| Ö | øː | listen nöt, /nøːt/, "nut" |
or in work (British English) |
Short Vowels
| Letter | Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | listen matt, /mat/, "listless; matte" |
None |
| E, Ä | ɛ | listen häll, /hɛl/, "flat rock" |
e in bed |
| I | ɪ | listen sill, /sɪl/, "herring" |
i in sit |
| O | ɔ | listen moll, /mɔl/, "minor" (music) |
o in toll (British English) |
| O | ʊ | listen bott, /bʊt/, "lived" (perfect tense) |
oo in look |
| U | ɵ | listen full, /fɵl/, "full" |
Similar to Nevada |
| Y | ʏ | listen syll, /sʏl/, "sleeper" (railroad) |
Like i in sit, but with circular lips |
| Ö | œ | listen nött, /nœt/, "worn" |
Like or in work, but shorter |
Influence of R
e and ä are pronounced like the a in English trap if before an r. This means ärt is pronounced similarly to English at.
The Consonants
The consonants are mostly similar to English. Most Swedes do not roll the r, which makes Swedish more comfortable for English speakers compared to other European languages. The letters z, q, and w are very uncommon but are used in family and company names. The most obvious differences for English speakers will be that y is never a consonant, and j is pronounced like English's consonantal y.
Long Consonants
As in English, and as demonstrated in the previous section, consonants may be doubled. However, if this happens in the middle of the word (such as erkänna), then the doubled consonant is pronounced with double the length. This is similar to how the word night-time in English is spoken with a doubly long t.
Initial g and k
There is a similar concept to how g is pronounced differently in the English words general and game, only with slightly different rules and a different pronunciation. The letter k also changes pronunciation in Swedish based on the following vowel.
Generally, if the first letter in a word is g and if the next letter is an e, i, ä, ö, or y, then the g is pronounced as an English y.
Generally, if the first letter in a word is k and if the next letter is an e, i, ä, ö, or y, then the k is pronounced as an English sh.
Digraphs
Digraphs are when multiple letters are used in writing to represent a single spoken sound. This also occurs in English (consider sh).
| Digraph | English equivalent |
|---|---|
| dj, gj, hj, lj | y |
| sj, skj, stj | Sounds like wh in old-fashioned southern US accents |
| kj, tj | sh |
| hv | v |
| ng | ng |
| gn | ng (gn is not a digraph if at the beginning of a word, where it would be pronounced like agnostic) |
Plosives
| Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| p | listen pol, /puːl/, "pole" (of axis) |
| b | listen bok, /buːk/, "book" |
| t | listen tok, /tuːk/, "fool" |
| d | listen dop, /duːp/, "christening" |
| k | listen kon, /kuːn/, "cone" |
| ɡ | listen god, /ɡuːd/, "good" |
Fricative
| Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| f | listen fot, /fuːt/, "foot" |
| v | listen våt, /voːt/, "wet" |
| s | listen sot, /suːt/, "soot" |
| ɧ | listen sjok, /ɧuːk/, "chunk" |
| ɕ | listen kjol, /ɕuːl/, "skirt" |
| j | listen jord, /juːrd/, "soil, earth" |
| h | listen hot, /huːt/, "threat" |
/r/ and Retroflex Assimilations
| Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| r | listen rov, /ruːv/, "prey; loot" |
Laterals
| Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| l | listen lov, /luːv/, "tack (sailing maneuver)" |
Nasals
| Phoneme (IPA) |
Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
|---|---|
| m | listen mod, /muːd/, "courage" |
| n | listen nod, /nuːd/, "node" |
| ŋ | listen lång, /lɔŋ/, "long" |
Stress
Normally the stress is put on the first vowel. The tonality/pitch is more important in some Swedish dialects.
Tonality
Both nita and niten have the stress on the vowel i. However, in some accents the tonality/pitch differs. This is often a situational difference that varies from one word to the next. For more information on tone you can try the Wikipedia article on tone.
Typing Special Characters
On a PC:
Alt+0229 = å
Alt+0197 = Å
Alt+0228 = ä
Alt+0196 = Ä
Alt+0246 = ö
Alt+0214 = Ö
On a Mac:
Option+a = å
Option+A = Å
Option+u to get ¨ then type a = ä
Option+u to get ¨ then type A = Ä
Option+u to get ¨ then type o = ö
Option+u to get ¨ then type O = Ö
If you don't manage to get these characters, the standard way is to substitute å with aa, ä with ae, and ö with oe.
More Information on Pronunciation
For more detailed information on Swedish pronunciations read the Wikipedia article on Swedish phonology.
Exercise
Pronounce the following Swedish words.
1. skal, sno, tur, kår, ven, mil, syl, när, bör
2. stall, stopp, lupp, sådd, ett, stins, skyll, ärr, börs
3. vara, bliva, heta, kallas, äta, dricka, festa, leka
4. bilen, vägen, äpplet, trädet, smaken, tiken
5. kal, kotte, kul, kål, gam, gott, gurka, gås
6. ge, gick, gylf, Gävle, gök, kedja, kil, kyl, käk, kök