Key Danish sounds, stress patterns, and the reductions of casual spoken Danish, with plain-English pronunciation notes. Front: the Danish letter, sound, or word. Back: meaning plus a plain-English pronunciation note.
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- Blødt d (as in mad)
- Food. The 'soft d' is pronounced with the tongue between the teeth, closer to English 'th' in 'this' than a hard 'd'.
- Stød
- A glottal stop or creak in the voice that can change a word's meaning; one of the hardest features of Danish pronunciation to hear and produce.
- Æ (as in læse)
- To read. Pronounced like the 'a' in English 'cat' or 'bad'.
- Ø (as in øje)
- Eye. Pronounced like the 'u' in French 'sur' or German 'ö', with rounded lips.
- Å (as in gå)
- To walk. Pronounced like the 'o' in English 'more'.
- Danish R
- A soft, throaty sound made in the back of the throat, closer to a French 'r' than an English or rolled r.
- Swallowed consonants
- Many Danish consonants at the end of words are softened or barely pronounced, making spoken Danish sound 'swallowed' compared to its spelling.
- Schwa ending -e (as in pige)
- Girl. The unstressed final 'e' is pronounced as a quick neutral 'uh' sound, not a full vowel.
- Hv- words (as in hvad, hvor)
- What, where. Words starting with 'hv' drop the 'h' sound entirely and are pronounced simply as 'v'.
- Soft g (as in sige)
- To say. Between vowels, 'g' often softens to a 'y' or near-silent glide rather than a hard 'g'.
- Stjerne
- Star. The 't' in the 'stj' consonant cluster is silent, so the word is pronounced roughly 'sjerne'.
- God (final d)
- Good. The final 'd' takes the soft, 'th'-like quality rather than a hard stop.
- Nej
- No. Pronounced like English 'nigh', with a diphthong gliding from 'a' to 'i'.
- Ja
- Yes. Pronounced with an open 'ya' sound, often drawn out casually in speech.
- Tak
- Thanks. The final 'k' is crisp and fully pronounced, unlike many other Danish final consonants.
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