Pronunciation - photo.net

Consonants

Most consonants are exactly the same in Swedish as they are in English. Some exceptions:

j: pronounced like the "y" in "yellow"

g: pronounced like the American "g" if it is followed by an a, o, or å; pronounced like the "y" in "yellow" if followed by an e, i, ä, or ö

k: pronounced like the American "k" if it is followed by an a, o, or å; pronounced like "sh" if followed by an e, i, ä, or ö

rs: r followed by s is pronounced as "sh"

Vowels

Vowels can have more than one pronunciation (depending on which consonants are nearby, etc.), but this will give you an idea of the approximate pronunciation of each vowel:

a: pronounced like the "aw" in "claw"

e: pronounced like the "e" in "fell"

i: pronounced like the "ee" in "fleece"

o: the pronunciation falls between that of "o" in "close" and "oo" in "moose"

u: pronounced like the "oo" in "moose"

y: the pronunciation falls between that of "oo" in "moose" and "y" in "any" (the trick: shape your mouth as if you were going to say "y" but then try to say "oo")

å: the pronunciation falls between that of "o" in "close" and "o" in "pot"

ä: pronounced like the "a" in "apple"

ö: pronounced like the "u" in "full"

If some of the vowel sounds seem strange to you, don't worry. When you're there, you'll probably be able to find a Swede who will help you with your pronunciation. Most of the people I met there were quite helpful.

Other tips

The stress almost always comes on the second-to-last syllable.

When looking up words alphabetically, remember that å, ä, and ö come at the end of the alphabet, after z.

S:t is an abbreviation for "Saint" (useful if you're driving around looking for churches)

Readers' Comments

Add a comment

Henrik Schrvder , September 26, 1999; 12:48 P.M.

The pronounciation guide is mostly accurate, but there are some descriptions that are just not true.

"rs" is pronounced like you describe it (sh like in shell) only in and around Stockholm, and not anywhere else in Sweden.

"v" is not pronounced like the "u" in "full", but more like "ir" in "bird", but without the r-sound. It's really hard to describe since that sound simply doesn't exist in English. (Perhaps that's why you got it wrong)

Stressing of syllables is also dependent on where in Sweden you are. What you write is again true for people from Stockholm, but other parts of the country stresses differently.

Martin Sundell , October 27, 1999; 04:18 A.M.

About Swedish pronounciation... The attempts on this page are meant well, and much is correct. However, let me advise you to take a look in a dictionary, at the phonetic descriptions instead. The English pronounciation differs between different accents.

The S:t in Swedish road signs, places and so on, are most often NOT indicating closeness to a saint, even if S:t does mean saint also. In most cases at signs, places, etc. S:t means 'Stora', i.e. 'Great'. For example: S:t Ryr means 'Stora Ryr', Great(er) Ryr, a place.

Otherwise, I found this part of the website very interesting, and good.

James Dunlap , June 03, 2001; 04:20 P.M.

I found this helpful, since I really wanted to know how to pronounce the vowels. I have a helpful hint for those English speakers trying to understand the ö and the y. These are what we call in phonetics front-rounded vowels. In English we only have "back-rounded" vowels, i.e. u ("oo") and o ("oh") (and in some dialects, a slight rounding of a as in law). The front-rounded vowels are roughly equivalent to making the front vowel (i and e phonetically, pronounced as in "ee" and "eh") with lips rounded. So y in Swedish would be roughly "ee" with lips rounded, and ö in Swedish would be roughly "eh" with lips rounded. One other tip for English speakers: Don't use an "off-glide" at the end of your vowels (unless you hear a native speaker use one). Most languages do not pronounce, for example, e ("eh") as in our name for the letter "a" ("eh-ee"), nor o ("oh") as "oh-oo". Of course, the newcomer to a language mainly needs to just listen a lot and pick up the exactness of any pronunciation, and not assume it to be anything like what he or she is used to in his/her native language. Good tips just give a better starting place for this process. Thanks again for a good summary.

Philo Vivero , December 16, 2001; 06:37 P.M.

Be careful of the pronunciation guide if you're not an American. For example, the pronunciation of A as "aw" in "claw."

Amusing anecdote: The English pronouce "flaw" identically to "floor" and thus probably "claw" as in "clore." Myself and another American were having the hardest time interpreting an Englishman's phrase: "I can see the flaw in that," and when the other American finally figured it out, he said in a broad American accent: "Oh, FLAAAAW!" This caused quite a commotion (ie: LOUD DERISIVE LAUGHTER) since here in New Zealand, the English pronunciation is preferred over the American pronunciation.

As an American, the world "Stalin" as pronounced by the English sounds like the spelling "Starlin" to me.

Got it? Take the other commenter's advice: get a phonetic dictionary and learn international phonetics if you truly care about pronunciation.

christer granquist , January 27, 2008; 11:34 A.M.

It?s true that G and K are pronounced as g and k before the wovels a, o and 宠But also before the wovel u. AOUŠare called hard wovels, which is among the first things all children learn at school here in Sweden. G and K are pronounced "J" and "CH", not only before the wovels e, i, 䠡nd � but also before y. Accordingly, EIYĖ are soft wovels. Church in swedish is "kyrka" and pronounced "chyrka". "to favour" in swedish is "gynna" and pronounced "jynna". There are many examples of course.