How to read and say Swedish

Vowels

Swedish is notorious for its extra vowel sounds, giving Swedish nine (!) different vowels. Most are pronounced differently than English, and some don't even have a true English equivalent; some may be close, but sound like a combination of two vowel sounds. This can be very confusing, but you probably won't hear enough Swedish to know the difference, as they can be very slight. If you don't get it exactly, you may still be understood. All vowels can be pronounced short or long which means that Swedish has 17 different vowel sounds (short e and short ä is the same).

Please note: in Swedish 'Y' is a vowel and not a consonant. Å, Ä and Ö are letters in their own right, in the end of the alphabet past Z.

a

like 'a' in "father."

e

short: like 'e' in "bed" or "pen." long: like 'ey' in "hey," but longer. Can sometimes sound slightly like "Ay-uh;" because the Swedish pronunciation is longer. E's are usually pronounced at the end of a word, such as in "kaffe" (pronounced kaff-eh, meaning coffee), unlike English where e's at the end of a word are usually silent.

i

short: like 'i' in "India" long: like 'i' in "machine." Fairly straightforward.

o

like 'u' in "put," but not exactly. It's somewhere between that and the 'o' in "broken" in actuality.

u

like 'ou' in "you."

y

like 'y' in "Nitroglycerin." This is one of the harder ones to learn. Easiest way is to round your lips (important) and say "bee." It may sound closer to an English short 'i' sound to some people.

å

like 'au' in "Paul" generally speaking. Similar to å in Danish.

ä

identical to the ä in German (sounds like an "e" as in "bet". Pronounced with more bass if preceding r. Corresponds to æ in Danish and Norwegian.

ö

Same as in German. Pronounced with more bass if preceding r. Corresponds to ø in Danish and Norwegian.

The pronunciation of u and y varies quite a lot between regions; all native speakers make a clear distinction, although the u of one person may be close to another person's y.

Consonants

Consonants are closer to English, but some combinations can be downright tricky, i.e. 'sj' in "sjutton." Some pronunciations depend on the vowel following it, and so the vowels are divided into "soft" and "hard" vowels. A, o, u, and å are the hard vowels, and e, i, y, ä, and ö are the soft vowels. There are also some combinations of letters treated as a group for the purpose of pronunciation (e.g. ch, ng, sch, sj, tj).

b

like 'b' in "bed"

c

like 'c' in "cat", sometimes 's' like the first c in circus; a 'ch' combination is sometimes pronounced like English 'sh', but pronounced like a 'k' in the word och.

d

like 'd' in "dog"

f

like 'f' in "for"

g

like 'g' in "go", when preceding a hard vowel, like 'y' in "yellow" when preceding a soft vowel or after an 'r'. A 'gn' pronunciation is pronounced like an English 'g', except for when it follows a vowel, in which case it is pronounced 'ng+n.'

h

like 'h' in "help". A superfluous silent 'h' is common in names (e.g. Elisabet and Elisabeth are pronounced the same).

j

like 'y' in "yell," and if there is a d, g, or h before a 'j' then that letter is silent.

k

like 'k' in "king" before a hard vowel, like 'sh' before a soft one. 'Kj' is pronounced 'sh' as well

l

like 'l' in "love," but 'lj' is pronounced like a 'y'

m

like 'm' in "mother"

n

like 'n' in "nice", like 'ng' in "song" when preceding k

ng

not a letter; like 'ng' in "song"

p

like 'p' in "pig"

q

like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always)

r

Like a Scottish or Spanish 'r': trilled with the tip of your tongue at the roof of your mouth. S in 'Rs' is pronounced 'sh'.

s

like 'ss' in "hiss," but 'skj' and 'stj' are pronounced 'sh.' 'Sj' is hard for non-native speakers – try rounding your lips and saying "hwoo" to get the gist of it. 'Sk' is also pronounced this way before soft vowels.

t

like 't' in "top"

tj

not a letter; like 'ssy' in "kiss you"

v

like 'v' in "victory"

w

like 'v' in "victor," but w's in Swedish are uncommon.

x

like 'cks' in "kicks", like 'ehcks' at beginning of a word.

z

like 's' in "saw"