How to say I, Y, and U (Swedish Vowels)

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[@sayitinswedish]

Sorry for the red part, something happened during rendering and the project file is acting up.

[@erexford]

It's totally ok! I thought it was a special effect! hahaha

[@viktoriaaros3412]

what about red T-shirt with "media off-line" title? )))))))))))))))))))

[@sayitinswedish]

@@viktoriaaros3412 lol, that would be something

[@ronnipaints6128]

Hi and good day I have an inquiry. There is a Swede that works with me. If I speak to him in swedish will he think I am flirting with him. You see in America we are mostly asses who refuse to learn other languages and think everyone should speak English to us "as if " English came from America. Lol You see, I used to live in Germany. I feel like I was blessed that the Germans went out of their way to make me feel at home, by speaking English to me. My coworker doesn't need for me to speak Swedish to him though, for he speaks perfect English. However, I feel it would be a kindness and show respect if I were to learn to speak with him at least a little bit. I absolutely hate the way people in America think " your in America now, speak American". I really hate that attitude and is rude. If the Deutsch felt that way when I lived with theml, I would have never have learned to speak in Deutsch. Anyways, I love languages it's my passion and my honor to speak your language. I am also learning Welsch and Hebrew a little bit at a time.

[@manaralghanem7864]

Omg. finally someone talks about this ridiculous compressed i sound that I hear in Göteborg and no one really talks about it. Tack för idag !!

[@jneiberger]

I have a friend from Gothenburg who makes that sound and it sounds so odd to me. It's almost like air stops flowing through her mouth and she's humming an "i" sound. I can't figure it out and I can't do it in a word.

[@peggyeaston1575]

mostly women

[@athb4hu]

Kind of more like a centralised vowel, Romanian î, â, north Welsh u or Korean 으.

[@netlang]

Great video. However, it doesn't help me with understanding a certain vowel produced mainly by women. That one doesn't seem to be explained here. I assume that I refer to the same one mentioned in other replies.

[@lmatt88]

@@netlang he did though here, posh sound made by some women lol

[@АлексейРоманович-т1г]

The Swedish pronunciation is so difficult to get used to but it's so beautiful. 😭 I'm so determined to learn this language

[@Bexi222]

I feel like you read my mind - I’ve been struggling with these pronunciations for months!

[@sayitinswedish]

They seem to be the more commonly struggled with sounds 😁

[@jakoblangenberg]

Tack så mycket för den här videon! Det uttalet av ´I, Y och U´ var allting fascinerade för mig. Jag visste inte att det finnas något som kallar ´viby-i´! Tack igen!

[@sayitinswedish]

Tack för att du tittade!

[@erexford]

I love listening to your voice! But, anyway, I also really like how you spoke the sounds slowly and clearly and gave us lots of chances to echo after you! We can't miss now!!! No excuses!

[@sayitinswedish]

Hopefully you won't ;)

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

No excuses?? Did you master the vowels? I'm incredibly impressed. And jealous if you did. I struggle so hard to hear the difference, much less say them. It's like being "tone deaf" and trying to sing.😥

[@kianascorner]

Was struggling with this! Thank you so much for the lesson

[@bramblebop1904]

Yep

[@TimothyOBrien1958]

In 1984, my first Swedish gf and I went to a gym. When she was signing up, and they asked her to spell her name, it was the first time I saw the difference in Y. Her maiden name was Nyman. She began to spell it the Swedish way, and quickly changed.

[@allisonrasmussen7346]

I'm so grateful for this video. I'm learning Swedish and I kept obsessing over my lack of authenticity on these darn long vowels!!! Still hard, but I'm so glad it's actually a thing and I'm not crazy

[@mandz7965]

I've been struggling for so long to understand this vowels, so thank you for paying attention to the details!

[@sayitinswedish]

I'm happy!

[@marioskomnos4661]

More than perfect! Very clear and helpful. I hear the differences but so hard to pronounce them. I'll learn it anyway! Thank you!

[@nievesvarela8308]

Thank you for mentioning that third weird i sound. I never managed to get it right and felt I was failing. Great video!

[@sayitinswedish]

Yes it's definitely not required to sound Swedish at all.

[@narutodayo]

This is so great. Thank you!

[@narutodayo]

Man, this is so amazingly helpful.

[@bramblebop1904]

OMG, I was praying for this. Thank you!

[@sayitinswedish]

All you gotta do is ask 😉

[@bramblebop1904]

👏

[@clascaulfieldjr3653]

Jag älskar din skjorta !

[@sayitinswedish]

Tack! Du kan köpa T-shirten i min shop ;)

[@quackquack7595]

2:07 idk why but you sounded to me like you're saying "siğil" in Turkish. "Ğ" is a hard sound to make and its quite hard for foreigners to pronounce the sound.

[@sayitinswedish]

haha lol ok? :D to me, I'm just saying i.

Ğ is silent in turkish , it only lenghtens the preceding and following vowel

[@ayem4425]

The kit I used to learn Swedish had that weird almost cartoony throaty I and Y that you used but when I used that when visiting friends in Norkoping they said it sounded like it was from some other part of the country.

[@sayitinswedish]

I mean, Norrköping Swedish is far from "media pronunciation" so sure you might not sound like you're from there. I'm not an expert on that dialect so I can't tell you if their I and Y are different but I don't think so.

[@inokadissanayake7674]

Thank you very much , I can understand clear two differences between swedish and english pronounciation .

[@SpaceMonke99]

It feels to me as though you relax the mouth muscles gradually more between i, y and u. Do you get that impression or do I have my wires crossed? :P

[@daphnekapsambelis8790]

Very helpful! Thank you so much!

[@jessicapinkham8286]

8:03 lmao Thanks for the help! I'm still a little fuzzy on it but I'll keep practicing!

[@thorndust5329]

What is he saying there? I at least want it written in Swedish lol

[@thefalcon3154]

Tak sa mycket..you are making Very useful videos for learner..

[@sayitinswedish]

Tack så mycket!

[@zcxzdsaxcvz9025]

thanks a lot🎉🎉

Swedish is one of my most favorite languages

[@sayitinswedish]

Mine too!

[@thefalcon3154]

Du ar larare no.ett..tak..i am beginner..I have joined SFI last week..the school is closed from today due to Corona virus.😭

[@Moneyaddthenmultiply]

That funny i sound is my favorite thing about Swedish :)

[@lovewillwinnn]

My friend in Üddevalla is called Sofia. Love that “i”

[@sweco92]

Hi, I’m learning Swedish and even though I understand you mentioned *it’s not necessary* to learn that phoneme, can you please make a video on how to make _Stockholm/Göteborg i_ you mentioned? Please.

[@sayitinswedish]

It's a weird one, I barely know how to explain it.

[@lanorothwolf2184]

I nailed it on the first try. What english th sound is for t the sweedish long I is for normal i. Just say i while touching your upper front teeth and put your jaw a little bit forward while doing it.

[@sayitinswedish]

How do you get any vowel sound when your tongue is touching your upper front teeth? :D

[@lanorothwolf2184]

@@sayitinswedish Idk man, it's very lightly touching and vibrates a little, it approximates the sound quite well, at least to my ears. I guess the proper way would be just behind your teeth, like a really forward I as opposed to the normal one which is mid-back?

[@lanorothwolf2184]

@@sayitinswedish The tounge is touching the theeth on the I sound. I can see it when I slow down the video. I think I was right, it's like normal i sound but you're almost humming it in between your teeth.

[@lanorothwolf2184]

@@sayitinswedish And btw, you can even have consonats act as vowels, such as trilled R in slavic languages (backed by shwa)

[@luizsilveiramc]

The long "i"in swedish is a little bit different than the double EE in english, like in "feel", "cheese", etc.. It sounds more nasal to me, I always realized this difference in swedish compared to other languages.

[@sayitinswedish]

Yes, there are small variations in single sounds between most languages, but it's the closest approximation.

[@athb4hu]

Thanks, that was really helpful. I can kind of get the difference between Swedish y and German ü now.

[@sayitinswedish]

You can check out my brand new video about this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWaVaah-j9Vjr6M

[@alexandrefrota727]

Hej! It would be easier if you try to show us where is the tongue position I hear that this letter "i" has 2 sound a regular "i" as in English and when I hear the sound in a isolated way It sounds like "ɨ" in russian or even a danish stød. Syl I hear /sɨl or sið̠/ like the word MED with stød. thanks /θænks/

[@sayitinswedish]

The "stöd" is a glottal stop, so it's not the same thing but I know what Danish sound you're thinking of. I also know the Russian sound but that one is almost impossible for me to make so it's not the same either. The Swedish long /i/ sound is a more open sound which is made further in the front than the English sound. The tongue suqeezes the sound a bit more in the middle than when you would make a short i, or an English e. That's all I can say. Note though, that it's not as "compressed" as the extreme variant people sometimes hear in Gothenburg and Stockholm. That's called the Viby-I and it's not required to sound Swedish.

[@bergman6581]

I hope Netflix don't go broke. That's the only movie app that give you swedish films and swedish series with swedish subtitles so you can listen the pronunciation with the written words.

[@sayitinswedish]

Awesome, isn't it?

[@bergman6581]

@@sayitinswedish yes it is. It is a huge help because I can pause the phrases and analyze the syntax or I can go back and forth between English and Spanish to Swedish subtitles.

[@sarad.2305]

Tack sååå mycket!!!!!!

[@sayitinswedish]

Var så god!

[@engorgioarmani3381]

Are they the same with English long and short vowels? Like ee in feel and i in fit.

[@sayitinswedish]

They don't sound entirely the same but close enough.

[@bitabozorgi3471]

Thank you 🙏 i am watching it more and more to learn.. But really confusing

[@smithlo4092]

I feel in Swedish, the U and O are very identical in both a) form of the mouth and b) the sound. Could someone point me out the different?

[@sayitinswedish]

They are as identical as the English words tuck and took.

[@smithlo4092]

@@sayitinswedish tack :D

[@jontyfpine]

Have you got any tips for differentiating between å and o? They seem almost worse then I and Y

[@sayitinswedish]

Well that's a different story since O can be pronounced either like /u/ or /o/ (å) but I and Y are never pronounced like eachother. And no, there is no rule to this if you don't know the etymology of a word. You just have to learn it (=

[@rafigs1]

Thanks for the lesson!!

[@velvetvideos063]

Oh my gosh I can hear the long vowel on my tongue and the short vowel in my throat. Not sure if that’s right…? But thank you so much for the teaching!!

[@sayitinswedish]

That sounds like something in the right direction!

[@storrodmaskin7718]

I have a question could you please help me out with something ???

[@sayitinswedish]

What's your question?

[@storrodmaskin7718]

@@sayitinswedish Oh you really answer me ? I didnt expect that. Tack :) Ok following thing im from Germany and right now im learning swedish. Some day maybe I would even mind about to move to Sweden but at first I will spend some time there. Question now Ive heard you in Sweden pay a lot of things with card and almost not with real money. We in Germany have the Euro so how do I pay in Sweden ? For example the Cards we have here are unable to pay with in Slowakia. If I come to Sweden for Holliday can I still pay somewhere with Krona or do I have to open up a Conto in Sweden ?

[@storrodmaskin7718]

Sorry for bad english

[@sayitinswedish]

@@storrodmaskin7718 du könntest wahrscheinlich deine deutsche Karte verwenden, Maestro und V-Pay sollten auch in Schweden funktionieren.

[@storrodmaskin7718]

@@sayitinswedish Oh Ok thats usefull. So will it automatically convert the Euros into Krona ?

[@grzegorz458]

Perfect explanation!

[@sayitinswedish]

I'm glad I could help! Where are you from, if I may ask?

[@grzegorz458]

I am from Poland. Now I am going through all your pronunciation films. I may have questions afterwords :)

[@SolarLingua]

Now this is freaking interesting. German native here and I noticed that many of your short vowels are like our long vowels. And we have even other short vowels, that Swedish doesn't have...

[@sayitinswedish]

True, but the German vowels aren't as open as the Swedish ones.

[@viktoriaaros3412]

Thank you very much for this great explanation! Swedish is too beautiful langueage to pronounce its word incorrectly!

[@xkissinger7956]

Hi! Tusen tack for your lessons! Oh, please make one on how to correctly pronounce SKJ-, SK-, STJ, and others from that team, taaaack! I am a beginner and have problems with that stuff :,( P.S. Subscribed ^^

[@sayitinswedish]

Very, very good suggestion!

[@marclawson2536]

Would you consider producing a video which helps new Swedish speakers hear the difference between the spoken han and hon?

[@sayitinswedish]

Hearing the difference between han and hon shouldn't be that difficult, it's like the difference between between, let's say, Ron and run.

[@pazalejo441]

Thanks i learned a lot from your videos since i am not so good to pronounce the vowels.

[@sayitinswedish]

I'm happy I could be useful 🙃

[@Marysedits]

When he said it's not I and I And again I and I It's I and I And all of them sound the same to me😂😂😂

[@sayitinswedish]

uh oh, I realize it was a bit confusing

[@plainjane7023]

That damn I and Y sounds the same *crying in english” 😂😂

[@sayitinswedish]

Noooo

[@bonbon1995]

yeah I feel like if you can't see the person's mouth, it's the same

[@PaulVinonaama]

Y and U are even more similar. You Swedes should change into Fenno-Swedish accent; that's much easier to understand:)

[@PaulVinonaama]

The long u and long y sound almost undistinguishable for a Finnish ear.

[@sayitinswedish]

They are similar.

[@ArnavAcharyaTech]

Thanks

[@sayitinswedish]

Var så god.

[@adrien437]

2:59 I came here for Swedish, not Latin!😂 thank you for your tips, I needed help for the Y

[@sayitinswedish]

Haha!

[@hellomynameisjoenl]

Lira lyra (play the lyre)

[@mariols3006]

I think I got the y and i But I still confuse the u sound it’s hard to pronounce:,(

[@mightyxt]

J in Swedish sounds like [j] as in yoyo. Y in Swedish sounds like [y].

[@sayitinswedish]

Correct

[@lucaspugliese2548]

Jag lärde faktisk svenska med det posh I:ET (och faktisk dess avrundade motsvarighet Y:ET- posh Y:ET), som om de var rikssvenska!!

[@punmije]

the regular I (short & long) i actually can pronounce, but the posh one - impossible. I don't even know where to start on that one.

[@sayitinswedish]

No need, so don't worry

[@xkukubax]

In Polish we specialize in weird consonants but man, those Swedish vowels… I feel like I might never get them to sound right.

[@sayitinswedish]

It's tricky!

[@exelentation1]

Good and useful video Joakim, tack, keep the good work. Jag hoppas att arbeta och bo i Sverige någon dåg, Jag är en bra invandrare...;)...och jag är en musiker också...and rockers kick ass, lol !!! Hälsningar pal !!

[@sayitinswedish]

Hello fellow musician 🤘

[@125200able]

I cannot believe that i maneged to say this compressed I and I'M BRAZILIAN 😂😂😂😂😂

[@sayitinswedish]

Congrats!

[@LambertTech09]

Tell us how, Isabella!

[@barbarashin2285]

Love the I'm a Swedie tee shirt!

[@sayitinswedish]

Hehe

[@RoxGirl88]

The Word Lymmel somehow reminds me of the German Word Lümmel!

[@sayitinswedish]

That's because it's the same word.

[@same311]

Hello! Someone told me the name Matteus is a Swedish name. If so, how is Matteus pronounced?

[@sayitinswedish]

Matteus exists in Swedish, sure but it's a, I guess, Latin name. /ma'te:ɵs/

[@Elias854]

I am from Sweden and i no thos words i can say som words like flys flugor

[@Vinterfrid]

I can understand if foreigners find this difficult - even as a native Swede I find his attempt to explain the pronounciation of the letter "I" very hard to understand.

[@sayitinswedish]

ok

[@oceanoliu6239]

coooool

[@sayitinswedish]

right ooooon

[@TheRuthlessRuth]

So how do learn a language if you're tone deaf?

[@sayitinswedish]

I'm sure you can, it's not all about pronunciation ;)

[@persallnas5408]

Ditt långa i är betydligt mer lidingöskt än vad jag (och en stor del av sverige utanför...) använder.

[@sayitinswedish]

Ah fast nä, då har du inte hört hur ett Lidingö-I låter.

[@persallnas5408]

@@sayitinswedish Ja har hört fåglarna där säjja pip så...

[@lovewillwinnn]

Lol. You forgot F I K A 🧁 ☕️

[@sobiailyas2908]

Hej’ Är du där?

[@sayitinswedish]

alltid

[@sobiailyas2908]

I can't pronouncing the word U So how can??

[@sobiailyas2908]

How can learn swedish?? I m confused

[@sayitinswedish]

@@sobiailyas2908 ​I'm sure you can, it's almost like "oo" in "loot"... a super rough approximation, but at least it's something to begin with. Start from there. If you want to learn Swedish with some free lessons, check out sayitinswedish.com for that

[@sobiailyas2908]

Tack

[@ronnipaints6128]

The letter in i" in every other language is ee. So I got this one.😁

The reason why Joakim has a big forehead, It's due to him having a big 🧠 I love your content, Keep it up

[@bramblebop1904]

Üwь. Dayum.

[@revenge425]

I've been listening to this.. but all your examples sounds exactly the same for me 😅😅

[@sayitinswedish]

Ouch

[@lifeproblemsolver4200]

Voewol without y letter name Sri answer me sir

[@sayitinswedish]

Sorry, I don't understand your question.

[@mariols3006]

Esto es confuso jsjsjsjs

[@sayitinswedish]

Aye caramba

[@user-it8kw3wy2y]

Never liked that sound either! Sounds like those swedes are sick, sinus pressure eller någonting🤣

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

I adore you. But my American CAN'T hear the difference between Fira & Fyra. I listened with my eyes closed, and when you said "Fira", I thought you were saying "four". When I was a child in Sweden, and my Swedish friends tried to teach me to speak Swedish, when we got to the vowels, I thought they were making fun of me. Fortunately, I wasn't particularly sensitive to people teasing me, and their efforts led to a lot of laughter all around. But as I listen to you, I realize they WEREN'T making "fun" of me. They were sincerely trying to help me. As you are, here. It's such a weird phenomenon. Some allophones we weren't raised with initially...just escape our ears forever. I KNOW "fira" and "fyra" sound very different to you. To me...the difference is SO SUBTLE, I can't distinguish it.

[@victorfergn]

I think spanish speakers would kill themselves if they listen to this, interesting short i (like a mixture between English i and Spanish i, although Spanish i can be whatever you want it to be... that's why Spanish Speakers can't hear for shit, to them it's all the same vowel... vowels in spanish have a very laxed control of quality xD) Swedish vowels might be ideal for me because I love making weird sounds like these, although I'm sure I'll make them in a very exaggerated way and swedish people might think I have a mental problem or something.

[@aaronhenderson1625]

Man… I have agonized over what I call the Swedish radio “I” sound for like two months. Trying to make myself pull it off derailed my language learning entirely. And I don’t think it even sounds great. Is it just a pretentious thing?

[@mohammadrizwan9795]

ഇല്ല 😂

[@AlesyaAlexandrova]

I can't hear the difference 😅 what is wrong with me

[@Wigant-wc7to]

You are born in wrong country! 😂

[@Tr.-nf3kc]

I recommend "Vuxnas lärande Karlskoga kommun" yt-channel. Nothing wrong with this video but I managed to learn a correct pronunciation through that channel when I could see the word mechanic cause it has pictures showing what is happening inside of mouth, what is a correct position of mouth and tounge, etc.

[@AnastasiiaS-yt5kc]

I've always noticed Swedish letters are pretty similar with Russian

[@sayitinswedish]

Assuming you mean the pronunciation here.

[@musicalmarion]

Gawd : / I find these so hard

[@sayitinswedish]

Aaww :(

[@luiszapata6864]

dear god... these vowels are impossible to imitate :(

[@sayitinswedish]

Hang in there!

[@Jenny-qx2qk]

I cannot hear the difference. Very confusing.

[@sayitinswedish]

If you look at my mouth you see that there is a difference and it's something you need to tune your ears to because there are words where only the vowel changes.

[@suz0000]

Similar? I can barely hear the difference !!

[@sayitinswedish]

Then you need to practice! It's important for understanding.

[@Zlnfgz]

Still could not understand a thing.. 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[@sayitinswedish]

Too bad

[@Zlnfgz]

@@sayitinswedish Is there any video where they explain the pronunciation based on how the lips, teeth and tongue are all placed relative to each other??

[@sayitinswedish]

@@Zlnfgz that's kind of a difficult think to explain, listening and imitating should be a better approach. I haven't seen such a video.

[@Zlnfgz]

@@sayitinswedish oh..ok

[@baltic4296]

Finland Swedish is not like this.

[@sayitinswedish]

It's similar, but there U is a little bit different. Most people on here want to learn Sweden Swedish.

[@PaulVinonaama]

@@sayitinswedish Yea, but Finland Swedish is much easier!

[@ozkupelaileenyc4330]

@@PaulVinonaama I agree, it is absolutely easier

[@thefalcon3154]

I and y sounds same

[@sayitinswedish]

Not the same :(

[@thefalcon3154]

Sorry i think i cant learn Swedish..because it sounds same for me..i am from india,du är duktig inte mig..do you teach also ?

[@thefalcon3154]

@@sayitinswedish du är snäll.

[@lm9029]

​@@thefalcon3154 Late but I hope this helps somewhat: "I" here is always pronounced softer like the i in "Interesting" and never hard like "Eye" or "Ice" "Y" here is pronounced like a slightly harder "U" but with a higher pitch. It never makes a "J" sound like "yoyo" in english. I cant think of good examples but here it Y often gets confused for U rather than I due to the pitch. Y starts like a hard U but grows into a hard I sound if that makes sense. I = i Y = ui J = jiie