What you will learn
You can tell the vowels i, y, e, ä and ö apart and know how each one is said.
Five vowels at the front
These five vowels are said with the tongue forward in the mouth. Like a, o, å and u, each of them can be long or short. One consonant after the vowel usually means a long vowel, as in vit, and two usually mean a short one, as in inte.
| Vowel | Long | Short | How to say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| i | vit, lite | inte, dricka | Like the ee in see, with tight lips. |
| y | dyr, ny | nyckel | Say i and round your lips. |
| e | te, se | vecka, sex | Long e is a tight sound, close to i. Short e is like the e in bed. |
| ä | äta, läsa | äpple, väska | Like the e in bed. Short ä sounds the same as short e. |
| ö | röd, köpa | mössa, söndag | Say e and round your lips. |
Ä and ö before r
Before r, ä and ö are said with the mouth more open. Är and där sound close to the a in bad, and the ö in dörr is more open than the ö in röd.
Spelling notes
Short e and short ä sound the same in most of Sweden, so learn the spelling of words such as vecka and väska with the word.
An e at the end of a word is said, not silent as in English. It is short and light, as in lite, äpple and kaffe.
This goal has no questions. Recordings of the example words are planned, and they will let you hear each sound.
Common mistakes
| Not like this | Like this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| lite with a silent e | lite with a short e at the end | Swedish says a final e. |
| dyr said with an i | dyr said with round lips | Without round lips, y sounds like i. |
| röd said like the English word road | röd said like e with round lips | Ö is not an o sound. |