Key Norwegian sounds, letter combinations, and pitch accent patterns. Front: the Norwegian letter, word, or sound pattern. Back: meaning plus a plain-English pronunciation note.
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- kj
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A soft 'ch' sound similar to the 'h' in 'huge' or German 'ich', found in words like 'kjøkken' (kitchen).- skj
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A sound similar to English 'sh' in 'shoe', found in words like 'skje' (spoon).- sj
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Also pronounced like English 'sh', merging with the skj sound in many dialects, e.g. in 'sjef' (boss).- rs
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In many dialects, 'r' followed by 's' merges into a retroflex, 'sh'-like sound, e.g. 'norsk' can sound like 'nosjk'.- æ
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A vowel similar to the 'a' in English 'cat', distinct from both 'a' and 'e', e.g. in 'være' (to be).- ø
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A rounded front vowel similar to the 'u' in French 'peu' or German 'ö', with no direct English equivalent, e.g. in 'øye' (eye).- å
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A vowel similar to the 'o' in English 'more', distinct from plain 'a', e.g. in 'gå' (to walk).- Tonal pitch accent
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Norwegian uses pitch accents (tone 1 and tone 2) that can distinguish word meaning, e.g. 'bønder' (farmers) versus 'bønner' (beans) differ partly by pitch, a feature English does not have.- Silent d
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The letter 'd' is often silent at the end of a word after certain vowels or consonants, e.g. in 'med' (with), often pronounced without a clear final 'd'.- Silent g
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The letter 'g' can soften or disappear in casual speech in certain word endings like '-lig', e.g. 'deilig' (lovely).- Silent h
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The letter 'h' before 'v' or 'j' is silent, e.g. 'hvem' (who) is pronounced without the 'h', starting with a 'v' sound.- hv-
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The combination 'hv' at the start of a word is pronounced simply as 'v', e.g. 'hva' (what) sounds like 'va'.- hj-
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The combination 'hj' at the start of a word is pronounced simply as 'y', e.g. 'hjem' (home) sounds like 'yem'.- gj-
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The combination 'gj' at the start of a word is pronounced like an English 'y', e.g. 'gjøre' (to do) sounds like 'yøre'.- Compound word stress
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Long Norwegian compound words usually keep the main stress on the first part, e.g. 'skrivebord' (desk, literally writing table) stresses 'skrive'.
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