Pronunciation (in English!)

The alphabet

The Swedish alphabet is a variant of the modern Latin alphabet. It consists of 29 letters (20 consonants and 9 vowels (⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ö⟩. Of the 29 letters of the alphabet, 26 are the basic letters of the Latin alphabet and three are Latin letters modified with diacritical marks, namely ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, and ⟨ö⟩. With English as a reference, it is easy to view these letters as variations of ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩. It is important to remember that these are three distinct letters, not “an ⟨a⟩ with a circle”, ”an ⟨a⟩ with two dots”, and “an ⟨o⟩ with two dots.” The dots are not an added umlaut, but rather just a part of how these letters are written. An English speaker would never refer to the uppercase letter ⟨Q⟩ as an ⟨O⟩ with a line in it, nor is an uppercase ⟨E⟩ just an ⟨F⟩ with an extra line at the bottom. Just as ⟨Q⟩ and ⟨E⟩ are fully independent letters of the alphabet, so are ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, and ⟨ö⟩ fully independent letters in the Swedish alphabet, so words starting with ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, or ⟨ö⟩ must be looked up under ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, and ⟨ö⟩ in the dictionary, not under ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩.

Uppercase: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Å, Ä, Ö

Lowercase: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z, å, ä, ö

We use uppercase letters mainly at the beginning of a sentence, and to write proper names (Anna, Fredrik, Stockholm, Sverige, Frankrike, Ghana, Europa, Asien etc) and acronyms (EU, USA, FN). We use lowercase letters to write the rest, including names of languages (svenska, engelska, spanska etc) and nationalities (svensk, dansk, fransk, brasiliansk). 

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The vowels

The vowels can be long or short. In the table further below, you’ll see that long vowels are marked with the colon-liking symbol ”ː” (for example: /eː/ means the /e/-sound is long). Long vowels and short vowels are written with the same letter of the alphabet, but they sound different. Compare the English words ’car’ and ’cat’: they are both spelled with the same letter (⟨a⟩), but both /a/-sounds are neatly different. The same goes for Swedish. Compare ’glas’ (meaning glass, as in a glass of water) and ’glass’ (meaning ice-cream), both written with the same letter (⟨a⟩), but pronounced differently. On one side, we have the Swedish word ’glas’, that has a long vowel sound [ɑː] (like the vowel sound in the English word ’arm’), and is pronounced /’glɑːs/ {simplified: /glaaaaas/}. On the other side, we have the word ’glass’, also written with the letter ⟨a⟩, but pronounced with a short vowel sound [a] (close to the vowel sound in the English word ’cat’), and is pronounced /’glasː/ {simplified: /glasssss/}.

glas /’glɑːs/ {simplified: /glaaaaas/} (long a, sounds like English arm)

glass /’glasː/ {simplified: /glasssss/} (short a, sounds close to English cat)

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Stressed syllable and long sounds

Most languages stress a particualar syllable in a word. Simply put, stress is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word (it could mean increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and/or changes in tone). Take, for example, the English words ’politics’, ’polititian’ and ’political’. They all have the stress in a different syllable: /po-li-tics/, /po-li-ti-tian/, and /po-li-ti-cal/.

In Swedish, every stressed word in a phrase, clause and/or sentence (an ”important” word) has (at least) one stressed syllable and (at least) one long sound; it can be a long consonant sound or a long vowel sound. But how to know which syllable is stressed and/or which sound is long?

The short answer:

Monosyllabic words:

• In monosyllabic words (words containing only one vowel, and thus having only one syllable; ex. tack, tak, matt, mat, glass, glas), a vowel that is at the end of the word or followed by a single consonant is a long vowel. If the vowel is followed by two consonants, it is a short vowel.
  • VOWEL + 2 consonants = short vowel / long consonant
    • glass: [’glasː] {simplified: /glasssss/} (short a {close to English cat} + long ss)
  • VOWEL + 1 consonant = long vowel /short consonant
    • glas: [’glɑːs] {simplified: /glaaaaas/} (long a {like English arm} + short s)

Multisyllabic words:

• In multisyllabic words (words containing two or more vowels, and thus having two or more syllables; ex. tidning, lägenhet, betala, berätta, mobil, information), identifying the stressed syllable and long sound is trickier. But even multisyllabic words follow the guideline ”2 consonants = long consonant sound” / ”1 consonant = long vowel sound” to a certain extent. More on multisyllabic words later on.

Here are some examples of the pronunciation differences between the long and short forms of each vowel. We’ll look at monosyllabic words where the only difference in sound is found in the length of the vowel sound:

Vowel	Long vowel (short consonant)		Short vowel (long consonant)
A	glas {glaaaaas}	glass (recipient)	glass {glasssss}	ice cream
E	get {yeeeeet}	goat	gett {yettttt}	(has) given
I	vit {viiiiit}	white	vitt {vittttt}	widely
O	kol {koooool}	coal (material)	koll {kolllll}	control, mastery (slang)
U	bus {buuuuus}	mischief	buss {busssss}	bus
Y	syd {syyyyyd}	south	sydd {syddddd}	sown (from the verb ”to sow”)
Å	råd {råååååd}	(piece of) advice	rådd {råddddd}	adviced (perfect participle of the verb ”to advice”)
Ä	väg {väääääg}	way	vägg {väggggg}	wall
Ö	röt {röööööt}	roared	rött {röttttt}	red

You can see that, as mentioned before, the vowel is long when at the end of the word or when there’s only one consonant after the vowel. The vowel is short –and, by consequence, the consonant long– when there’s two consonants after the vowel. Knowing this should be enough to help you identify the stressed syllable and the long sound in most words, at least in the beginning.

The long story is, of course, more complicated. In multisyllabic words, it can be tricky to find the stressed syllable and the long sound, even knowing the guideline mentioned before about double or single consonants. Sometimes, you can tell where the stress is in a word by looking at the spelling, sometimes it’s harder (and sometimes it’s simply impossible to guess; you just have to know which syllable to stress, learn by heart). Don’t worry; learners get used to seeing the patterns in spelling and pronunciation and learn to stress the right syllable quite effortlessly after a while.

Some guidelines

Here are a couple of pronunciation guidelines worth remembering to help you find the stress and the long sound in words.

1) In one-syllable words (words with only one vowel, like glass, glas, tack, tak, matt, mat), knowing which sound is long is rather easy. As mentioned before, if you see two consonants after the only vowel in the word, the consonant sound is long (and the vowel is short); if you see a single consonant after the vowel, the consonant sound is short (and the vowel is long).

EXAMPLES	LONG SOUND Long consonant? Long vowel?	HINTS Why long consonant? Why long vowel?	PRONUNCIATION IPA (international phonetic alphabet) Simplified
tack	long consonant (short vowel)	because there’s two consonants (ck) after the vowel (a)	IPA: /takː/ Simplified: /tackkkk/
tak	long vowel (short consonant)	because there’s only one consonant (k) after the vowel (a)	IPA: /tɑːk/ Simplified: /taaaaak/

Take, for example, the words ’tack’ (meaning thanks) and ’tak’ (meaning roof) from the chart. In ’tack’ (thanks), there’s a double consonant, ck, after the vowel. That means the consonant sound [k] is long (you must stress it, make the sound longer), and the vowel right before, [a], is short. So ’tack’ (thanks) sounds /takː/ {simplified: /tackkkk/}. On the other hand, ’tak’ (roof) has only one consonant, k, after the vowel. This means that the consonant sound [k] is short, and the vowel sound right before, [a], is long. So ’tak’ (roof) sounds /tɑːk/ {simplified: /taaaaak/}.

A common exception to this ”rule” is words that end in a long /n/- or /m/-sound. As a general rule, we don’t write double ⟨nn⟩ or double ⟨mm⟩ at the end of a word, even if the /n/-sound or /m/-sound is long. For example, we write ’han’ (he) with only one ⟨n⟩, but still pronounce it /hanː/ (simplified /hannnnn/) with a long /n/-sound. Or ’kom’ (come!) with only one ⟨m⟩, but still pronounce it /kɔmː/ (simplified /kommmmm/) with a long /m/-sound. This is not the case always, but it’s good to know that many words do behave like this. Otherwise, when the long /n/- or /m/-sound is surrounded by vowels (that is, when there’s a vowel before and a vowel after the long /n/- or /m/-sound), they are spelled with double ⟨nn⟩ and double ⟨mm⟩ respectively. For example: ’vinna’ (to win), pronounced /vinːa/ (simplified /vinnnnna/), or ’mamma’ (mum), pronounced /mamːa/ (simplified /mammmmma/). In these cases, the /n/- and /m/-sound are spelled with double ⟨nn⟩ and double ⟨mm⟩ because the long consonant /n/- and /m/-sounds are surrounded by vowels. This gives us cases of double consonant and single consonant in the same word paradigm: that is, there are many words that, when inflected/conjugated, get a single ⟨n⟩ / ⟨m⟩ or a double ⟨nn⟩ / ⟨mm⟩, depending on whether they are surrounded by vowels or not. For example: on the one side we have ’komma’, (to come), ’[jag] kommer’ ([I] come), ’[jag har] kommit’ ([I have] come), all spelled with double ⟨mm⟩, because surrounded by vowels – on the other side we have ’kom!’ (come!) and ’[jag] kom’ ([I] came), both spelled with a single ⟨m⟩, because at the end of the word. Exceptions of the exceptions (yes!): some words have, for example, a single ⟨m⟩ at the end, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the /m/-sound has to be long. The word ’dam’ (dame, lady), for example, is spelled with one ⟨m⟩ and the /a/-sound is long: [dɑːm] (simplified /daaaaam/). The word ’damm’ (dust), is indeed spelled with double ⟨mm⟩ (thus, breaking the ”no-double-m/n-at-the-end-of-a-word-rule”), just because the /m/-sound is long, and writing it with a double ⟨mm⟩ is the only way to distinguish ’damm’ (dust) from ’dam’ (dame, lady). So, yeah, acceptera, memorera, repetera (accept, memorise, practice)!

2) As a general rule, there are some tendencies when it comes to stress in multisyllabic words. For most multisyllabic words of Swedish / Scandinavian / Germanic origin, the tendency is for the stress to fall on the first or second syllable of the word. In most  cases, the stress falls on the first syllable (examples: tidning, lägenhet, lampa, fönster). Sometimes, the stress falls on the second syllable (mostly in words beginning with the unstressed prefixes be- and för-, most of these words being loans from Middle Low German; examples: betala, försöka, förstöra). An exception worth naming: ”international words”, loan words. The tendency in many loan words is for the stress to fall on the last syllable (examples: fåtölj, mobil, tomat, restaurang, paraply, information).

3) Once we know which syllable is stressed in a multisyllabic word, we can (in most cases) see if it’s a long vowel or a long consonant sound by looking at the spelling. Here, the same guideline concerning double or single consonants should help you most times. If there’s a double consonant after the vowel in the stressed syllable, then the double consonant is long and the vowel right before the double consonant is short. If there’s a single consonant after the vowel in the stressed syllable, then the single consonant is short and the vowel right before the single consonant is long. Compare, in the chart below, the words ’berätta’ (to tell, stressed syllable -RÄTT-, short vowel) and ’betala’ (to pay, stressed syllable -TA-, long vowel):

EXAMPLES Stressed syllable is in UPPERCASE	LONG SOUND Long consonant? Long vowel?	HINTS Why long consonant? Why long vowel?	PRONUNCIATION IPA (international phonetic alphabet) Simplified
beRÄTTa	long consonant (short vowel)	because there’s two consonants (tt) after the vowel (ä) ”inside” the stressed syllable (-RÄTT-)	IPA: /bɛ’ɾɛtːa/ Simplified: /berattttta/
beTAla	long vowel (short consonant)	because there’s no consonant after the vowel (a) ”inside” the stressed syllable (-TA-) – the consonant ⟨l⟩ belongs to the following syllable.	IPA: /bɛ’tɑːla/ Simplified:  /betaaaaala/

Let’s first look at the word ’berätta’ (to tell). The double consonant (tt) after the vowel (ä) in the stressed syllalbe (-rätt-) tells us that the vowel sound is short. The double consonant is then a long consonant sound (and the vowel sound ä is short): /be-rättttt-a/. In the word ’betala’ (to pay), we have the opposite situation. The single consonant (l) after the vowel (a) in the stressed syllalbe (-ta-) tells us that the vowel sound is long. The single consonant is then a short consonant sound (and the vowel sound a is long): /be-taaaaa-la/.

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”Hard vowels” vs. ”soft vowels”

In Swedish, some vowels are ”hard” and some are ”soft ”. The ”hard vowels” (more accurately, back/central vowels) are: ⟨a⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨o⟩, and ⟨å⟩. The ”soft vowels” (more accurately, front vowels) are: ⟨i⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ö⟩, and ⟨y⟩. This affects how certain consonants are pronounced. There are mainly three letters (⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩and ⟨c⟩) and a combination of two letters (⟨sk⟩) that are often pronounced in one way when they precede a ”hard vowel” and in another way when they precede a ”soft vowel”. But it’s not always the case – there are exceptions!

Hard vowels: ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨å⟩

Soft vowels: ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ö⟩

g + hard vowel = pronounced [g] {like g in English get}

• ’gata’ [`gɑː’ta] (street)

g + soft vowel = pronounced [ʝ] {close to y in English yoghurt}

• ’göra’ [`ʝœː’ɾa] {simplified: /yeuuura/} (to do)

k + hard vowel = pronounced [k] {like k in English kilo}

• ’komma’ [`ko’mːa] (to come)

k + soft vowel = pronounced [ɕ] {close to sh in English shop}

• ’köra’ [`ɕœː’ɾa] {simplified: /sheuuura/} (to drive)

c + hard vowel = pronounced [k] {like c in English cold}

• ’campus’ [’kamːpɵs] (campus)

c + soft vowel = pronounced [s] {like c in English center}

• ’cider’ [’siːdɛɾ] {simplified: /seeeder/ (cider)

sk + hard vowel = pronounced [sk] {like sk in English sky}

• ’skola’ [`skuː’la] (school)

sk + soft vowel = pronounced [ɧ] {somewhat close to j in Spanish jamón}

• ’sked’ [ɧeːd] {simplified: /h^weeed/} (spoon)

Some exceptions

Some words are written with ⟨g⟩ or ⟨k⟩ or ⟨sk⟩ + soft vowels (⟨i⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ö⟩, and ⟨y⟩), but are still pronounced with ”hard g” ([g], as in English get), ”hard k” ([k], as in English kilo) and ”hard sk” ([sk], as in English sky) respectively.

Examples of some exceptions:

– Words written with ⟨g⟩ + soft vowel, but still pronounced with a ”hard g” ([g], as in English get):

gem (paper clip), gegga (goo, mud), gejser (geyser), geisha (Japanese performing artist)

– Words written with ⟨k⟩ + soft vowel, but still pronounced with a ”hard k” ([k], as in English kilo):

kille (guy), kissa (to pee), kör (choir), kebab (kebab), keltisk (celtic), keps (cap)

– Words written with ⟨sk⟩ + soft vowel, but still pronounced with a ”hard sk” ([sk], as in English sky):

skeptisk (skeptical), skelett (skeletton), skejta (to skate), skippa (to skip)

As you can see from the examples provided, it’s mostly foreign words that don’t follow the general rules of spelling and pronunciation (loan words like gejser, geisha, kör, kebab, skeptisk, skelett, skejta…), even if you will also find Swedish/germanic words that don’t follow the general rules either.

The opposite of this situation (that is, consonant & vowel combinations that ”should”, according to the general rules, be read as ”hard” but are instead read as ”soft”) is almost never the case. There’s two very common words, however, that are written with ⟨sk⟩ + hard vowels, (only ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩) and are still pronounced with a ”soft sk” ([ɧ], close to j in Spanish jamón)

– Words written with ⟨sk⟩ + hard vowel, but still pronounced with a ”soft sk” ([ɧ], close to j in Spanish jamón):

människa (/`mɛnːi’ɧa/, simplified /mennnih<sup>w</sup>a/, meaning human being, person), and människor (/`mɛnːi’ɧʊɾ/, simplified /mennih^wor/, meaning human beings, persons)

TIPS!

Remember the hard and soft vowels with the help of these rhymes!

Hard vowels: Apan Odlar Utan Åker (”the monkey [apan] farms [odlar] without [utan] a field [åker]”)

Soft vowels: Erik Ifrån Ystad Äter Ödlor (”Erik [Erik] from [ifrån] Ystad [Ystad] eats [äter] lizards [ödlor]”)

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The alphabet

In the chart below you’ll find the standard pronunciation of the Swedish vowel and consonant sounds (rikssvenska), but keep in mind that many different variations exist (mostly dialectal ones), so listen to how people speak where you are. Keep also in mind that this is a very simplified chart; there are several exceptions to the indications provided, but they should be good enough to help you get a very general idea of how we pronounce different sounds in standard Swedish.

The vowels are color-coded: hard vowels are light blue, and soft vowels are pink. The consonants are all dark blue, except for the consonants that take a ”soft” pronunciation when in front of a soft vowel, in which case the sound is marked in red.

Each letter of the alphabet is presented as follows in the chart:

1) Letter: the letter itself in uppercase and lowercase;

2) Name: the ”name” of the letter, as in what we call the different letters when spelling out words;

3) IPA: a phonetic notation using IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet);

4) Example: an example word;

5) Pronunciation: further explanations about the pronunciation and, when possible, a comparison to identical or similar sounds found in American English or, eventually, in other languages when no similar sound is found in American English. Note that these comparisons are very approximate and therefore not to be taken so seriously. They are just there to help you get an idea och the different sounds. Where it says, for example, that the letter a in the word ’glas’ is pronounced ”Like in English arm.”, then it means that the sounds in the Swedish and English words respectively are pretty much the same (if not exactly the same). Where it says for example that the letter a in the word ’glass’ is pronounced ”Close to English hat.”, then it means that the sounds in Swedish and English are only close to each other, but they are not exactly the same. So keep this in mind when comparing sounds!

Pay special attention to the vowel sounds, since they can be tricky for learners. For vowels, you’ll find, under the column Pronunciation, information on the features of the vowel, namely vowel height, vowel backness and vowel roundness.

– Vowel height: indicates the position of the tongue in the mouth ”vertically”, on the y-axis; in other words, how open the mouth is:

• close (the tongue is towards the roof of the mouth)
• close-mid (the tongue is rather in the middle, but slightly towards the roof of the mouth)
• open-mid (the tongue is rather in the middle, but slightly further from the roof of the mouth)
• open (the tongue is far from the roof of the mouth)

– Vowel backness: indicates the position of the tongue in the mouth ”horizontally”, on the x-axis; in other words, how close or far from the teeth the tongue is:

• front (the tongue is towards the teeth)
• central (the tongue is in the middle)
• back (the tongue is towards the back of the mouth cavity)

– Vowel roundedness: indicates whether your lips are rounded (and sometimes also protruded), or rather unrounded and ”smiley”.

• rounded (lips are rounded, as when you say fool in English)
• unrounded (lips are unrounded, as when you say feel in English)

Letter	Name	IPA	Example	Pronunciation
A a	a	[ɑː]	glas	Like in English arm. Features: open, back, unrounded.
		[a]	glass	Close to English hat. Features: open, front, unrounded.
B b	be	[b]	bok	Like in English book.
C c	se	[k]	curry	Before hard vowels (a, o, u): like in English curry.
		[s]	cykel	Before soft vowels (e, i, y): like in English bicycle.
D d	de	[d]	dörr	Like in English door.
E e	e	[eː]	brev	Somehow close to English there, pronounced with an Australian accent (the r is silent). Close to French clé. Features: close-mid, front, unrounded.
		[ɛ]	fest	Like in English bed. Features: open-mid, front, unrounded.
F f	eff	[f]	fin	Like in English fine.
G g	ge	[g]	guld	Before hard vowels (a, o, u, å): like in English gold.
		[ʝ]	göra	Before soft vowels (e, i, y, ä, ö): close to English yes.
H h	hå	[h]	hej	Like in English hello.
I i	i	[iː]	vila	Like in English seen. Features: close, front, unrounded.
		[i]	villa	Like in English city. Features: close/close-mid, front, unrounded.
J j	ji	[ʝ]	ja	Close to English yes. Like in Greek για.
K k	kå	[k]	katt	Before hard vowels (a, o, u, å): like in English cat.
		[ɕ]	kött	Before soft vowels (e, i, y, ä, ö): quite close to English shop, close to German ich.
L l	ell	[l]	lat	Like in English lazy.
M m	emm	[m]	mat	Like in English my.
N n	enn	[n]	nej	Like in English no.
O o	o	[uː]	bor	Like in English fool. Features: close, back, rounded (protruded lips).
		[ʊ]	bott	Like in English put. Features: close/close-mid, back, rounded (protruded lips).
		[oː]	son	Close to English law, pronounced with an Australian accent. Like in French mauve. Features: close-mid, back, rounded (protruded lips).
		[ɔ]	boll	Close to English saw, only if you make the vowel sound short. Like French botte, or Italian dona. Features: open-mid, back, rounded (protruded lips).
P p	pe	[p]	päron	Like in English pear.
Q q	ku	[k]	quiche	Like in English quiz. Used mostly in loan words. Together, q and u produce the sound [k], as in English cat.
R r	err	[r]	ren	Like in Spanish perro. The so-called trilled R or rolled R, produced with the tip of the tongue at the alveolar ridge. Often found in words where r comes at the beginning.
		[ɾ]	prata	Like in Spanish pero, or English better. The so-called alveolar tap or flap. Often found in words where r does not come at the beginning.
S s	ess	[s]	sol	Like in English sun.
T t	te	[t]	tid	Like in English time.
U u	u	[ʉː]	gul	Close to English goose, pronounced with an Australian accent. Close to French pur. Features: close, central, rounded. Try pronouncing an /i/-sound (as in English seen), while making a ”o-mouth” (the tip of the tongue touches right behind the lower part of the lower teeth).
		[ɵ]	guld	Close to French je. Features: close-mid, central, rounded. Try pronouncing an /i/-sound (as in English seen), while making a ”o-mouth” (the tip of the tongue touches right behind the lower part of the lower teeth).
V v	ve	[v]	vind	Like in English vertical.
W w	dubbelve	[w]	workshop	Like in English wood.
		[v]	Wien	Like in English vertical.
		The letter w is mostly found in loan words. In some words, w is pronounced sometimes [w] (like in English wood) and sometimes [v] (like in English vertical); both are accepted (’whisky’: pronounced /wiski/ or /viski/). In some words, w is only pronounced [v] (’wienerbröd’). In some words, w is only pronounced [w] (’workshop’).
X x	eks	[ks]	växa	Like in English wax.
Y z	y	[yʷː]	dyr	Close to German Büro, or French tu. Features: close, front, rounded (protruded lips). Try pronouncing an /i/-sound (as in English seen), while making a ”o-mouth” with very protruded lips (as if to blow a very cartoony kiss).
		[ʏʷ]	tyst	Close to German Glück, or French chute. Features: close/close-mid, front, rounded (protruded lips). Try pronouncing an /i/-sound (as in English seen), while making a ”o-mouth” with very protruded lips (as if to blow a very cartoony kiss).
Z z	säta	[s]	zebra	Always like in English sun. Swedish has no [z] as in ’jazz’ or ’zoo’. In Swedish, these words sound /jass/ and /soo/.
Å å	å	[oː]	måne	Close to English law, pronounced with an Australian accent. Like in French mauve. Features: close-mid, back, rounded (protruded lips).
		[ɔ]	måndag	Close to English saw, only if you make the vowel sound short. Like French botte, or Italian dona. Features: open-mid, back, rounded (protruded lips).
Ä ä	ä	[ɛː]	vägen	Like in English bed, but pronounced long. Features: open-mid, front, unrounded. Try pronouncing a long sound between /e/ and /a/.
		[ɛ]	väggen	Like in English bed. Features: open-mid, front, unrounded. Try pronouncing a short sound between /e/ and /a/.
		[æː]	bär	Like in English cat, but pronounced long. This sound only happens when the letter ä is followed by a short /r/-sound. Features: open/open-mid, front, unrounded. Try pronouncing a long sound between /e/ and /a/, but try getting closer to /a/.
		[æ]	bärs	Like in English cat. This sound only happens when the letter ä is followed by a long /r/-sound. Features: open/open-mid, front, unrounded. Try pronouncing a short sound between /e/ and /a/, but try getting closer to /a/.
Ö ö	ö	[øː]	öga	Like in German Höhle. Features: close-mid, front, rounded. Try pronouncing a long sound between /e/ and /o/.
		[ø]	fönster	Like in German Ökonom. Features: close-mid, front, rounded. Try pronouncing a short sound between /e/ and /o/.
		[œː]	dör	Like in French neuf, but pronounced long. This sound only happens when the letter ö is followed by a short [r]-sound. Features: open-mid, front, unrounded. Try pronouncing a long sound between /e/ and /o/, but try getting closer to /o/.
		[œ]	dörr	Like in French neuf. This sound only happens when the letter ö is followed by a long [r]-sound. Features: open-mid, front, unrounded. Try pronouncing a short sound between /e/ and /o/, but try getting closer to /o/.

Notes:

• The letter ⟨c⟩ is not used very much at the beginning of words in Swedish – it is mostly found in loanwords (”international” words, such as ’campus’, ’curry’, ’cocktail’, ’cykel’, ’cabernet’, ’café’, ’campa’, ’celebritet’, ’censur’,’cyklon’…).
• The consonant ⟨d⟩ is sometimes pronounced [ɾ], as in Spanish ’pero’ [’pɛɾo], or English ’water’ [ˈwɔɾɚ] (American English), or Japanese ’これ’ [ko’ɾɛ]. This happens in unstressed words that start with a /d/ sound (usually personal pronouns like du, dig, de, din…), and that are preceded by a long vowel. For example: ”Vad sa du?” (What did you say?) is pronounced /vasɑːɾʉ/ (where the ⟨d⟩ in ’du’ sounds [ɾ], not */vasɑːdʉ/). The pronoun ’du’ is not stressed in this sentence, it starts with a /d/ sound (’du’), and comes after a long vowel sound (the [ɑː] in ’sa’). So we pronounce ’du’ as /ɾʉ/ and not as */dʉ/.
• The vowel ⟨i⟩ has two standard pronunciations: a long [i:] as in ’vin’ and a short [i] as in ’fisk’. A very well-known variant of the /i/-sound is the so-called ”Viby-i” or ”Lidingö-i,” a more ”muted” or ”buzzing” /i/-sound that occurs in some Swedish dialects. It is often transcribed as [ɨː] for the long variant. You will hear it a lot in the Stockholm region.
• The letter ⟨q⟩ is not used very much in Swedish – it is mostly found in loanwords (”international” words, such as ’queer’, ’quinoa’, ’quiz’, ’iq’, ’niqab’…).
• There are many different sounds in Swedish written with the letter ⟨r⟩. In standard Swedish, the /r/-sound is pronounced as a rolling/trilled sound ([r], as in Spanish rápido or carro). The pronunciation of /r/ varies greatly between different regions in Sweden and between different speakers. Additionally, /r/ is influenced by the sounds surrounding it (it undergoes assimilation). A quite widespread variant of /r/ is [ʁ], like the French /r/-sound in Paris or rose. You will hear this /r/-sound mostly in southern Sweden.
• The letter ⟨w⟩ is not used very much in Swedish – it is mostly found in loanwords (”international” words, such as ’wasabi’, ’wc’, ’whisky’, ’webb’…). Sometimes it is pronounced [w] and sometimes [v]; it is most of the time a matter of dialect or personal preference.
• In Swedish, we do not have a sound equivalent to the /z/-sound found in words like ’zoo’ [zuː] or ’lazy’ [’leɪzi] (in English), or ’désert’ [de’zɛʁ] or ’poison’ [pwa’zɔ̃] (in French). In Swedish, we always say [s], even if we write ⟨z⟩! For example: the word ’frisör’ [fri’sœːɾ]. 
• The letter combinations ⟨rg⟩ and ⟨lg⟩ (for example, in the words ’Göteborg’ [Gothenburg] and ’älg’ [elk, moose]) are a bit special. They often sound as if they were written ⟨rj⟩ and ⟨lj⟩ respectively (’Göteborg’ is pronounced as /yeutebårj/ and ’älg’ as /elj/). Other examples: ’hamburgare’ (hamburger, /hamburjare/), ’berg’ (mountain, /berj/), ’arg’ (angry, /arj/).

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Sounds without letters

In Swedish, we have some sounds that do not directly (or not solely) correspond to a single letter, namely the so-called ”sj-sound” ([ɧ], alternatively [ʃ]), the ”tj-sound” ([ɕ]), the ”eng-sound” ([ŋ]), the supradentals or retroflexes ([ʂ], [ʈ], [ɖ], [ɳ], and [ɭ]), and the ”ji-sound” ([ʝ]). These sounds can be a bit tricky in the beginning, and they can be spelled in several different ways. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

The ”tj-sound” or ”20-sound” ([ɕ]: tjugo) 

This sound is quite close to the ”sh” sound ([ʃ]) in the English word ’shop’ /’ʃɒp/. When you say ’shop’ in English, the blade of the tongue is behind the alveolar ridge (behind the upper teeth), and the front of the tongue bunched up (”domed”) at the palate. When you pronounce the Swedish ”tj-sound” [ɕ], the tongue points rather downwards, behind the lower teeth. Other than that, these sounds are rather similar. Another similar sound is found in German: the sound [ç] found in words like ’ich’ /’ɪç/ or ’fleißig’ /’flaɪsɪç/.

We call this the ”tj-sound” because ”tj” is one of the main ways of spelling this sound in Swedish – take for example the words ’tjena’ (hi), ’tjej’ (girl), ’tjock’ (thick), ’and ’tjäna’ (to earn). We sometimes call this sound ”the 20-sound”, since it’s the sound you hear when people say twenty, ’tjugo’ /`ɕʉː’gʊ/.

Possible spellings of this sound:

• tj (tjej, tjäna, tjuta, tjata)
• k (only with soft vowels: kemi, kinesiska, kär, köra, kyla)
• ch (charter, chips, check)
• kj (kjol, Kjell)

The ”sj-sound” or ”7-sound” ([ɧ]: sju)

The sj-sound is produced as [ɧ] in most dialects of Swedish. It is a pretty unique sound that doesn’t really have a direct equivalent in many other languages, and it is pretty difficult to describe using simple words. I suggest therefore you check out some videos online where you can actually hear the sound and practice in front of a mirror until you get it. It’s the easiest way around it.

We call this the ”sj-sound” since ”sj” is one of the main ways of spelling this sound in Swedish – take for example the words ’sju’ (seven), ’sjö’ (lake), and ’sjuk’ (sick). We sometimes call this sound ”the 7-sound”, since it’s the sound you hear when people say seven, ’sju’ /ɧʉː/.

If you look at the IPA symbol for this sound ([ɧ]), you’ll see that it kind of looks like an h with little ”hooks” on the top and bottom of the h – that’s because this is kind of like an h, it’s a sound that we produce by expulsing air as if sighing (just like we do when we say hello or high). The main difference between a regular /h/-sound and the sj-sound [ɧ] is that we pronounce the sj-sound [ɧ] with rounded, protruded lips, as if trying to blow an imaginary kiss. A mnemonic or suggestion to help you remember this: the small ”hooks” on the [ɧ] are there to tell you to round your lips while pronouncing the h, the hooks remind you to ”close the h on itself”!

Some slightly similar sounds found in other languages are:

• [x]: Spanish ’jamón’ /xa’mon/, Russian ’хорошо’ /xara’ʃo/, Polish ’chłopiec’ /’xwɔpjɛt͡s/, or German ’Achtung’ /’axtʊŋ/, but with rounded, protruded lips, as if you were blowing an imaginary kiss.
• [ɸ]: Japanese ’ふた’ [ɸɯta], but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth.

Tip: If you recognize and can produce the sound in the Spanish name ’José’ /xo’sɛ/ or ’jamón’ /xa’mon/, try saying this with rounded, protruded lips, as if trying to insert a /w/-sound right after the ⟨j⟩ and before the vowel: ”J^wosé”, or ”j^wamón”. This usually helps getting this sound right!

Note: the sj-sound is mostly pronounced with a [ɧ]-sound (”J^wosé”, ”j^wamón”), as described above, but it can also be pronounced with a [ʃ]-sound (the one you find in English words like ’shop’ /’ʃɒp/). This is the case in some dialects of Swedish, mostly northern Sweden, but not only. This [ʃ]-sound is much easier to produce, since it exists in so many languages (including English), so it is tempting for beginners to use this sound instead of [ɧ]. But I usually suggest my students to avoid this alternative pronunciation, especially in the beginning of their learning journey. Why? Well, because this sound is quite close to the Swedsh tj-sound [ɕ] that you find in words like ’kinesiska’ and ’köttbullar’, so this can lead to missunderstandings if you’re not able to distinguish one sound from the other properly when producing them. So it’s not a bad idea to try and learn to produce the sj-sound as [ɧ] (”J^wosé”, ”j^wamón”) right from the beginning. It’s really not as hard as it sounds!

Possible spellings of this sound:

• sj (sju, sjö, sjal, sjyst)
• sk (only with soft vowels: skön, skägg, skina, skepp, skylt)
• skj (skjuta, skjorta)
• sch (schack, dusch, schema, schimpans)
• stj (stjärna, stjäla)
• sh (shoppa, shopping)
• ch (choklad, chans, champinjon)
• –ti– (station, information)
• ssi/si (diskussion, passion, mission, division, pensionär)
• j (jour, journalist)
• g/ge/gi (only with soft vowels: giraff, ingenjör, geni, garage, religiös)
• special guest: stg (only in the word västgöte)!

I know. It’s a lot. There’s many different historical reason behind this mess (the main reasons being: shifts in pronunciation, plus spelling conventions not being able to reflect these shifts uniformly, plus Swedish taking loads of loan words from different languages that have sounds that are close to the sje-sound but are spelled in different ways, plus Swedish trying sometimes to ”swedishify” the loan words’ spellings, sometimes just taking the loan words as they were (or not completely), and a long et cætera that you can check out in Wikipedia on your own if you’re a nerd like me). The good news is: it’s only just one sound! Lots of ways to spell it, but one sound only. I guess it could be worse. 🙂

No need to memorise all this. Just remember these three things:

1. The two most common ways of spelling this sound are: sj and sk. The rest will come with time.
2. If you see a weird combination of consonants that ”doesn’t make any sense”, well it’s probably a sje-sound. Of course not always, but let’s say the odds are in your favour (!).
3. If the equivalent word in some foreign language (mainly English, French, German, or Dutch, but also others) has some kind of sh-sound (or j-, or dj-, or sch-, or g-, or ch-…) to begin with, then chances are there’s going to be a sje-sound in Swedish: think ’shoot’ (skjuta), ’shirt’ (skjorta), ’shield’ (sköld), ’chocolate’ (choklad), ’giraffe’ (giraff), ’engineer’ (ingenjör), ’journalist’ (journalist), ’station’ (station), ’discussion’ (diskussion)…

The ”eng-sound” ([ŋ]: många)

Nothing too unusual about this sound. You find it in English words like ’ink’ or ’bank’, or even the word ’English’! The tricky thing about this sound is when it’s spelled like g (’regn’). Why? Well, because you must remember to produce the following /n/-sound as well. We write ’regn’ and we pronounce it /rɛŋn/. As you can see, the [ŋ] is followed by a [n]!

Possible spellings of this sound:

• –ng (många, ringa, ängel, slänga, ung)
• –g– (always preceding n: ugn, regn, Magnus, Agnes, ugn)
• –n– (always preceding k: bank, pank, bänk)

Supradentals of retroflex sounds ([ʂ], [ʈ], [ɖ], [ɳ], [ɭ])

These sounds are found in most dialects of Swedish. These sounds are called retroflex because the tongue is curled back and touches the roof of the mouth when we produce them (the tongue is bent [-flex] back [retro-]). These sounds are slightly unusual in European languages, but are very widespread amongst the languages of, for example, India.

These sounds occur when [s], [t], [d], [n] or [l] are preceded by an [r]-sound. In contact with [r], they become [ʂ], [ʈ], [ɖ], [ɳ], [ɭ]. What happens is the following: when these consonant sounds come after an [r]-sound, the [r] sound disappears from the word and the following consonant sound gets retroflexed. So a word like, for example ’bord’ (table), is not to be pronounced */’buːɾd/ (with an [ɾ]-sound plus a [d]-sound), but rather /’buːɖ/ (with [r] and [d] ”combined” into one single retroflex sound: [ɖ]).

If you take a closer look at the symbols for these sounds ([ʂ], [ʈ], [ɖ], [ɳ], [ɭ]), you’ll see that they look like regular consonants of the alphabet with a little ”hook” below (◌̢). That is because they sound a lot like their non-retroflex variants: the only difference is their place of articulation in the mouth. Let’s take for example the retroflex [ɖ]: instead of articulating a regular [d] where a regular [d] has to be articulated, we must curl the tongue back in our mouth and try to articulate a regular [d]-sound in the place in the mouth where we would normally articulate a regular [r]-sound (between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate), which gives us a retroflex [ɖ]. We basically get the tongue ready for an [r]-sound, but we produce a [d]-sound instead: since the tongue is curled back for the [r]-sound, it affects the [d]-sound and it gets retroflexed into [ɖ]. The same goes for the other retroflex sounds: r+d = ɖ… r+t = ʈ… r+n = ɳ… r+s = ʂ… r+l = ɭ.

Retroflexion does not only happen inside of words; it also happens between words, when a word ends in [r] and the following begins with either [s], [t], [d], [n] or [l]. Example: ”hur‿dyr?” (how expensive?) sounds /hʉ’ɖy^wːɾ/, with the [r] in ’hur’ and the [d] in ’dyr’ contracted into a retroflex [ɖ].

Possible spellings of these sounds:

• –rs (person, förstå, först) / –r‿s– (hur‿stor)
• –rt (borta, stort, Bertil) / –r‿t– (hur‿tidig)
• –rd (jord, ord) / –r‿d– (hur‿dyr)
• –rn (barn, stjärna) / –r‿n– (hur‿nära)
• –rl (pärla, porla) / –r‿l– (hur‿länge)

The ”ji-sound” ([ʝ]: jag)

We call this the ”ji-sound” since ”j” is one of the main ways of spelling this sound in Swedish – take for example the words ’jag’ (I), ’ja’ (yes), and ’jaga’ (to hunt, to chase).

This sound is very close to the sound found in the English words ’yes’ or ’yoghurt’, it’s practically the same. The tricky thing about this sound is not how to produce it, but the fact that we can spell it in several different ways.

Possible spellings of this sound:

• j (jag, ja, jaga)
• g (together with a soft vowel: get, gick, göra, gälla, gynna)
• dj (djur, djup, djärv, djungel)
• hj (hjälp, hjul)
• gj (gjorde, gjuta)
• lj (ljus, ljud, ljög)

Summary of ”special spellings”

Sound	IPA	Spelling	Example	Pronunciation
”SJ-sound” (”7-sound”)	[ɧ]	sj	sju	/’ɧʉː/
		sk	skön	/’ɧøːn/
		skj	skjuta	/`ɧʉː’ta/
		sch	schack	/’ɧakː/
		stj	stjärna	/`ɧæː’ɳa/
		ch	choklad	/ɧʊ’klɑːd/
		–ti-/-ssi-/-si–	station	/sta’ɧuːn/
		j	jour	/’ɧuːɾ/
		g/ge/gi	geni	/ɧɛ’niː/
”TJ-sound” (”20-sound”)	[ɕ]	tj	tjugo	/`ɕʉː’gʊ/
		k	köra	/’ɕœːɾa/
		kj	kjol	/’ɕuːl/
		ch	check	/’ɕɛkː/
”ENG-sound”	[ŋ]	ng	många	/’mɔŋːa/
		g	regn	/’rɛŋːn/
		n	bank	/’baŋːk/
Supradentals or Retroflex sounds	[ʂ]	–rs r‿s	först hur‿stor	/’fœʂːt/ /hʉ’ʂtuːɾ/
	[ʈ]	–rt– r‿t	sport hur‿tidigt	/hpɔʈː/ /hʉ’ʈiːdit/
	[ɖ]	–rd– r‿d	bord hur‿dyr	/’buːɖ/ /hʉ’ɖywːɾ/
	[ɳ]	–rn– r‿n	barn hur‿nära	/bɑːɳ/ /hʉ’ɳæːɾa/
	[ɭ]	–rl– r‿l	pärla hur‿länge	/’pæːɭa/ /hʉ`ɭɛŋː’e/
”JI-sound”	[ʝ]	j	jag	/’ʝɑːg/
		g	gör	/’ʝœːɾ/
		dj	djur	/’ʝʉːɾ/
		gj	gjorde	/`ʝuː’ɖɛ/
		hj	hjälp	/’ʝɛlːp/
		lj	ljud	/’ʝʉːd/