Here, you will find an overview of Norwegian pronunciation rules. The main focus is on the consonants.
Table of Contents
The alphabet
The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Ø Å
It is demonstrated in this video
The vowels
Norwegian has 9 different vowels.
A E I
O U Y
Æ Ø Å
As a general rule, you will have a long vowel before one consonant and a short vowel before two consonants. It is important to be aware of this difference!
In many cases, a vowel has another sound than demonstrated above.
O often sounds like å, especially as a short vowel.
U often sounds like o when it is short.
E before r is often pronounced like æ.
E sounds like the Norwegian i in de.
O sounds like å
tog, sove, hoppe
U like Norwegian o
bukse, lunken, ung
E sounds like æ
der, herre
E like Norwegian i
de
I have written another post about the vowels with a lot more examples. You could also check out the pronunciation videos.
The consonants
The general pattern
Most consonants, but not all of them, are pronounced more or less like in English. Some more explanation is also necessary for some letters. Other patterns will be explained further down.
G usually sounds like in English “go”.
H is pronounced like in English.
J sounds like y in English “yes”.
L should preferably be pronounced like below.
R is explained further down.
J jente, jul
L lampe, full
S snø, asbest, sebra
V vite, vann
More about D, G, H, K, S and T
D
After a long vowel at the end of a word, d is often silent (but not always!).
D is also silent at the end of a word in the combinations ld and nd.
D silent
brød, glad, med, blod
D pronounced
Gud, lyd, hud
ld/nd at word end
sild, kald, vind, rund
In most other cases, the D is pronounced, and always as a double consonant.
Confusing? You should pronounce the d if you are in doubt. People will probably understand you anyway.
G
The most common way of pronouncing g is like in “go” in English. However, in some cases it is pronounced differently, or it is silent. This table gives you an overview:
Standard G
genser, gul
j-sound: gj / g+i/y
gjøre, gi, gyse
eg sounds like ei
jeg, meg, regn
g silent in ig
veldig vanskelig
Be aware that the pronunciation of jeg, meg, regn (and some similar words) differs according to the region.
H
The h is always pronounced before a vowel, but silent before v and j
hode – hage
hva – hjul
K
K is in most cases pronounced with the “k-sound”. However, the combination kj has a pronunciation that comes close to sj/skj (explained further down, by s ). The same is the case for k before i and y.
kone – kunde
kjøtt – kino – kylling
S
S is never voiced
snø – asbest – sebra – vanligvis
S is always pronounced, but sounds different in some combinations. Sj and skj are pronounced like sh in English. The same applies to sk beforei and y, and to s before l.
sjakk – skjegg – ski – sky – slå
This video could also be helpful.
T
T is usually clearly pronounced.
T it is silent in the pronoun det (meaning it). T is also silent in and as last letter in the definite form of neuter nouns, like in huset (the house) and glasset (the glass).
ting – hatt
det – huset – glasset
The t is only silent when it means “it” or “the”. In all other cases it is pronounced.
Pronunciation of the R
The most common r is a rolled r, but in the west and on the south coast the r is usually pronounced in the throat (uvular). In areas where the r is rolled, it often forms a new sound in these combinations: rn, rs, rl, rt, rd (retroflex consonants).
In areas with the uvular r, people pronounce both consonants. Some people with a rolled r (in the west) also pronounce both consonants.
Here you will find a double set of sound files. I come from Trondheim, but someone from Oslo would pronounce it the same way. The other voice belongs to my brother-in-law from Bergen in Western Norway.
