Norwegian pronunciation is much more regular than English pronunciation. In addition, there is much more agreement between the spelling of Norwegian words and their pronunciation. Therefore, after a bit of study of the Norwegian phonemes and their sounds, it should be relatively easy to manage the pronunciation of most Norwegian words.

Click on the Norwegian words to hear them spoken by a native speaker. Only those English words marked with an asterisk can be said to contain sounds precisely equivalent to the Norwegian sounds. Other rules of pronunciation can be found at the end of this document.

Sound	International Phonetic Alphabet Symbol	Norwegian Example	English Translation	English Example
Short A		natt	night	cotton
Long A		rar	strange	bar*
A-I Diphthong		hai	shark	high
A-U Diphthong		tau	rope	mouse
B		by	city	bee*
D		du	you	do*
Short E		menn	men	men*
Weak E		lettes	is relieved	lettuce
Long E		tre	tree, three	tray
E-I Diphthong		nei	no	nigh
F		fire	four	fear*
G		gal	crazy	gall*
H		hatt	hat	hot*
Short I		titt	peek	tit
Long I		bi	bee	bee*
J		ja	yes	yarn*
K		kaffe	coffee	cough*
K-J Diphthong		kjønn	gender	huge, ich (German)
L		lys	light	least
M		min	my	mean*
N		ni	nine	knee*
N-G Diphthong		fang	lap	song*
Short O		godt	good	look
Long O		to	two	tow
O-I Diphthong		koie	shelter	coy
P		purre	leek	purr*
R		råd	advice	road
S		syv	seven	sea*
S-J Diphthong		sjø	lake	shoe*
T		tusen	thousand	tame*
Short U		gutt	boy	foot
Long U		ku	cow	coo
U-I Diphthong		uimotståelig	irresistible	gooey
V		vits	joke	valor*
Short Y		mygg	mosquito	big
Long Y		ny	new	knee
Short Æ		lærd	educated	lattice
Long Æ		tær	toes	tap
Short Ø		trøtt	tired	trust
Long Ø		kø	line, queue	blood
Ø-Y Diphthong		gøy	fun	buoy
Short Å		grått	grey	lot
Long Å		båt	boat	boat

• A very clear distinction is made between long and short vowels; long vowels should be very, very long, and short vowels are quite clipped. When the consonant following the vowel is short (i.e., single), the vowel is usually long, and when the consonant following the vowel is long (i.e. double), the vowel is usually short. e.g.:

  Long Vowel	English Translation	Short Vowel	English Translation
  tak	ceiling, roof	takk	thank you
  pen	pretty, nice	penn	pen
  min	mine (masc.)	mitt	mine (neut.)
  god	good (masc.)	godt	good (neut.)
  gud	god	gutt	boy
  ny	new (masc.)	nytt	new (neut.)
  mø	moo	møkk	dung
  lær	leather	lærd	educated
  grå	grey (masc.)	grått	grey (neut.)

  The exception to these rules is that the letter m is never doubled at the end of words, although the preceding vowel is usually short. e.g. hjem (home), rom (room).

• Short e before r is usually pronounced much more like æ. e.g. hver (every)

• When k proceeds i and y, it is pronounced kj. e.g. kirke (church), kyss (kiss)

• gj, hj, and lj are pronounced j. e.g. gjær (yeast), hjem (home), ljug (lie)

• g in front of i, y, and ei is pronounced j. e.g. gi (give), begynne (begin), geit (goat)

• l is sometimes pronounced thick in dialects, but this pronunciation is not used in formal speech.

• r is rolled in eastern dialects, e.g. purre (leek) and uvular in Southwestern dialects, e.g. purre (leek).

• r is usually not rolled in within the combinations rt, rd, rl, and rn. Instead, both consonants are pronounced retroflexively (i.e., right behind the teeth on the roof of the mouth), similar to the way these consonant combinations are pronounced in American English. e.g. kart (map), ærlig (honest), barn (child)

• skj is pronounced the same as the sj diphthong. e.g. skjære (cut)

• sk before i, y, and øy is pronounced sj. e.g. ski (ski), skøyter (shoots)

• In Eastern Norway, the consonant combination rs, whether within a word or in two juxtaposed words, is pronounced as a retroflexed r followed by the sj diphthong. e.g. norsk (Norwegian), person (person), for sent (too late)

• The consonant combination sl is usually pronounced sjl, e.g. slå (hit), Oslo. In formal language, when the s and the l are in two different syllables, they are pronounced normally, e.g. Oslo.

• g is not pronounced in the word ending ig. e.g. ærlig (honest)

• When a word ends with rd, the preceding vowel is lengthened, and the d is not pronounced. e.g. jord (earth)

• d is often mute at the end of a word when it is preceded by a long vowel. e.g. god (good)

• ld and nd are usually pronounced ll and nn. e.g. holde (hold), land (country)

• t is usually not pronounced at the end of definite neuter nouns. e.g. huset (the house)

• h is silent before j and v. e.g. hjem (home), hver (every)

• v is sometimes silent. e.g. sølv (silver)

Page created by Sarah Brodwall.
Sounds spoken by Arne Kjell Foldvik, native of Larvik i Vestfold, Norway.
Sound editing by Jørn Almberg, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.

Last updated March 26, 2001

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