Lesson 2: How to read Swedish / Hur man läser
Here are 7 rules of how to read Swedish.
1. How to read Swedish alphabet / Hur man läser svenska alfabetet:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk
a: be: se: de: e: ɛf: ge: ho: i: ji: ko:
Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv
ɛl ɛm ɛn ω: pe: ku: ær ɛs te: u: ve:
Ww Xx Yy Zz Åå Ää Öö
dub:ǝltve: ɛks y: sɛ:ta o: æ: ø:
In the following video you can listen how different people pronounce the Swedish letters.
Source: youtube.com, video by SVENSKA FÖR ALLA
2. Vowels / Vokalerna
There are 2 types of vowels in the Swedish language. /
Det finns 2 typer av vokaler i svenska språket:
- Hard (rear) vowels / hårda (bakre) vokaler – a, o, u, å
- Soft (front) vowels / mjuka (främre) vokaler – e, i, y, ä, ö
Consonant + hard (rear) vowels = You are reading normally. /
Konsonant + hårda (bakre) vokaler = Man läser normal.
Consonant + soft (front) vowels = You are reading differently. /
Konsonant + mjuka (främre) vokaler = Man läser annorlunda.
|
CONSONANT/ |
Hard (rear) vowels / hårda (bakre) a, o, u, å |
Soft (front) vowels / |
| SK… | [ sk ]
ska, skola, skura, skåp |
[ ch ]
sked, skidor, skynda, skära, skönt |
| G… | [ g ]
gammal, golvet, gul, gå |
[ j ] ge, gissa, gymnasium, gärna, göra |
| K… |
[ k ] katt, ko, kultur, kål |
[ sh ] kedja, kilo, kyrka, kärlek, köra |
3. You always read TJ, RS, SCH as [ sh ]. / Man läser alltid TJ, RS, SCH som [ sh ].
| TJ | tjugo, tjej, tjata, tjena… | |
| RS | [ sh ] | i morse, mars, försent, Vänersborg… |
| SCH | duscha, affisch, bransch… |
4. You always read SKJ, STJ, CH as [ ch ]. / Man läser SKJ, STJ, CH som [ ch ].
| SKJ | skjorta, skjul, skjuta… | |
| STJ | [ ch ] | stjärna, stjäla, stjälk… |
| CH | chans, charm, champagne… |
5. You always read DJ, LJ, HJ, GJ as [ j ]. / Man läser DJ, LJ, HJ, GJ som [ j ].
For example / till exempel: djur, ljus, hjul, gjorde, djup…
6. How to read C / Hur man läser C:
|
CONSONANT/ |
Hard (rear) vowels / hårda (bakre) a, o, u, å |
Soft (front) vowels / |
| C | [ k ]
cancer, cobra, cup… |
[ s ] cello, citron, cykla… |
7. You always read …tion/sion as [ hu:n ]. / Man läser …tion/sion som [ hu:n ].
There are about 5,000 words in all European languages (including Swedish) that have the same meaning. They all end with …tion/sion. /
Det finns cirka 5 000 ord på alla europeiska språk som har det samma betydelse. De alla slutar med …tion/sion.
For example / Till exempel: tradition, nation, station, expansion, expression…
To listen the pronunciation, you can always type the Swedish word in Google Translate and click the sound button.