Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Page History

« Previous Version 12 Next »

Pronunciation

Stressed syllables must end in a long vowel or a long consonant (just hold it!).

Mm is not used at the end of a word, so when a word ends in m it is not possible to tell if the preceding vowel is long or short.

Notes on the pronunciation of individual letters

D is usually silent at the end of words and in the combinations ld and nd. However, d is pronounced in e.g.: Gud 'God', ned 'down' and sted 'place' and also if an r follows.

Eg is often pronounced as ei, e.g. meg 'me'.

Ei is midway between the vowel in day and dye; closer to the latter.

G is silent before j. e.g. gjøre - 'do' and in the adjective ending -ig. Ge is not pronunced in morgen 'morning'. G is pronounced as English y before i, e.g. gi  - 'give'.

H is silent before j and v. e.g. hjerte 'heart' and hver 'each'. 

J is pronounced as English y.

Ki, kj and tj are pronounced as the h in English huge (with more friction) or the ch in German ich, e.g. kirke 'church'.

Rs is pronounced as English sh even if the r ends one word and the s starts another e.g. norsk 'Norwegian' and Det er_sent 'It's late'.

Sk and skj are pronounced as the sh in English ship.

T is not pronounced in det 'it, that' and the neuter singular definite ending (-et) e.g. huset 'the house' (unless the genitive s follows: barnets 'the child's').

Tj see ki.

Æ similar to the vowel in Southern British bad.

Ø similar to the vowel in German Öl ('oil', not 'beer', as in Norwegian!) or, to a lesser extent, English sir.

Å similar to the vowel in English saw.

The tones

Words with unexpected pronunciations

Det 'it, that' is pronounced as if it were written 'de', when stressed like the first part of the English vowel in 'day'; when unstressed with the vowel in English 'the'.

De 'they; you (formal - always written with a capital letter)' is pronounced as if were written 'di'.

Norwegian pronunciation videos

Norwegian pronunciation on YouTube

  • No labels