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<\/p>\nPerhaps Maria von Trapp said it best: \u201cWhen you read you begin with A, B, C.\u201d Learning to read and write in any language begins with the basic building blocks of letters and their sounds. English speakers learning Swedish will find that the Swedish alphabet contains many familiar, recognizable friends, three new acquaintances, and a few surprises along the way.<\/p>\n
There are 29 letters in the Swedish alphabet, of which 9 are vowels and 20 are consonants. The English vowels \u201cA, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y\u201d are also vowels in Swedish, though their sounds are not the same\u2014and you can also drop the \u201csometimes.\u201d The letter Y is always a vowel in Swedish. The three letters in the Swedish alphabet that do not appear in the English alphabet\u2014\u00c5, \u00c4, \u00d6\u2014are also vowels.<\/p>\n
While many of the Swedish consonants are similar to their English counterparts, there are several that are very different. There are blends and patterns that might not seem logical at first but with a little practice, they soon become second nature. Learning a new language can be daunting, but since every word in Swedish is simply a combination of these 29 letters, mastering the Swedish alphabet is the first big step toward fluency.<\/p>\n
Read on to learn more about the Swedish alphabet, everything you need to know from A to \u00d6.<\/p>\n
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With English as a reference, it is easy to view these letters as variations of A and O. It is important to remember that these are three distinct letters, not \u201can A with a circle\u201d or \u201can O with two dots.\u201d The dots are not an added umlaut, but rather just a part of how these letters are written.<\/p>\n
An English speaker would never refer to the letter Q as an O with a line in it, nor is an E just an F with an extra line at the bottom. Just as Q and E are fully independent letters of the alphabet, so are \u00c5, \u00c4, and \u00d6 fully independent letters in the Swedish alphabet.<\/p>\n
Often in handwritten Swedish, the dots on \u00c4 and \u00d6 will blend together and appear as a small line. This is a fully accepted way of writing these letters.<\/p>\n In Swedish, a vowel that is at the end of a word or followed by a single consonant is a long vowel. If the vowel is followed by two consonants, it is short. It is common, but not necessary, for the two consonants to be double consonants. Because Swedish does not use a double k<\/em>, the letter pair ck<\/em> is counted as a double consonant.<\/p>\n The difference between short and long vowels actually has to do with length in Swedish. How the sounds are formed in the mouth does not usually differ significantly, though there are always exceptions.<\/p>\n Pronunciation of the differences is important. Jag vill ha glass<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/a> <\/em>(\u201cI want ice cream\u201d) is a much different statement than Jag vill ha glas<\/a> <\/em>(\u201cI want glass\u201d). The double consonant at the end of glass<\/em> means the a<\/em> is a short vowel. With only one s<\/em> the word has a long vowel and the two words have very different meanings.<\/p>\n What a difference an S can make!<\/em><\/p>\n Here are some examples of the pronunciation differences between the long and short forms of each vowel:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/word-image-1.jpeg\")
<\/a>Short and long vowels in Swedish<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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