← Back
Alphabet & Pronunciation
Swedish alphabet (å, ä, ö), pitch accent, vowel length and key pronunciation rules
Långa vs korta konsonanter
Long vs short consonants
doubled letter = short vowel
A doubled consonant signals the preceding vowel is short
sj-ljudets stavningar
sj-sound spelling variants
sj, skj, stj, sk-, sch
One sound, many possible spellings
tj-ljudets stavningar
tj-sound spelling variants
tj, kj, k(before soft vowels)
Another one-sound, many-spellings case
Accent 1 vs Accent 2
Acute vs grave word accent
anden (the duck) vs anden (the spirit)
The same spelling can mean two things depending on tone
au, eu i lånord
Diphthong-like sequences in loanwords
rare
Mostly found in words borrowed from other languages
Tysta bokstäver
Silent letters
h in some loanwords
A handful of loanwords keep silent letters from their origin
r-ljudet
The r sound varies by dialect
rolled/flapped, or uvular in Skåne
Southern Swedish r sounds notably different from central Swedish
Regionala dialekter
Regional dialects: Stockholm, Skåne, Gothenburg
-
Accent and vocabulary shift noticeably by region
Betoning i sammansatta ord
Word stress in compound words
stress stays on first part
Swedish compounds keep their primary stress on the first element
Tack så mycket / Ingen orsak
Thank you very much / You're welcome
tack saw MEE-ket / IN-gen OR-sahk
Standard polite exchange