Pronunciation

There are hundreds of different sounds and when babies are born, they are able to distinguish all of these sounds! Do you envy them? I certainly do. Unfortunately, over time the babies “specialize” in the sounds of their native language and they begin losing the ability to distinguish the sounds that do not belong to it.

If only my parents had exposed me to the sounds of tons of languages when I have been a baby… I suppose that would have helped me with the Icelandic pronunciation, but since this is not the case, let’s see what are the first steps to master it!

I would first like to recommend you one video from the You tube channel of Jackson Crawford. It’a all very well explained and the best way to make yourself familiar with the pronunciation is to actually listen to the sounds:

If you are interested in Old Norse culture, language, literature and mythology, this channel will be a paradise for you. It’s amazing that this man has decided and has taken the time to share his in-depth knowledge of these subjects with all of us.

There’a also this sweet video of little vikings (Icelandic boys), pronouncing the Icelandic alphabet:

Colloquial Icelandic has free audio online and the first files are dedicated to the pronunciation. This might be useful even if you don’t have the textbook and you do not consider buying it, because even the exposure to the sounds can make a difference.

The alphabet

It is good to memorize the alphabet because this is the letter order that you will see in the dictionary so this will help you to find the words you are looking for faster:

Aa (a) – að tala (to speak) as in park

Áá (á) -að fá (to get) as in cloud

Bb (bé) – unvoiced b, close to p – brauð (bread) as in brother

Dd (dé) – also unvoiced, close to t- draugur (ghost) as in day

Ðð (eð)* – th sound – maður (man) as in then

Ee (e) – að gleyma (to forget) as in pet

Éé (é) – bréf (letter) as in yet

Ff (eff) – að fara (to go) as in free; a v sound between vowels or after a vowel – stofa (living room) as in a vow; fl and fn are pronounced like a p – Keflavík, að safna (Кeflavík, to collect ) as in play

Gg (gé) – gjöf (gift) as in garden; It is pronounced in the back of the oral cavity when followed by t (unvoiced) and when between vowels/the last letter of a word/next to r or ö (voiced)

Hh (há) – hestur (horse) as in here; if followed by v, it is pronounced like k as in kindness – hvað (what) is pronounced kvað

Ii (i) – að skrifa (to write) as in ring

Íí (í) – ís (ice) as in sheep

Jj (joð) – að bjóða (to invite, to offer) as in yes

Kk (ká) – að koma (to come) as in crown, park

Ll (ell) – að elska (to love) as in lake;

Mm (emm) – móðir (mother) as in milk

Nn (enn) – að ná (to get) as in night

Oo (o) – stofa (living room) as in rock

Óó (ó) – króna (ISK) as in so

Pp (pé) – pakka (package) as in pretty

Rr (err) – hundur (dog) as in road, but r is rolled

Ss (ess) – að hugsa (to think) as in past

Tt (té) – tré (tree) as in time

Uu (u) – it is often compared to French u, close to English oo in too – ormur (worm)

Úú (ú) – útvarp (radio) as in you

Vv (vaff) – að vona (to hope) as in very

Xx (ex) – sex (six) as in fox

Yy (yfsilon y) – same as Icelandic i

Ýý (yfsilon ý) – same as Icelandic í

Þþ (þorn)* – th sound – þetta (this) as in Thursday

Ææ (æ) – að ætla (to intend) as in mine

Öö (ö) – the vowel sound preceding r in girl/ u in fur, but it is pronounced with more rounded lips and according to my observations more in the middle/in the front of the mouth, not in the back. The closest sound to it in my native language, Bulgarian, is ъ, but again with rounded lips in the front of the mouth- björn (bear) as in fur

There are also four foreign letters, which appear in some words: c (sé), q (kú), w (tvöfalt vaff) and z (seta)

*To see the difference between eð and þorn, pronounce then and Thursday. Observe the position of your tongue and the softness of the sound.

Letter combinations

au – laugardagur (Saturday)- Icelandic öi

ei/еy – ey, nei (island, no) – ay sound as in day

Double-l and double-n

Double-l is pronounced like tl. Allt (everything) is pronounced like atlt. This t-insertion does not happen in loan words and nicknames.

T-insertion also occurs when double-n is preceded by accented vowel or the letter combinations au, ei and ey. In all other cases this insertion does not occur:

• steinn (stone) is pronounced steitn, because double-n is preceded by the ei letter combination
• fínn (elegant) is pronounced fitn, because í is accented.
• hann (he) is pronounced han, because a is not accented (á) and there is no special letter combination before the double-n

Preaspiration

An [h]-like sound precedes doubled p, t and k. It is not a hard sound, it is a breath of air:

• að stoppa (to stop) is pronounced stohpa
• þetta (this) is pronounced þehta
• ekkert (nothing) is pronounced ehkert

This also happens before pl, pn, tl, tn, kl, kn when in between vowels.

The consonant clusters sl, sn, rl, rn

T is inserted between the two consonants:

• snjókarl (snowman) is pronounced snjókartl
• barnalæknir (pediatrician) is pronounced bartnalæknir
• asni (donkey) is pronounced astni
• veisla (party) is pronounced veistla

You see sl, sn, rl and rn, but you pronounce stl, stn, rtl and rtn.

The vowels before the consonant clusters ng and nk

Vowels are pronounced differently when they are followed by ng or nk:

• а → á
• i and y → í (i and y are elongated)
• u → English ou as in you
• e → ei
• ö → au

Stress

One important thing to mention is that in Icelandic stress (the emphasis we give to a certain syllable in a word when speaking) is always on the first syllable and in longer words is possible to have secondary stress.

Time to practice

If you are not in Iceland and you don’t have the chance to have a conversation with an Icelandic speaker, then I recommend watching these videos from http://www.ruv.is. Parts of the videos are transcribed below, so you can read and listen simultaneously.

While listening, you will begin noticing all of the aforementioned rules and changes, as well as the rhythm of speaking. If you have someone to talk to in Icelandic, that’s great!

Practicing pronunciation without having anyone to speak to and to correct you, however, is a hard task. If this is the case, you can listen to audio materials and try to pronounce the words you have heard. Find some book with audio CDs, try the Alaric Hall’s free mp3 course for beginners and some of the Memrise’s courses with audio like this one.

Gangi þér vel!