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Danish is written with the Latin alphabet, but its spelling and its sound are further apart than in Swedish, and in some ways further than in English. An English speaker meets four things that are new: three extra vowel letters, æ, ø and å; a d that is often soft, like the “th” of “the”; letters that are written and not said (hj, hv, the d of mand); and a sound of the voice, the stød, that is heard and never written. Vowels are pure, with no glide into “ee” or “oo” as in English “day” and “go”.
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The Danish alphabet
The alphabet has twenty-nine letters: the twenty-six of English, followed by æ, ø and å after z. The letters c, q, w, x and z are found mostly in foreign words and names (cykel, café, quiz, weekend, taxa, zoo). The letters æ, ø and å have their own place in the alphabet and in the dictionary; they are not a and o with a mark. Each vowel letter has several sounds, each shown with an example word.
A letter’s name is what you say when you spell a word aloud, for example your name or address on the phone.
| Letter | Name | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a /æːˀ/ | /æː/ · /a/ · /ɑ/ | gade kat tak | most often a front “a”, close to the “a” of “cat”, short in mad and kat, long in gade; next to r, a back “a” as in “father” said a, like “a” in “cat” held long |
| B b | be /beːˀ/ | /b/ | by | as in English (by) said be, like “bay” without the glide |
| C c | se /seːˀ/ | /s/ · /k/ | cykel café | “s” before e, i, y (cykel); “k” elsewhere (café) said se, like “say” without the glide |
| D d | de /deːˀ/ | /d/ · /ð/ | dag mad | “d” at the start of a word (dag); at the end of a syllable a soft “th” as in “the”, with the tongue loose against the teeth (mad) said de, like “day” without the glide |
| E e | e /eːˀ/ | /eː/ · /ɛ/ · /ə/ | mere hest skole | like “ay” in “day” without the glide, long in mere, short in et; in some words like “e” in “bed”; at the end of a word, a weak “a” as in “about” (skole) said e, like “ay” in “day” without the glide |
| F f | ef /ɛf/ | /f/ | far | as in English (far) said ef, like English “eff” |
| G g | ge /ɡeːˀ/ | /ɡ/ · /j/ · silent | gå jeg pige | “g” of “go” (gå); after a vowel often silent (pige) or a light “y” as in “yes” said ge, “gay” with the “g” of “go” |
| H h | hå /hɔːˀ/ | /h/ | hus | like “h” in “hat” (hus) said hå, “haw” |
| I i | i /iːˀ/ | /iː/ · /i/ | is mit | like “ee” in “see”, long in is and fire, and a short “ee” in other words; never the “i” of “bit” said i, like “ee” in “see” |
| J j | jod /jʌð/ | /j/ | ja | like “y” in “yes”; never the “j” of “jam” (ja) said jod, “yoth”, with the “y” of “yes” and a soft “th” at the end |
| K k | kå /kɔːˀ/ | /k/ | kat | “k” of “key” (kat), with a puff of air at the start of a stressed syllable said kå, “kaw” |
| L l | el /ɛl/ | /l/ | land | as in English (land), clear and light said el, like English “el” |
| M m | em /ɛm/ | /m/ | mor | as in English (mor) said em, like English “em” |
| N n | en /ɛn/ | /n/ | nej | as in English (nej) said en, like English “en” |
| O o | o /oːˀ/ | /oː/ · /o/ · /ʌ/ | skole bonde kold | long, a tight “o” with no glide, between the “o” of “go” and the “oo” of “food” (skole); an open “o” as in “law” (bog); like “o” in “hot” (kold) said o, the tight long “o” of skole; never “oh” with the glide of English “go” |
| P p | pe /peːˀ/ | /p/ | pige | as in English (pige) said pe, like “pay” without the glide |
| Q q | ku /kuːˀ/ | /k/ | quiz | “k” (quiz); a letter of loanwords said ku, like “koo” with a long, rounded vowel |
| R r | ær /æɐ̯/ | /ʁ/ · /ɐ/ | rød mor | a sound made at the back of the mouth, in the throat, like the French “r” (rød); after a vowel it is nearly lost, a weak “a” as in “about” (mor); never the English “r” said ær, like “air” with the Danish “r” nearly lost |
| S s | es /ɛs/ | /s/ | sol | “s” of “sun”, always (sol); never “z” said es, like English “ess” |
| T t | te /teːˀ/ | /t/ · /d/ | to kat | as in English (to), with a strong puff of air at the start of a syllable; at the end of a syllable, without the puff, close to an English “d” (kat) said te, with the vowel of “day” without the glide |
| U u | u /uːˀ/ | /uː/ · /u/ · /o/ | hus ung | long, like “oo” in “food” (hus); short, like “o” in “more” said short (ung) said u, like “oo” in “food” |
| V v | ve /veːˀ/ | /v/ · /w/ | vand syv | as in English (vand); after a vowel at the end of a syllable like “w” (syv) said ve, with the vowel of “day” without the glide |
| W w | dobbelt-v /ˈdʌbəlˌveːˀ/ | /v/ | weekend | “v” (weekend); a letter of foreign words said dobbelt-v: “double v”, as the name says |
| X x | eks /ɛks/ | /ks/ | taxa | “ks” as in “box” (taxa) said eks, like English “ex” |
| Y y | y /yːˀ/ | /yː/ · /y/ · /ø/ | by syv | long, the vowel of French tu or German ü: say “ee” with the lips rounded as for “oo” (by); short, the same with a shorter vowel (syv) said y, the long sound of by |
| Z z | sæt /sɛt/ | /s/ | zoo | “s” of “sun” (zoo); never “z” said sæt, like “set” |
| Æ æ | æ /ɛːˀ/ | long, like “e” in “bed” held longer (æble); short, like “e” in “bed” (hænder) said æ, like “e” in “bed” held longer | ||
| Ø ø | ø /øːˀ/ | long, round your lips as for “oh” and say the “ay” of “day” (købe); short, close to “u” in “fur” without the “r” (søster, rød) said ø, the long sound of købe | ||
| Å å | å /ɔːˀ/ | long, like “o” in “more” with rounder lips (gå); short, like “o” in “hot” (sådan) said å, like “o” in “more” |
Spelling aloud. A word is spelt aloud with the name of each letter: hus (“house”) is spelt hå – u – es. A double letter is named twice. The letters æ, ø and å are named with their own names, and the question Hvordan staver man det? means “How is that spelt?”.
- hushouse
- åbleapple
- søstersister
Remember
The names of e and i are not the English ones: e is said like “ay” in “day” and i like “ee” in “see”. The Danish j is “yoth”, never “jay”, and g is “gay”, never “jee”. The soft d and the stød are heard, not written: a learner learns them by listening to each word, as the spelling does not show them.
Difference from English
English spells one sound in many ways, and says one letter in many ways; Danish does the same, and more: much of what is heard is not shown by the spelling. Three things are new to an English speaker. There are more vowels than the five letters show, with æ, ø and å and with the rounded y and ø. A d at the end of a syllable is often a soft “th”, as in “the”, not a “d”. And some letters are written and not said: the h of hvem and hjem, the d of mand and kold.
Practise
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Letter groups
Some sounds are written with a group of letters. Some groups are said much as in English: ng is the “ng” of “sing” and nk the “nk” of “bank”. In eg, ej and av, the vowel runs into a “y” or a “w”. And sj is a sound with no English spelling.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| hv- | /v/ | hvem | “v”; the h is silent (hvem) |
| hj- | /j/ | hjem | “y” as in “yes”; the h is silent (hjem) |
| eg | /ɑj/ | jeg | like “eye”, the vowel of “my” (jeg) |
| ej | /ɑj/ | nej | like “eye”, the vowel of “my” (nej) |
| av | /ɑw/ | hav | like “ow” in “cow”, with a short vowel before the “w” (hav) |
| ng | /ŋ/ | ung | the “ng” of “sing”, with no “g” sound after it (ung) |
| nk | /ŋk/ | bank | the “nk” of “bank” (bank) |
| sj | /ɕ/ | sjov | like “sh” in “ship”, said further forward with the tongue flat (sjov) |
| -tion | /ɕoːn/ | station | “shoan”, with the “sh” of “ship” and a long “o” (station) |
- hvemwho
- hjemhome
- jegI
- nejno
- havsea
- ungyoung
- sjovfun
- stationstation
Difference from English
English has no word that starts with hv or hj in this way: the h is simply not said, and the words begin with “v” and with “y” of “yes”. The g of jeg and the j of nej are not said as a consonant: both end in the “y” of “my”. The sj sound is close to “sh” in “ship”, and an English “sh” is understood.
Remember
In hv- and hj- only the second letter is said. In eg and ej the vowel runs into a light “y” and the second letter is not a separate consonant.
Practise
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Written marks
Three letters are written with a mark: æ, ø and å. Each is a letter of its own, placed after z in the alphabet and in a Danish dictionary, and it is never interchangeable with a or o: the å of gå (“go”) is not the a of mad.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| æ | /ɛː/ · /ɛ/ | æble hænder | long, like “e” in “bed” held longer; short, like “e” in “bed” (æble, hænder) |
| ø | /øː/ · /ø/ · /œ/ | købe søster rød | long, round your lips as for “oh” and say the “ay” of “day”; short, close to “u” in “fur” without the “r”; sometimes a more open “ur” (købe, søster, rød) |
| å | /ɔː/ · /ɔ/ | gå sådan | long, like “o” in “more” with rounder lips; short, like “o” in “hot” (gå, sådan) |
Difference from English
The marked letters are not accented forms of a and o, as “é” is an accented “e”. They are vowels of their own, and ø has no English counterpart: it is close to “ur” in “fur” said without an “r”, and to French eu. Before r an æ is more open, like “a” in “cat”.
- åbleapple
- gågo
- købebuy
- søstersister
Practise
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Silent and weak letters
Some letters are written and not said, or said weakly. A d after n, l or r is silent, the g of -ig is silent, and the final -e is a weak “a” as in “about”.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| -nd | /n/ | mand | “n”; the d is silent (mand) |
| -ld | /l/ | kold | “l”; the d is silent (kold) |
| -rd | /ɐ/ | bord | a weak “a” as in “about”; the r and the d are nearly lost (bord) |
| -ig | /i/ | billig | “ee” as in “see”; the g is silent (billig) |
| -e | /ə/ | skole | a weak “a” as in “about” at the end of a word (skole) |
- mandman
- koldcold
- bordtable
- billigcheap
- skoleschool
Remember
A final d after n or l is written and not said: mand is said like “man” with a short stop, kold like “kol”. The final -e is never a long “ee” as in English: skole ends in a weak “a” as in “about”.