Swedish letters 氓, 盲 and 枚

The Swedish alphabet consists of 29 letters. The last three are 氓,盲 and 枚. These are the only ones that differ from the English alphabet.

The Swedish 氓-sound can either be a long sound or a short one. When being long it is pronounced like the English word fore. The short sound as in yonder.

Listen to the pronunciation of the different sounds through the links below.

Example (long): spr氓k (language)

Example (short): 氓lder (age)

In the county Blekinge you鈥檒l find that a lot of people don鈥檛 pronounce the r-sound hardly at all. For example: Korv (sausage) is pronounced k氓氓氓v. (with a very long 氓-sound). The Swedish o-sound can often sound a lot like the 氓-sound making spelling a little difficult at times. In G枚teborg (Gothenburg) people don鈥檛 say korv or k氓氓氓v, instead they say k枚rv.

Continuing, the 盲-sound can also be pronounced a long and a short way. The long way sounds much like the ai in fair. The short 盲-sound as the e in best.

Example (long): b盲ra (carry)

Example (short): v盲n (friend)

Lastly to the 枚-sound. There are three different pronunciations for 枚, two long and one short. The first long sounds like eu in the french word deux.

Example (long nr.1): r枚d (red – the color)

The second long sound mostly found before the letter r, sounds like the u in fur.

Example (long nr. 2): k枚ra (drive)

The short 枚-sound is like the e in her.

Example (short): s枚nder (broken)

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