Master the Swedish Alphabet with This Easy Guide

→Sign Up Now: Free Trial Swedish Lesson With a Native Teacher!←

Below, we’ll go over the most challenging letters in the Swedish alphabet, and we’ll provide nearly perfect English equivalents so that you won’t dread them the next time you see them on the page.

The ‘extra’ letters of the Swedish Alphabet

The Swedish alphabet is very similar to the English one. In fact, out of the 29 letters in the Swedish alphabet, 26 of them are also found in English.

The only letters that are unique to Swedish, in fact, are Å, Ä, and Ö. So let’s take a look at them first.

The Å letter

The Å letter in the Swedish alphabet represents the same sound as the long O sound in English words such as “hall” and “North”. The only difference between them is that Å is considered a separate letter in Swedish while its English counterpart is not.

How do you pronounce it?

To pronounce the Å letter, you should round your lips and make an “O” shape with your mouth. Then, you should try to make a long “A” (just imagine a doctor is checking your throat!). The result should be a long “O” sound that is slightly more open than a regular long O vowel in English.

What words contain the Å letter?

In Swedish, there are many words that start with the Å letter including åsa (the goddess), åsna (donkey), and ångest (anxiety). In addition, the letter can also appear in mid-position, as in the words rådgivare (advisor), skådespelare (actor), and går (goes).

The Ä letter

The Ä letter in the Swedish alphabet represents a sound that is very similar to the ‘short I’ we use in English words like “fit” and “pick”.

How do you pronounce it?

To pronounce the Ä letter, you should start by making an “E” sound. Then, without moving your lips, you should try to make an “I”. No, not the pronoun. The vowel. If we are lucky, the result should be a sound that is somewhere between the E and I sounds in English.

What words contain the Ä letter?

This is one of the most common letters in the Swedish alphabet. Words that start with this sound include äpple (apple), ägg (egg), and älska (love). Ä can also appear in mid-position, as in the words fält (field), kväll (evening), and tänkte (thought).

The Ö letter

The Ö letter in the Swedish alphabet represents a sound that is very similar in length and quality to the long vowel in English words like “fur”, “her” and “bird”. But this sound, which is can be represented by at least three different characters in English, is always spelled as an Ö in Swedish. See how our own spelling-to-sound rules in English are even harder than they are in Swedish?

How do you pronounce it?

To pronounce the Ö letter, you should start by putting your lips in a rounded position as if about to make an “O” sound. Then, without moving your lips, you should try to make a very short “E” sound. The resulting vowel should be very close to an Ö that is as Swedish as Bjorn from Abba.

What words contain the Ö letter?

In Swedish, there are many words that start with this sound including ögon (eyes), över (over), and översättare (translator). Other common words that contain Ö are förstöra (to destroy), törstig (thirsty), and gömma (to hide).

So, what are you waiting for? Try to repeat the sample words by following our pronunciation instructions!

Other problematic letters in the Swedish Alphabet

While Swedish vowels are sometimes unfairly dreaded by English speakers, Swedish consonants can give the impression of being more innocent than they really are.

Depending on the vowels that follow them, the consonants in this section can have a ‘hard’ or a ‘soft’ sound.

But what do we mean by that, exactly? Let’s take a look at the trickiest Swedish pronunciation rules for common letters.

The Letter G

In English, we have two different pronunciations of G. We can get the ‘gist’ of something, and we can get a ‘gift’ for our birthday. The hard –g sound in Swedish is similar to how we would pronounce this letter in the word “gift”.

In the Swedish language, the hard G occurs when this letter is followed by –a, -o, -u, or -å:

gast (guest)

godis (candy)

gul (yellow)

går (goes)

The soft G sound, on the other hand, is more like the “y” semivowel in “yawn”, and it occurs when G is followed by e, -i, -y, -ä, or –ö:

get (give)

gissa (guess)

byxor (pants)

läger (camp)

mögel (mold)

Remembering when to use hard and soft consonants in a new language can be a bit challenging, but don’t worry. There’s only one more!

The Letter K

Like G, K can have a ‘hard’ and a ‘soft’ sound depending on what group of vowels go after it.

When followed by –a, -o, -u, or -å, it is a hard K, i.e., the sound we know from words like ‘cookie’ or ‘kitchen’ (yes, I’m quite hungry).

For example:

katt (cat)

koja (hut)

kuvert (envelope)

kål (cabbage)

No surprises here. Now, the ‘soft’ version of K, which occurs when this letter is followed by e, -i, -y, -ä, or –ö, sounds exactly like ‘sh’ in “shock” or “shower”. This can be a bit counterintuitive for English speakers, who would never imagine that the word “kiosk” could be pronounced “shiosk”!

For example:

kemi (chemistry)

kiosk (kiosk)

kyla (to chill)

kyckling (chicken)

känsla (feeling)

möjlighet (opportunity)

kiosk (kiosk)

So, there you go. By mastering the troublemakers of the Swedish alphabet, you will be much closer to being able to speak this beautiful language.

→Sign Up Now: Free Trial Swedish Lesson With a Native Teacher!←

Learning a new alphabet can be tough, but don’t let that stop you from studying Swedish! With a little bit of practice, you’ll be reading, writing, and pronouncing every word in the Swedish alphabet like a pro in no time.

No, of course we don’t expect you to do it on your own! At Listen & Learn, we work with native Swedish teachers who are very skilled at identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses and tailoring their lessons accordingly. What is more, you get to focus exactly on the skills you want to develop, at your own pace!