# Introduction to Swedish/Alphabet

Introduction to Swedish
Back
Introduction
· Common phrases
· Alphabet
· Nouns & pronouns
· Verb tenses
· Adjectives
· Numbers and plurals
· Spelling
· Definite forms
· Time and dates
· Possessive forms
· Agreement of forms
· Traveling
· Swedish-English vocabulary
· English-Swedish vocabulary
Next :
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 (help·info) mat, /mɑːt/, "food" | ar in start (British English) |
| E | eː | listen (help·info) hel, /heːl/, "whole" | Like ea in yeah, but with wide lips |
| I | iː | listen (help·info) sil, /siːl/, "sieve" | ee in sheet (British English) |
| O | uː | listen (help·info) bot, /buːt/, "penance" | oo in pool (British English) |
| U | ʉ̟ː | listen (help·info) ful, /fʉ̟ːl/, "ugly" | oo in pool (Australian English) |
| Y | yː | listen (help·info) syl, /syːl/, "awl" | Like ee in sheet, but with circular lips (British English) |
| Å | oː | listen (help·info) mål, /moːl/, "goal" | aw in law (British English) |
| Ä | ɛː | listen (help·info) häl, /hɛːl/, "heel" | ea in yeah |
| Ö | øː | listen (help·info) nöt, /nøːt/, "nut" | or in work (British English) |

### Short Vowels

| Letter | Phoneme (IPA) | Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation | English equivalent |
| A | a | listen (help·info) matt, /mat/, "listless; matte" | None |
| E, Ä | ɛ | listen (help·info) häll, /hɛl/, "flat rock" | e in bed |
| I | ɪ | listen (help·info) sill, /sɪl/, "herring" | i in sit |
| O | ɔ | listen (help·info) moll, /mɔl/, "minor" (music) | o in toll (British English) |
| O | ʊ | listen (help·info) bott, /bʊt/, "lived" (perfect tense) | oo in look |
| U | ɵ | listen (help·info) full, /fɵl/, "full" | Similar to Nevada |
| Y | ʏ | listen (help·info) syll, /sʏl/, "sleeper" (railroad) | Like i in sit, but with circular lips |
| Ö | œ | listen (help·info) 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 (help·info) pol, /puːl/, "pole" (of axis) |
| b | listen (help·info) bok, /buːk/, "book" |
| t | listen (help·info) tok, /tuːk/, "fool" |
| d | listen (help·info) dop, /duːp/, "christening" |
| k | listen (help·info) kon, /kuːn/, "cone" |
| ɡ | listen (help·info) god, /ɡuːd/, "good" |

### Fricative

| Phoneme (IPA) | Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
| f | listen (help·info) fot, /fuːt/, "foot" |
| v | listen (help·info) våt, /voːt/, "wet" |
| s | listen (help·info) sot, /suːt/, "soot" |
| ɧ | listen (help·info) sjok, /ɧuːk/, "chunk" |
| ɕ | listen (help·info) kjol, /ɕuːl/, "skirt" |
| j | listen (help·info) jord, /juːrd/, "soil, earth" |
| h | listen (help·info) hot, /huːt/, "threat" |

### /r/ and Retroflex Assimilations

| Phoneme (IPA) | Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
| r | listen (help·info) rov, /ruːv/, "prey; loot" |

### Laterals

| Phoneme (IPA) | Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
| l | listen (help·info) lov, /luːv/, "tack (sailing maneuver)" |

### Nasals

| Phoneme (IPA) | Pronunciation sample, phonemic transcription and translation |
| m | listen (help·info) mod, /muːd/, "courage" |
| n | listen (help·info) nod, /nuːd/, "node" |
| ŋ | listen (help·info) 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