by Olly RichardsIf you’re a lover of languages, you know that pronunciation is one of the most important elements. And when you learn Danish, Danish pronunciation is no exception!
Pronunciation is what makes a language sound and feel like its own unique thing. English and Danish have interesting contrasts, both when it comes to the vowels and the consonants.
By the end of this post, you'll know how to pronounce all the Danish letters, including three that are new for you. Time to get your tongue around Danish pronunciation.
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Danish Pronunciation: Danish Vowels
Let’s start off with learning the Danish vowels, including a little treat of three new ones that you can add to your alphabet back pack.
Ah, Danish vowels. They can be tricky to pronounce, and mastering them can seem like an insurmountable task.
But don’t worry. With a little bit of practice you’ll be able to master them in no time.
So, let’s take a deeper look at the three most important characteristics of the Danish vowels. Are you ready?
1. The Extra Danish Vowels
If you’ve spent any time around the Danish language, you’ve probably noticed that there are three additional vowels in the Danish alphabet: æ/Æ, ø/Ø and å/Å.
These extra letters are unique to Danish and they can be confusing for a new learner. But don’t be intimidated – these letters can actually be quite easy to master.
In the table below you’ll get an idea of how they sound:
| Letter | English sound | Example Danish |
| Æ | ay – Array (Række) | Æble (Apple) |
| Ø | ur – Burn (Brænde) | Ønske (Wish) |
| Å | oa – Oak (Eg) | Åben (Open) |
You won’t have any trouble finding videos that explain the use and sound of this trio on the internet. Once you’ve got Æ, Ø and Å down pat, you can start having fun with them.
Don’t be afraid to practice using these letters in your conversations with Danes and writing. In time, you won’t even have to think about the pronunciation of these vowels. They’ll come to you as naturally as the ones you already know.
2. Danish Vowels Are “Sound-Shifters”
Danish vowels can change their sound, depending on the words they are used in.
This can make it tricky for English speakers to learn Danish. However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll have a much better understanding of the language.
Have a look at the most common vowels in both Danish and English, namely A, E, I, O, and U.
| Letter | English sound | Example Danish |
| A | Atom (Atom) Large (Stor) | Abe (Monkey) Appelsin (Orange) |
| E | Elephant (Elefant) Eternity (Evighed) | Eftermidag (Afternoon) De (They) |
| I | Deer (Hjort) Element (Element) | Is (Ice) Hvis (If) |
| O | Sow (så) Obviously (Indlysende) | Sort (Black) Sommer (Summer) |
| U | Pull (Trække) Social (Social) | Sur (Sour) Sum (Sum) |
As you might notice, one vowel can take on the sound of another vowel depending on which word it is used in. For instance, an i can sound like an e, an e can sound like an æ, and an o can sound like an å.
This is one of the main features that makes Danish pronunciation hard to perfect completely.
The good news? You don’t need to perfect the Danish vowels to make yourself understandable to a Danish native person. Get the hang of the basic sounds, and polish them over time. In the meantime, you’ll be perfectly all right.
3. The Danish Glottal Stop
A characteristic trait in Danish is the glottal stop, or stød as it is called in Danish. The glottal stop is a special Danish pronunciation phenomenon.
Advanced students of phonetics will tell you that glottal stops and stød are not exactly the same. But it's as close as it gets, and will do for the everyday speaker, like you and me.
Phonetically speaking, a stop is an irregularity in the vibrations of the vocal cords.
When the glottal stop is strongest, there is a short but complete halt in the vocal cord vibrations. But when it's weakest, it makes only a small change in the quality of the voice.
The glottal stop is associated with a vowel and occurs mostly in words with only one syllable.
As an example, listen to the ‘o’ in “mom”. It’s a long vowel sound (moooom) as opposed to the o in “stop”.
To illustrate the glottal stop, let’s use an apostrophe (‘) to signal FULL STO’P. This would be equivalent to the Danish glottal stop.
The glottal stop is important in Danish because it determines how otherwise identical words can mean something different depending on whether or not they have a glottal stop.
The only difference in the pronunciation of the word pairs below is that the words in the right column have a glottal stop.
Often, a word will shift from a noun to a verb when using a glottal stop, but in some cases the entire word may take on a whole different meaning altogether.
| No glottal stop | Glottal stop |
| Læser (Reader) | Læ’ser (Reading) |
| Løber (Runner) | Lø’ber (Running) |
| Ender (Ending) | Ænd’er (Ducks) |
The thing about the glottal stop is that you cannot see it. You can only hear it.
Ender / Ænder is an example of two different vowels (E and Æ) sounding the same. In this case, the glottal stop / no glottal stop decides the sound of the starting vowel which in turn affects the entire meaning of the word, and as a consequence, how it’s spelled.
Danish Pronunciation: Danish Consonants
Having covered the pronunciation of the Danish vowels, let’s now have a look at their cousins, the consonants.
| Letter | Sound | Example |
| B | be | Bjørn (Bear) |
| C | ce | Cykel (Bicycle) |
| D | de | Due (Dove) |
| F | ef | Fjer (Feather) |
| G | ge | God (Good) |
| H | hå | Hammer (Hammer) |
| J | yåth | Jeg (I) |
| K | kå | Kasket (Cap) |
| L | el | Liv (Life) |
| M | em | Materiale (Material) |
| N | en | Nobel (Noble) |
| P | pe | Pige (Girl) |
| Q | cu | Quiz (Quiz) |
| R | er | Ryste (Shake) |
| S | es | Solskin (Sunshine) |
| T | te | Teater (Theater) |
| V | ve | Vinter (Winter) |
| W | double ve | Wow (Wow) |
| X | eks | Xylofon (Xyolophone) |
| Z | set | Zebra (Zebra) |
Danish Silent Consonants
It's always the quiet ones right? A silent letter is a letter that's included in a word but is not pronounced. Although silent, these letters hold great power over the Danish language.
That’s because a single word can take on different meanings if you either include or leave out the silent letter.
Silent letters are always consonants, typically d, g, h, and v. They can appear at the start, end, or even in the middle of a word.
You can often figure out the silent letter by looking at the other letters around it, as the silent letters usually have a favourite neighbour.
Here are some examples of how the usage of a silent letter affects otherwise identical words.
| Combo | No silent letter | Silent letter |
| Silent ‘d’ after ‘n’ | Man (you / one) Hun (She) Ven (Friend) | Mand (Man) Hund (Dog) Vend (Turn) |
| Silent ‘h’ before ‘v’ or ‘j’ | Vis (Wise) Vid (Wit) Jul (Christmas) | Hvis (Whose) Hvid (White) Hjul (Wheel) |
| Silent ‘v’ or silent ‘g’ after ‘l’ | Søl (Mud) Hal (Hall) Sal (Floor) | Sølv (Silver) Halv (Half) Salg (Sale) |
To make sense of it all, when a Danish word ends in a silent letter, the silent letter often signals a short consonant sound – kind of like a glottal stop, but with a consonant.
In the example man (you / one) and mand (man), are pronounced with a sustained n (mannn) while mand (with the silent d) is subjected to a full stop (man’).
Danish Double Consonants
There are quite a few words in Danish where both words are spelled with two consonants and their pronunciation sounds the same, but they're still very different.
For example, a double consonant word is spelled with two of the same consonants, whereas a single consonant word is spelled with one consonant that you can hear and one that is silent.
At other times, you’ll stumble upon a single consonant word with no silent letter attached, almost identical to a double consonant word, but very different in meaning.
| Single | Double | Single + silent |
| Vener (Veins) | Venner (Friends) | Vender (Turns) |
| – | Ville (Wanted (to) | Vilde (Wild) |
| – | Finne (Fin) | Finde (Find) |
| Læge (Doctor) | Lægge (Lay down) | – |
| Biler (Cars) | Biller (Beetles) | – |
| Mase (Mash) | Masse (A lot) | – |
| Pile (Arrows) | Pille (Pill) | – |
Keep your ears open and your eyes peeled for these teasers! They may look alike, but they can have vastly different meanings.
Danish Pronunciation: Your Next Steps
Don’t be discouraged if Danish pronunciation seems difficult at first. With a bit of practice and dedication, you’ll be able to pronounce them like a native in no time!
After all, the answer to the question “is Danish hard to learn?” is actually “not really” for native English speakers.
Here are three ideas to develop your Danish pronunciation:
- Listen to Danish speakers from different Danish-speaking countries and try to imitate their pronunciation.
- Record yourself speaking and listen back to it to see how accurate your Danish pronunciation is.
- Read my short stories in Danish book and listen to the audiobook version at the same time.
As you become more familiar with the language and the sounds, you’ll be able to pronounce the Danish vowels and consonants with ease.
Keep practicing, and you’ll be speaking Danish fluently before you can say Rådmandsgades Skole!
