Notes on the Swedish Language

- Some vowels need to be very clipped in Swedish (“lamm”, “hand”). We’ve indicated the clipped vowel using double consonants (lhamm, hannd)
- The hard “g” sound is sometimes difficult to communicate phonetically. We use “gh” to indicate a hard “g” – this is pronounced like “gear” or “ghee,” the clarified butter from India.
- “s” will sometimes be pronounced with a “z” sound in English. We rarely have a full-on “z” sound in Swedish, so we’ve tried to indicate a full-on “s” sound by using double ss’s (ses = sehss, not “says”).
- We don’t have a rainy/dry/hot/cold seasons in Sweden, so it is better to use terms such as “It’s raining” instead. We’ve used “värmebölja” for hot season, but that’s closer to “heat wave”. Same for “köldknäpp” – “cold snap”.
Phrase | Translation | Pronunciation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Good Morning | God morgon | gu MORR-on | Short, almost silent u sound. |
Good Afternoon | God middag | gu MID-ah | Short, almost silent u sound. |
Good Evening | God afton | gu OFF-ton | Short, almost silent u sound. |
Good Night | God natt | gu nut | Short, almost silent u sound. |
How are you? | Hur mår du? | hoo MOOR do? / hoo moor DOO? | Short “do” if you’re the first one to ask, long “doo” if you’re asking after being asked. |
taxi | taxi | TUCK see | The English pronunciation works too |
Eat! Eat! | Hugg in! | Hoo ghin! | “GH” here as in “ghee” |
sleep | sova / sömn | sohver / sumn | The first is the verb “to sleep”, the second is the noun. |
(Image is of Ales Stenar, a formation of stones (like Stonehenge) in the south of Sweden. courtesy: rigahouse)
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