Different ways to pronounce the letter "R" in Swedish

[@philwa22]

"R" has been one of the big things I've struggled with in terms of pronunciation, so guides like this help a lot! thanks!

[@FunSwedish]

Glad to hear it!

[@giselleakimana476]

You're not alone my dear,Am syruggoring as well

[@oldmanwinter1405]

I am certainly enjoying learning Svenska with your guidance and will never stop since I continually go back and rewatch older lessons to help reinforce my weak skills. Tack.

[@FunSwedish]

Happy to hear that!

[@zach1279]

Tack så mycket! I've been learning Swedish this past month in prep for my study abroad in January! You're videos help tremendously!

[@FunSwedish]

Happy to hear that!

[@chympmunck]

How is your studying going? I'm self study as well

[@thatdoctorguy8503]

i want to move to stockholm and have been practicing swedish for a while now can cant get the r pronunciation down this video has made it alot easier tack så mycket

[@FunSwedish]

Happy to hear it was helpful! (Worst case scenario, you can do a softer R and have a partly Skåne accent 😁)

[@Mossy-Rock]

Thank you for this! A native English speaker trying to do a "rolled R?" It is one of the hardest things for us to accomplish as we have had absolutely no experience with it unless one was fortunate enough to take Spanish when young. It takes months of practice but still it can come out sounding off, muddy or sloppy. And sometimes it is near impossible with words with multiple Rs in them. Often, a rolled R just "fails to launch" when desired. The "sj" sound, as in "sju," is comparatively much easier to master.

[@berenicetrevanion3366]

It is exactly the opposite when you are a native Spanish speaker. No problem with the R, but the sj sound is very difficult! Not to mention all the different vowel sounds.

[@FunSwedish]

Happy to hear that! Worst case scenario... you can start talking Swedish with a Skåne accent and never roll any Rs 😂

[@FunSwedish]

Every language has its stong and weeks points I guess!

[@amiwho3464]

But you have the same sound in the name "Juan". That is exactly how the "sj" is prounounced in "Sju".

[@ylva571]

You really are a such a gifted teacher. So pleased to have discovered your amazing videos. Tack så mycket!

[@FunSwedish]

Tack så mycket ❤ Glad to read that you enjoy our videos. If you ever want to learn more Swedish with us then you can join our Swedish courses. Live-Zoom courses: elansutbildning.com/ Pre-recorded courses: funswedish.teachable.com/courses/

[@EricaGamet]

I've gotten really good at remembering "rs" as "shh" but it trips me up when the r belongs to one word and the s to the beginning of the next. The way Swedish looks at the sentence as a whole (like the r-s example or with stress patterns) is fascinating and hard to remember. I'll get the hang of it soon.... thank you for another great lesson... and I'm loving the new graphics!! They really stick in my brain!

[@victord8866]

Depends on the word. A lot of times the r is not pronounced if the following word starts with a consonant. So for example, "jag talar svenska" can sound like "ja tala svenska".

[@FunSwedish]

That is a good observation! Think as well that Swedish has a lot of "compound words". So there is a lot of making 2 words into one going on already 😊

[@TheBillz123]

thanks again Daniella for answering me and for the classes, i am enjoying the begginer to intermediate courses very much and learning a lot.

[@FunSwedish]

Wonderful! So happy to hear that 😍

[@draug7966]

If you're learning Swedish and you can't roll the R it's not a super huge deal cause the further south you get in sweden, the more the R starts to kinda resemble the German or maybe the French R anyway. So if you can do that type of R's it still works, it just sounds less formal.

[@awegvvm-productions]

As a Dutch guy with a German mother and speaking both languages and the English i learned in school, i've got the hard and soft "r" covered pretty well. Also the uu , ö and ä is not a problem. If i hear the swedish pronounciation i can imitate the sound pretty well. It's the rules that some letters are pronounced different when followed by certain letters is the tricky part. And the en and ett words. You just have to learn that. And also Swedish is much more sangy than other languages and the emphasis is often different than in Dutch and German. My family is making fun off me that i'm trying to learn a bit of Swedish😅 They keep asking WHY?! Well duh... because it's cool haha! I hope i have the determination to really learn this. Your lessons are very usefull and fun to follow! Thank you so much 👍

[@ailedjuarez9952]

Tack så mycket!, now I get the "silent 'R' " , it was a doubt I had but couldn't put into words!

[@FunSwedish]

Happy to hear that it helped you have a better understanding 😊

[@ismaelmadou189]

To say the reality, you are a great teacher

[@maple494]

we have to learn swedish in school but not swedish swedish but finnish swedish and we just pronounce it everytime it is used because thats the way it goes in finnish :-D

[@FunSwedish]

😁

[@chriskeller1627]

Rolled R at the beginning of a word is very common in standard Swedish, but if you move to Skåne (Southern Sweden), then the letter R will sound just like Danish, German, or French R, that is, the R sound will come from the back of the throat...

[@alejandrorosales5077]

como siempre, explicaciones faciles de entender y muy divertidas . tusen tack.!!

[@FunSwedish]

Muchas gracias Alejandro! :)

[@TheAxisOfPerdition]

This is the best channel. Such clear explanations, and the graphics are super helpful.

[@FunSwedish]

Glad you like them! 😍

[@moonsaer]

tack så mycket! detta var verkligen användbart.

[@FunSwedish]

😍😍

[@minirop]

that's why I love Swedish. Since I "forgot" how to roll my R (for not doing so for the past 20 years), I can just use the French "R" and say I'm from Skåne.

[@FunSwedish]

Claming you have the Skåne accent is a great excuse 😂

[@aaxxyy]

😂But the Skånska R doesn’t sound like the French R at all. It’s more like the English R but from the bottom of your throat.

[@minirop]

@@aaxxyy but they are (on a general level, since of course they can have different realisations), see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guttural_R and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_uvular_fricative

[@aaxxyy]

minirop Well, maybe the Skånska R and the French R are usuing the some way (both using the bottom of throat l) to pronounce, but the sounds the are different. For example, in the word Paris, French and Skånska pronounce the “ri”sound differently.

[@amiwho3464]

The French version is just deeper

[@zcxzdsaxcvz9025]

Thank you for helping me understand this R sound ❤ Now I finally undertood Göteborg is not pronounced Gothenburg but Yotenboyee 😂😂

[@davidbandini3484]

Tack så mycket för videon! Grazie tante per il video :)

[@FunSwedish]

😍😍

[@marcelofernandes341]

So kind of you

[@FunSwedish]

😍

[@ajryangameaudio]

This was a great explanation, thanks - subscribing!

[@FunSwedish]

Thanks for the sub!

[@ajryangameaudio]

@@FunSwedish You're welcome! :)

[@krm1079]

Most difficult to pronounce for me is when the R is following a vowel for example the words "ELLER" or "HUR" "VAR" etc. are absolutely imposssible to pronounce for some reason..most difficult one though is "eller", so if you can make a video about r-following after vowels it would be really appreciated by many I think..

[@FunSwedish]

Yes, sure! We can do that. Thanks for the tip!

[@mariara3384]

Like your other videos, I learned and enjoyed a lot, thank you very much!

[@FunSwedish]

Happy to hear that! 😍

[@anastasiiabovsunovska7534]

I work for a Swedish company, and in the beginning I was very confused why my colleague's name "Lars" is pronounced by other colleagues as "La:shh". I preferred to call him Lasse all the time to avoid that "rs" sound . :D Now I got used to that letter combination. I also notice that sometimes my Swedish colleagues replace "rs" with "sh" in English as well, which I find cute. :) BTW, your hair color is amazing!

[@FunSwedish]

That is a great approach as well! Noticing which mistakes Swedes make when speaking English, will give you clues about how Swedish logic works 😊.

[@sameeruddowlakhan]

love this, but technically the r+t, r+d, r+n, r+l cases should be seen just like r+s. the r is itself silent, but changes the following sound, so the t, d, n, l, s in rt, rd, rn, rl, rs sounds different (as they are retroflex) compared to plain t, d, n, l, s (as they are alveolar).

[@06k-malikk44]

Hej! Tack så mycket ☺️

[@FunSwedish]

😁

[@abirmaria8873]

I love watching your videos interesting and helpful I wish you can make a video to guide us " people who wants to learn swedish " and tell us about efficient ways to improve our speaking skills .. completely in love with swedish language and culture ❤❤ much love ❤❤

[@FunSwedish]

Thanks for your comment. Glad you like them and find them helpful ❤❤ If you want to learn Swedish in a more efficient way you should sign up to our courses elansutbildning.com/

[@CouchPolyglot]

Tack så mycket, jag tycker att det är mycket användbart :)

[@FunSwedish]

Tack! 😍

[@wangyixiang6538]

😭😭😭I failed to pronounce the rolled R, it is hard!!! is there any tips? Thank you

[@silvinagonzalezgoytia3644]

Älskar dig Daniela du är min favorit Fun Swedish teacher!!!!

[@FunSwedish]

😍😍

[@mmzddx96]

Hehe, I love the color of your sweater -- royal blue. So beautiful.

[@FunSwedish]

Oh thank you!

[@mmzddx96]

@@FunSwedish you are so welcome. My favorite color -- orange. Why? 'Cuz it's not everyday you'll meet a person whose favorite color is orange.

[@hilmiyafia]

Hello, thank you so much for explaining, but I heard some swedish pronounce the R as L, is this true?

[@mab3900]

As a French speaker, it is also hard to do a rolled R. I become quite okay, but it depends, I still struggle sometimes, but not as much as I used to. I would be easy for me to have a southern Swedish accent... but I'm trying to have a standard Swedish accent, so no I won't

[@FunSwedish]

Keep trying and you will get there 😊

[@MrMirville]

Tack sao mycket.

[@FunSwedish]

Varsågod :)

[@michaelsamaan902]

MAGNIFICENT😍

[@FunSwedish]

Tack 😍

[@ralfschramm4067]

Tack sa mycket! Det passar mig bra, eftersom jag lär mig ocksa Ryska och Spanska - Rrrrrrollin' ! Beste Grüße, atentamente, Ralf

[@FunSwedish]

Vad rrrrrrroligt!

[@Istomina_patterns]

Hello! Thanks for this video, it's very helpful! I can hear in words "barn, karta, bord, farlig" you pronounce vowels as long sounds though in videos about vowels you said that it should be short before two consonants. Why is it so?

[@FunSwedish]

Glad it was helpful! Nice! You are observant and have a good ear 👏 The rule is a "rule of thumb". It works almost 100% of the time with double consonant when the consonant is the same. eLL, måTT and things like that. Also with "same consonant sound". Like boCK (since C and K have the same sound... sometimes). But again, is a "rule of thumb" with quite a few exceptions. R is tricky here... you have all examples of week Rs... rn, rt, rf, rl which in Swedish they can be very silent. Almost as if it wasnt there. There are also expections with compound words. Which should be really thought as 2 words Ut + tal = uttal (pronunciation). And the U is still long 😅.

[@mcgibs]

I was wondering why "hamburgare" had a Y sound for the G despite it being before an A, but then I remembered it's a place that it's named after. Hamburg, pronounced like "hamburry". Thus, "hamburY-are".

[@FunSwedish]

Exactly! Great connection 😊. You will surely remember it that way!

[@mcgibs]

@@FunSwedish There's also a clear marketing opportunity if someone from say, Göteborg made their own kind of burger. Göteborgaren.

[@cillycubing2]

I have some trouble pronouncing hard R's in Swedish. I know what it sounds like, but I can only pronounce normal and soft R's. There may be something I have to do with my mouth for it.

[@FunSwedish]

It takes some time getting used to it. Depends a bit on what your mother tongue is. If you speak Spanish for example, it often comes easy. If you speak French... almost impossible 😅. The good thing is... there is the Skåne accent that doesnt have the strong rolling Rs. So it could still work for you.

[@srinivasanastro5679]

Thank you sister

[@FunSwedish]

You’re welcome 😊

[@niightluvr]

Hej Daniella, jag har en fråga. Om det finns ett R och S tillsammans men de är olika ord gör det fortfarande ett ”Shh” ljud? (Som i ”är smart?”) tack i förväg!!

[@FunSwedish]

Det är en jättebra fråga! När vi pratar jättesnabbt så kan det faktiskt låta som "SH-ljud" när R+ S är tillsammans även om det är i olika ord som i "äR + Smart" men beror lite på personen och dialekten.

[@niightluvr]

@@FunSwedishtack så mycket!! Jag älskar din kanal :)

[@raimat66]

Well, the R isn't totaly gone in "barn". The sound compination RN, and even the others you mention, is called "assimilations". R and N in "barn" is made more in the back in the mouth than the sound R in "bar". You don't say "ban", you make an assimilation-sound with R and N combined. "Ba(r)n".

[@nyyminuolivaara]

Wohoo, I always thought " torg " was pronounced " tuurg " in Swedish but we Finns have apparently stolen the word because it's pronounced more like the same way we write it in Finnish: " tori ". Also basket in Finnish is " kori ". 🤦

[@FunSwedish]

Nice! Good to find the similarities!

[@butterbutter891]

well, Swedes and finns have had some shared history at one point

[@michaelsamaan902]

excuse me daniella ....i have a question please...... the letter before r +(d,n,t,l) ,how we spell it long or short ? Thx

[@berenicetrevanion3366]

I'm no expert, but I believe you should use the short vowel sound when it is followed by 2 consonants. Good luck! :)

[@herrbonk3635]

@@berenicetrevanion3366 No, two consonants denotes a short vowel/syllable, although most clearly seen when both are the same (as in matt versus mat, fatt versus fat, dagg versus dag, and so on).

[@berenicetrevanion3366]

@@herrbonk3635 You are right, I made a mistake while writing it down. I'll correct it now to avoid confusion

[@egonjensen6506]

kan du ämna en hel lektion åt ordet NOG och förklara meningen med hjälp av några meningar? för mig verkar ordet onödvändigt i de flesta meningarna jag sett.

[@DeeptarkoChowdhury]

So an iceberg is basically an ice mountain. Makes sense.

[@wietzevanderwijk3169]

I am in Småland. Here they don't pronounce the Rs at all. If I'm not sure if I have to pronounce the R then I just don't😂

[@shadowpastathetf2kidwithau706]

Röv- SHADOW YOU PROMISE YOU WOULDN'T SWEAR!

[@Yohann_Rechter_De-Farge]

Tack 🌹🌷🌺

[@salilsahani2721]

Tack :)

[@FunSwedish]

😊

[@itchysnakes14]

R var så svår att lära sig tack så mycket för den😭

[@efutabyiringiro8460]

Thanks 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@FunSwedish]

😍😍

[@silvinagonzalezgoytia3644]

In Skåne double RR...is pronounced almost like French rr!!!

[@FunSwedish]

Very true! If you can't make the rolling R sound, you can always say you have a Skåne accent there 😜

[@asheimmortal]

Rolling the r is the only thing I can't do.

[@ujocdod]

Hmm, I don't think the R has that much to do with the y-sound, I tthink it mostly works like this in the end of words (in singular, indefinite form) and L does the same thing(like in fälg, helg, älg, or sälg(a plant)) Sometimes it works like this even without the R or L, for example: Mig, dig and säg. But not in the middle of all words like smörgås or organ but in the middle of other words like orgel or burgare. One exception I found is morgon where the g in many dialects is completely silent, very confusing!

[@francisdec1615]

That's called assimilation. Spelling pronuciation of "morgon" sounds very posh/dated if you aren't reading from a book or singing. "Smörgås" is a compound word "smör-gås" and "organ" is a loan word, hence the different pronunciation. "Mig", "dig", "säg" might have spelling pronunciation when singing old songs or reading poems. The Swedish spelling approximately reflects how Swedish sounded in the 1300s.

[@paulaswaim8434]

Pretty sweater!

[@FunSwedish]

Tack!

[@thomasjonsson2766]

The way R is pronounced in southern Sweden is more like the Germans or the French prounounce their Rs. We southerners also have a lot of diftongues like ao insted of a. Thats dialects .

[@brunkosaurusrex]

help! i cant roll my r's!

[@Alphasos5]

I can’t roll my r’s 😢😢

[@veskapavlova9368]

“SveRige”- också en lagom R.

[@adamshahg3221]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

Ryssland karta

[@MrVoodemar]

watching plenty of matches of Bjorn Borg & Stefan Edberg, I've never heard their surnames pronounced correctly, either by commentators or umpires... well, I guess I've never watched them on the courts with Swedish commentary

[@FunSwedish]

😂😂 Next level... watch sports with Swedish commentary

[@fashionstylerrique7112]

Swedish belgiums germs italians are the funniest coolest languages human off all times true

[@FunSwedish]

Glad to hear you find the language fun!

[@fashionstylerrique7112]

@@FunSwedish what is your name?

[@melchoraducal6613]

❤❤❤❤❤🎉

[@RobertBDANIEL-ouest7est]

TACK SA JATTEMYCKET ! ! 🎉🎉🎉

[@FunSwedish]

Tack till dig!!

[@esdet105]

Barn are born.

[@amiwho3464]

Its not exactly the same. The R and N has to be merged even more

[@esdet105]

@@amiwho3464 Ha ha! I was referring to the etymology.

[@amiwho3464]

@@esdet105 Oh sry then :)

[@Mawnt]

Haha "urshäkta"

[@FunSwedish]

Pretty much, yes! You go it!

[@人生は学ぶためのものです]

Jag trodde att djävulen var en svensk o_0 Nu är hon en vacker ängel o_0 väldigt roligt att lära svenska språket...

[@人生は学ぶためのものです]

@@Mawnt vad gör du här ? det är häx territorium 0_o farlig plats 0_o