ljudkartan
Read IPA and every dictionary becomes a pronunciation coach — in any language. Tap any word to hear it. Tone accents wait for real native audio; train contrasts in öron.
nio vokaler, långa och korta
Long before one consonant, short before two — and the quality changes, not just the length.
Long a is deep and back, like British 'father'; short a is flat and central.
Long e is tense, lips spread — no glide, unlike English 'ay'. Short e relaxes toward ä.
Long i is very tense and thin, almost buzzing; short i sits looser, like English 'bit'.
The letter o usually SOUNDS like u: long is English 'boot' with tighter lips; short like 'put'.
The famous Swedish u: say 'ee' and round your lips into a small O. Doesn't exist in your other languages.
Say long i and round the lips — like German ü or Dutch u in 'muur'. Lips more pouted than for u.
Å is the real 'o' sound: long like English 'saw' with rounded lips; short like 'hot' (British).
Open e, like English 'air' without the r. Before r it opens further to [æ]: ära, ärt.
Say long e and round the lips — like German ö or Dutch eu. Before r it opens: öra [œːra].
konsonanterna som spökar
Stavning: sj, skj, stj, sk (before e i y ä ö), -tion
The infamous one: a breathy hush from the back of the mouth, like blowing on hot soup while whispering 'hw'. No other language has it — collect it.
Stavning: tj, kj, k (before e i y ä ö)
A soft front hush, like the h in 'huge' — tongue near the front ridge, no t before it. Never confuse with sj: tj is front, sj is back.
Stavning: j, g (before e i y ä ö), gj, hj, lj, dj
English y in 'yes'. The traps are the spellings: hj, lj, dj, gj — the first letter is silent.
Stavning: ng, n (before k)
Like English 'singer' — and never with a g sound after it. Många is MO-nga, not mon-GA.
Stavning: rt, rd, rn, rs, rl — r melts into the next consonant
R + t/d/n/s/l fuse into one sound with the tongue curled back. 'Först' has no separate r — it hides inside the sh-flavoured s.
Stavning: g, k, sk soften before e i y ä ö
Hard before a o u å, soft before e i y ä ö. One rule, three consonants — it explains half of Swedish spelling.