Danish pronunciation - The simple rules

This video gives a short review of the most simple rules for danish pronunciation.

[@rafihandrian]

grammatically danish is easy, but pronounciation is the challenge, thanks for the video man

[@musicjo2936]

It is really easy if you are a German Person because we use almost clean vowels

[@lCarlsenl]

Muhammad Rafi Handrian This video is very misinforming. He uses different vowels which only confuses.

[@Homievegetable]

except for the fact that every single fucking word has an exception

[@lukaellegaardjensen6178]

@@Homievegetable yup so true man:D!!!

[@AndrewOBannon]

Тебя еще в Дании не хватало.

[@christenagervais7303]

This is very interesting. My grandparents immigrated to Canada in the '40's. I grew up with them speaking Danish. They were from the country on Jutland. They said they spoke farmer Danish. I think they really did, because listening to your classes makes me realize how different I pronounce words! I think I might be considered quaint if I spoke in Copenhagen the way I learned. I don't get much practice anymore, but I try to keep my language and comprehension up! Thank you for sharing your classes!

[@TheMichaelK]

Maybe your grandparents even spoke sønderjysk? It’s sometimes seen rather as an own language than a dialect of Danish.

[@sindrigujonsson6278]

I am Icelandic. Back in the day when I was young ( a long, long time ago) Danish was taught as a second language in Iceland (English came later as a third language). I am used to pronoucing "-er" endings quite simply as "a". The ending always sounds like that to me as well when I stumple upon something spoken in Danish.

[@omarmuis]

Ive been digging alot for such video... iam always lost when it comes to the reading and pronouncing the danish language, now i feel a bit at ease, thank you for the effort.

[@markglynn4713]

Whilst helpful for beginners learning Danish, some of what Nicolai says is a bit misleading. The pronunciation of the endings -e in "løbe" etc is the so called "schwa", or "ə" as in the end of the English word "Father". The ending -er in biler, bøger etc is pronounced approximately like the sound in the English word "odd". In other words, Nicolai's own pronunciation does not agree with his explanation. Also, the ending -et, although often pronounced as a soft d, is just as often pronounced with a hard d, particularly in Jutland. Learners should know that both variants are correct.

[@bullibert]

Learners should know that both variants are correct. Thanx

[@victor1945]

I'm from Jutland and pronouncing the -et ending as a harder t isn't unheard of

[@madsthiesen9773]

Was just about to write the same comment, the endings -e, -er, -et and -en sounds nothing like how you say the letter e, in Danish.

[@avaes5260]

why do i think that soft d sounds like "L" ? 🤦🏻‍♀️😅

[@Nonames569]

Me sounds also L

[@theflyinggasmask]

sounds like "the" to me.

[@mysteriumvitae5338]

@@theflyinggasmask The IPA ð character usually sounds like the "the" sound, yes. But in Danish, it happens to sound more like a dark L.

[@alfredofswitzerland9321]

Mysterium Vitae exactly

[@denisposcai1102]

@@mysteriumvitae5338 I know for sure it's not a light "L", but it sounds for me like a dark "L", I'm not sure yet.

[@ankra12]

I am Norwegian married to a dane. I understand Danish quite well but the prenounciation is difficult. I am not able to say Norge(Norway) in Danish 😂 Its just impossible.

[@kahlilsykies9139]

Good greetings from America. Would you say the Danish is harder to learn than English? And which language has more phonemes(sounds)?.

[@beheshtasiddiqui900]

Okay that's great to know since I can't pronounce it too :D

[@froggobaggins3328]

@@kahlilsykies9139 as a french man , i find easier to learn english because hear it everywhere . Plus there is plenty of words similar to french but english is not an easy langage : too much rules of pronuonciation , sounds i can't even pronounce correctly because i never used them before , i keep switching between american and london pronounciation/grammar . Dansk seems easier on the grammar part/writing but once again a lot of sounds don't exist in the french vocab so it's quiete a challenge , a different one but still hard . Danish have around 17 consonants and 20 vowels and english have 24 consonants and 20 vowels Obviously it depends of many factors especially where is live in denmark/english speaker countries

[@faty31223]

@@kahlilsykies9139 i speak perfectly arabic french english spanish... But danish oh my god oh my god from where they got those pronounciations it s sooooo hard. Thank god the grammar is not big challenge, if it was so i would lose my mind 😂😂😂

[@kahlilsykies9139]

@@froggobaggins3328 There's a lot of debate as to rather English actually has 20 vowels. A lot of people say its between 12-14. Depending on the dialect. Do not switch between any Dialect of British English or any dialect of American English. Because the variants in sound and pronunciations are too great. A lot of French people say that English is hard to learn. But many learn English or some of it. How few English speakers who try to learn French, ever learn enough to complete a sentence. What sounds are found in Danish which aren't found in English?

[@japson9900]

My kids and I just attended a 3 hours "Basic Danish" course this morning here in Nuuk Greenland.. Thank you,More videos please.🥰

[@tekayohollow4705]

This really helped me start understanding the underlying fundamentals of danish so well along with a photonic correspondence and orthographic correspondence chart. I have already started figuring out how to assume pronunciation and spelling then check using a translator. I already know this is not going to work for everything, but it definitely is a great stepping stone in the right direction for someone studying the language in their spare time on their own. I truly can not thank you enough for this video!

[@ivoboksem851]

I have been trying some danish on duolingo for some weeks now during quarantaine and this helps so much with understanding pronouncing it. Like every 30 seconds I had a “oh so that’s how that works” moment

[@your_opponent]

I'm heading to Denmark for a trip now and I only have 30 mins to learn Danish before going there. This is super efficient and now suddenly Danish sounds easy! Tak!!

[@move2003ny]

this video lasted 9 minutes, so you had 21 minutes left to learn the language. Considering that you need roughly 5000 words to speak a language at B2 level, you had to learn about 250 words per minute, or 4.1 words per second for 20 minutes, with one minute left to learn all grammar rules. Easy!

[@your_opponent]

@Aries 4 I hae only been to touristic places but literally everyone speaks English, and i couldn't have proper conversation in Danish, apparently. Although this video helped me how to pronounce words in 30 minutes so it was efficient study indeed.

[@susanjensen4678]

30 mins? You know the word "tak". That will take you far. We Danes like whatever little people have bothered to learn. As you said yourself, a lot of Danes speak English. And much more understand English and are shy to speak.

[@MTMF.london]

@@susanjensen4678 If only I could speak Danish at a level most Danes speak English, I would be extremely happy!

[@susannearmstrong1611]

My parents are from the North of England - Sunderland and I'm finding that a lot of the Danish pronunciation is echoed in the way my grandparents used to pronounce words e.g gan yam for go home (hjem). Also children are bairns (barn). Fascinating.

[@ade4932]

Thank you so much for this video. I find this really helpful, especially when it is extremely hard to find good information about the pronunciation of many languages, in other words good quality videos like this without any extra hassle. So clear, good tempo and easy to follow. I would like to hear more about the pronunciation of vowels:) It is sometimes hard to hear the differences between the Danish vowels. Thank you! I really feel like I finally learned something valuable

[@ajafresun2652]

Tusind tak. I wish you made more videos, you're a very good lecturer.

[@davinderkaur3147]

I am an Indian woman .I love your way of teaching and pronouncing danish word .Thanku.

[@AlanPorteracp403]

Something tells me I'm going to be watching this channel very closely. Thank you for this series!

[@Darkhorse0000]

Extremely helpful video. To the point and easy to understand. Thank you so much.

[@tjteclai4414]

Wooow simple and easy man, you just changed my way of reading and pronuncing the words, thanks for the video man.

[@germaN87AC]

Hej Nicolaj, Mange Tak for your Danish language videos. Please produce more. I found your lessons on pronunciation very help. The switch from German to Dutch is quite easy for me with the pronunciation.

[@billps34]

Interesting. From an English speaker's perspective, that soft final -D ending sounds very much like a final -L or -LE ending in English words such as puddle, mill, dill, but when you say the -EDE ending, the D sounds almost like English "TH" in the word "the". To me, those two sounds are not the same. Clearly Danes perceive these sounds differently from non-Danes.

[@omilkhouseo]

omg yes i am so confused!! saying mad and hud have the same soft d, they sound like they are being pronounced completely differently. what a soft d is would be helpful.

[@thebestella1988]

amazing video! have been so lost on Memrise with simple question pronounciation, you’re a lifesaver! Tak!

[@sultanmahmuddon1983]

Very Useful Lessons!!!....HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!!

[@katetsymbalenko608]

Danish sounds as a rewinding audiotape

[@johnriperti3127]

This is so good, thanks. It makes somehow more sense to me now

[@tbaixinho]

super easy to follow, this is gold. Thank you for sharing! Much appreciated :-)

[@ryanbunce5550]

Absolutely adore the differences in pronunciation between danish and norwegian. Cant wait to study danish next

[@Darkhorse0000]

Most useful video on the subject. Thank you so much.

[@NovaPrima]

Thanks for this. And I enjoyed your struggle pronouncing 'pronunciation'. 😜

[@hinaglow48]

Wow u made my day i was desperate to find help relating danish language thx alot its gona help me alot

[@viliusbivainis7883]

Thanks! I have just discovered this video, it is really helpful.

[@DeSiA5]

Thank u so much, I'm studying dansk and those simple rules are very easy and well explained. Mange tak :)

[@manilynjacobsen9705]

this video is so helpful, thanks for uploading this.

[@Chris_Liam]

Tusind tak! Videoen er super flot!

[@jelains7773]

I speak portuguese, english and a bit of french. Danish is by far the hardest!

[@efrainleota2382]

Hey! which one is your native language?

[@theyeezys3769]

me too... I have Portuguese, english, Spanish, and some french/Italian

[@shura707]

Efraín Leota, I believe her native language is Portuguese.

[@shura707]

The same with me. Despite I know Danish grammar, I can't speak because of that hard pronounciation.

[@naghamkh.8872]

Jessica Lains oh great I speak Arabic,English,Portuguese and a bit of French

[@simonealicante]

Great video dreng, I sincerely love you! Mange tak for hjælpen

[@viktoria93133]

Det var utrolig nyttigt! 🙂 Tak Nicolai! 🙏

[@milorodriguez3739]

This was actually so helpful. Mange takk

[@zanzilfenriz4504]

Helped me lots, thank you!

[@MrVanmaniac]

Very useful video! Thanks a lot.

[@samanthaloraine632]

Tusind tusind tak! It helps me a lot 😄

[@soohyestellajeong5972]

Tak for videoen! Det bliver meget nemmere👍

[@MrMadmitten]

Please make more videos on Danish prononciation. This is very helpful

[@winnieq.2468]

Thanks so much for the useful video!

[@sayantandas4241]

Very nicely described, thanks.

[@cynth0984]

this was most helpful. thanks

[@Snow-pg9zl]

thanks for the video bro this video is so helpful

[@nachiketa3629]

Great video! Tusind TaK! quick question, would you have in the pipeline some video's that contain footage of Danish people speaking ? That would be very nice :)

[@deear1085]

Thank you so much, this video is so usefull! You are the best! Mange tak!

[@edjanai]

No jokes on "soft d" in the comments? Okay

[@NclinedMuzaclly]

no we're not all pervs with minds in the gutter

[@Aoderic]

lyseslukker!

[@alexysq2660]

@@NclinedMuzaclly ~HEY, Speak for YerSELF ({; D ...!!!

[@cynth0984]

no. we're here for a serious reason, man!

[@psq6214]

NclinedMuzaclly You sound like you know something about soft d

[@meganm903]

Really helpful video! Quick question, is there a rule about double consonants? For example, Løkken? Or does this only apply to the town?

[@klausjespersen]

The vowel before double consonants are shorter, I think. Danes can tell the diference between biler/biller and køler/køller

[@felipersted8961]

I'm learning Danish and it was very helful

[@liliamartinezgarcia8295]

Ofcourse is very important your video for all like me that I need to know how to pronun danish so tank you so much to do it

[@taiseeralkhader5925]

Very useful, thank you 🌹

[@nikkam.6770]

virkelig hjaelpsom, mange tak :)

[@NicolaiHolmgaard]

Det var så lidt. Husk at når du taler om noget konkret er ordet bestemt. Derfor: hjælpsomT ;-)

[@feedhyungwonplease6087]

what about "aeblet" it's not aebld right?

[@Rose_Ou]

This is my first attempt at Danish pronunciation and it sounds to me exactly like German (Arbejder - Arbeiter). German diphthongs and "r" pronunciation. So far so good :) If grammar is not the most difficult in the world I'm all in.

[@hoyunmyoung4325]

Mange tak! Det hjælper mig :)

[@519forestmonk9]

That final d sounds to me like an L. Am I missing it? For example the word "mad" sounds like "mull" to me.

[@aribari2434]

519 Forestmonk same

[@AgnesParn]

Yes! I tried to explain this to a Dane and she did not get me at all :D

[@mep6302]

519 Forestmonk Soft danish d is like th in the word "this". It's not an L at all

[@mep6302]

AgnesParn It's because you're wrong

[@paulredmond1327]

yes, a lot. Danish d's sound like L so, I'm living in Lenmark

[@tomfamily1149]

This video makes Danish language much easier.

[@emmanuelmedeiros1991]

Very good video, thank you.

[@mariasudholt1527]

Thank you, it's very useful

[@goatphilososphy]

Could remember almost instantly

[@fatemeligvan4876]

It is great. Thanks

[@minodyuj2206]

Very useful video ^^ Thanks a lot ^^

[@davialmeida6181]

Please, make a video about the "stød" and how to apply it in pronunciation! Mange takk!

[@oufraagaardlarsen6407]

D is soft... You can use it in "Han gav mig et hårdt Stød" (He gave me a hard "push")

[@oksemoerbrad]

Take two words: Bus (meaning Bus) and Hus (meaning house) The first one is straight forward to pronounce like you would in english (except the u sound is a little different... you would pronounce the "u" like you would pronounce a german "u" or a french "ou" "Hus" however is pronounced almost like: "Hu'es" Or imagine you're saying the word "Hu" and then saying a "ssss"-sound afterwards. "Stød" is when you stop the air flow on vowels, but unfortunatly theres no way if knowing where to do it

[@jelains7773]

I speak portuguese, english and a bit of french. But danish is by far the hardest!

[@kahlilsykies9139]

Greetings from America. Why do you think that Danish is the hardest? I find languages like Danish to have usually easy pronunciations. And easier or less complex grammar. Than most languages. With the exception of German and to a lesser extent Norwegian. They aren't inflected, or grammatically complex like French or Spanish is. I am proficient in Spanish(speaking, comprehending, reading). But I can barely make a statement or ask a question in French. I find its pronunciations to be so strange and difficult. Then theres the complex grammar. But apparently its different for you.

[@simones9365]

Hello, I have just found your channel. Thank you for your videos! I am trying to learn how to pronounce the words in a song called "Vi To Er Smeltet Sammen". It’s beautiful, but some of the words seem unpronounceable :-( Would you consider teaching the most difficult sounds in this song? Some sounds seem to come from the back of the throat and I just can’t seem to reproduce them. For example, "svigtet." My throat actually kind of hurts when I try 😁. At least according to the pronunciation on google. On your lesson, when you said "mad" (food), to my ears, that sounded like "meld." As if there is an L after the "e." Did I mishear that? My native language is Portuguese, so very different from the Germanic languages. Thanks again!

[@DKaldes]

Nice video, I want to start learning danish because I have a friend who lives in denmark

[@joalexsg9741]

You explain it all most clearly, tak skal du have. I still find the Danish spelling quite hard, though. But I´m glad that at least Danish does not have tones, oh my, that would make me give it up - that´s why I´ve quitted trying to learn Norwegian (Bokmål), and that would be an utter pity, cause, except for the Danish 'd' at the end of words, I find the language most beautiful!

[@JCMH]

The Norwegian tones are less difficult than the Danish _stød._

[@akosbacso2187]

Very helpful thanks man

[@miraqa2460]

Nice going, tanks a lot 👌👍👏

[@yunassaxer7119]

great!

[@user-di7wq9tl6d]

Thank so much ❤

[@ahmednabil4250]

Thank you,

[@Nicholas_Burmeister]

Thanks for this video! That soft 'd' is gonna be the rough one. It sounds a bit like an english soft L, but maybe its just that the audio isn't able to effectively show how that sound comes out. Or maybe I'm hard of hearing :)

[@markglynn4713]

Yes, it can sound like an "L" until the ear adjusts. However, its really just a very soft "th" sound, and the tongue remains behind the lower teeth and is very loose. It helps trying to imitate a drunk person slurring his or her words!

[@giuseppef6827]

Nicholas Burmeister yes, I also hear a sound which is closer to "l" than to "d".

[@joalexsg9741]

It´s as Mark says, Nicholas and Giuseppe, it´s actually a voiced th, i.e. /dh/, pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the lower teeth (the tongue tip turning backwards). However, it does sound for us foreigners as a retroflex 'l', no doubt, I still think this way even after I´ve learned it´s articulation point and try and pronunce words with this phoneme, lol. It´s the only thing in Danish pronunciation which I do not like, at all cause, even though I do find the stod difficult, at least it gives the language a charming touch.

[@ha181293]

Nicholas Burmeister it's like 'the' I'm talking about the sound you make with the letters 'th' when you say 'the' in english That is the soft d, a hard d is usually used when d is the first letter of the word or in the end combined with a t

[@alexysq2660]

To "English-speakers' ears", at least, it very much *does* sound like a ( ...rather 'clipped'... ) letter "L/l", in fact; and is, apparently, a device by which Danish-speakers delight in torturing and tormenting all the rest of us ({; D ....!!!

[@ejsafara456]

Thank you man, much better ^^

[@trangnguyen-sf4md]

thank you so much. It will help me a lot. but it's still hard to remember:))

[@joshadams8761]

I wonder whether there have been efforts to reform Danish spelling to better reflect pronunciation. Spanish and German have done this.

[@azndarkrevilo]

Thank you for this lesson. Two questions though: 1. The a in "Mad" (Food) sounds to my ear like two sounds combined (/æ/ and /ə/), and 2. the "soft d" sounds like only placing the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth, touching the hard palet, is that correct? Another observation: P, T, and K between consonants, as you mentioned, seem to follow the same rules in English, where the p, t, and k in words like "speak," "student," and "skin" are more like b, d, and g, except being still voiceless. Am I correct?

[@NicolaiHolmgaard]

Your first question touches upon one of the difficult things about Danish pronunciation. You are not correct though, but the a in mad (food) is different then the a in Abe (monkey), the reason is that all Danish vowels can be pronounced in three different ways. The pronunciation relates to the combining letters, and it is not easily explained. Regarding your second question; yes it is similar but p,t,k are not silent, they are very much pronounced.

[@corinacorina666]

Thank you. Tak.

[@yoandez300]

I think I finally got the soft D ,thanks to you !

[@tomascarignano5002]

Fantastic

[@user-dd4tf4zk1q]

Super useful!

[@AviadLori]

Excellent video, Tak Nicolai. BTW, there's a small typo in the last slide - "D should *note*..." needs to be changed to should not"

[@ahmedsubhan3979]

Aviad Lori

[@BlackieNuff]

Having Danish heritage, I have always wanted to try and learn some "motherland tongue". I thought German was tricky! haha, Danish is going to be a challenge, but a fun one, I think. Thanks for the vid! It will make my attempts at reading/translating the written/texted Danish word a little more simple, and hopefully accurate.

[@MTMF.london]

German grammar is indeed tricky but the pronunciation is very easy compared with Danish.

[@pabloyebrin5108]

thanks :) very useful.

[@FtwXXgigady]

Are most symbols in danish so short, for example, mand sounds way shorter than it looks. It sounds like a small expulsion of air rather than a word.

[@misse94]

Well it dosen't take long to pronounce mand (actually it's only man beacuse the letter d is silent) lol That's why I guess

[@henry5788]

Fantastic video! alot of mysteries debunked :P

[@vanderoliver7129]

Very good video!

[@NicolaiHolmgaard]

+Vander Oliver Thank you

[@Duster217]

Did you have more online material? You refer to class in the video. If so I’d love to see it up here, some of the best danish material on YT but only 2 videos😢

[@koteshwarpanuganti3507]

Hi important information. Otherwise it was big puzzle for me in learning Danish

[@alexandrapedersen829]

Hvad er dit fædreland?

[@Escviitash]

Gosh! endnu en der mener at dialekt dansk er standard dansk. Så tror jeg da lige jeg vil erklære min dialekt for standard dansk. når "d" kommer efter en vokal udtales det "j" "de" er stumt i enden af ord men forlænger den forrige vokal. "mad" = [mæj] "fløde" = [flø:]

[@Aoderic]

Hvor er din dialekt fra? jeg er selv Sydsjællænder, og jeg syntes også at hans udtale var lidt off.

[@Escviitash]

@@Aoderic Jeg er fra Aarhus. Det skal dog siges at jeg til dagligt ikke taler ren dialekt, men noget der ligger en del tættere op af standard dansk, - eller rigsdansk om du vil.

[@lCarlsenl]

Escviitash Tak for grinet. Helt perfekt!!!

[@missnotfunnyyttt1665]

Nie przeszkadza, aby usłyszeć po tak

[@maryborz2258]

good teacher ☺

[@riddlepi9032]

Tak!

[@sheenamdhami5164]

Very helpful.. But i also wanted to know about letter j.. As in how to pronounce faarevejle

[@inesvirag5062]

i love you danish accent

[@user-db3mw3tl5b]

Спасибо!! - Mange tak!!

[@Majestic20000]

Is the r just like in Portuguese?

[@almahdiaalem5479]

Thanks man

[@IronValiant-fan]

Thanks this is helpful info. I am writing it down xD for me to know. [I am learning Danish right now.]