What you will learn
You can see from the spelling when a word has the sj sound or the tj sound, when g sounds like j, and when k, g and sk keep their hard sound. This page is for reading and listening. It has no questions until checked audio exists.
Two soft sounds
Swedish has two sounds that English does not have in the same form. The tj sound is close to the sh in English she, made with the tongue high and the lips spread. The sj sound is breathier and made further back, often with rounded lips. Both are easier to hear than to describe, so listen to the recording when it is ready.
How they are written
| Spelling | Sound | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| sj | the sj sound | sju, sjuk | seven, ill |
| sk before e, i, y, ä or ö | the sj sound | skicka, skylt | to send, sign |
| tj | the tj sound | tjugo | twenty |
| k before e, i, y, ä or ö | the tj sound | köpa, kyrka, kök | to buy, church, kitchen |
| g before e, i, y, ä or ö | like j | göra, gärna, gäst | to do, gladly, guest |
E, i, y, ä and ö are the soft vowels. Before them, k sounds like tj, g sounds like j and sk sounds like sj.
Hard k, g and sk
| Example | English |
|---|---|
| kopp, kaffe, kul | cup, coffee, fun |
| gata, god, gammal | street, good, old |
| skola | school |
| skriva | to write |
Before the hard vowels a, o, u and å, and before another consonant such as r, the letters k, g and sk keep their hard sound.
The rule is for the start of a word or of a stressed part. In tycker and dagen, the k and the g come before e, but they keep their hard sound.
Good to know
The sj sound has a few more spellings. One of them is the ti in station. Names often keep the sound of their own language, so Kenji starts with a hard k.