Danish Vowels
| Front of the tongue | Back of the tongue | Written examples | |||||
| Mouth | Unrounded | Rounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |||
| Closed | [i] | [ü] | [u] | sine, syne, Sune |
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| Half closed | [e] | [ø] | [o] | sinde, synde, sone |
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| Half open | [æ] | [ö] | [å] | sende, sønne, sunde |
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| Open | [ä] | [a] | [å2] | sande, samme, somme |
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| [ä] | and [än'] (duck), kan [kän']
(can),
land [län'] (country), mand [män'] (man) have [hä:væ] (garden), lave [lä:væ] (make), mave [mä:væ] (belly), lade [lä:ðæ] (let) |
a1 a2 |
| [a] | far [far] (dad), tak [tag] (thanks), lang [lañ']
(long),
gammel [gam(æ)l] (old) Arne [a:næ] (name), larme [la:mæ] (make noise), fare [fa:] (danger) |
a3 a4 |
| [e] | en [e'n] (one), sen [se'n]
(late), ske [sge'] (spoon), lidt [led] (a little), fik [feg]
(got) ene [e:næ] (the one), leve [le:væ] (live), hende [henæ] (her), spille [sbelæ] (play) |
e1 e2 |
| [æ] | væk [væg] (away), men [mæn] (but), hest [hæsd] (horse), ven [væn]
(friend) læse [læ:sæ] (read, blæse [blæ:sæ] (blow), æble [æ:blæ] (apple), æg [æ'g] (egg(s)) vejr [væ'a] (veather), præst [præsd], rest [ræsd] (rest), ærgre [æuræ] (annoy) |
e3 e4 e5 |
| [ø] | løb [lø'b] (run), sø [sø']
(lake),
sød [søð'] (sweet), øst [øsd] (east), lyst [løsd] (lust) øve [ø:væ] (practise), løse [lø:sæ] (solve), tøse [tø:sæ] (girls), øde [ø:ðæ] (waste) |
oe1 oe2 |
| [ö] | bøn [bön'] (prayer), løn [lön']
(wages), søn [sön], ønske [önsgæ] (wish) løg [löi'] (onion), røg [röi'] (smoke), høje [hö:æ] (hills), nøgle [nöilæ] (key) bøje [bö:yæ] (bend), støje [stö:yæ] (make a noise), øje [ö:yæ] |
oe3 oe4 oe5 |
| [o] | os [o's] (smoke), bo [bo'] (live), sol
[so'l] (sun), november [novæm'ba] (november) skole [sgo:læ] (school), rolig [ro:li] (quiet), bolig [bo:li] (resedence), stole [sto:læ] chairs |
o1 o2 |
| [å] | hos [hos] (with/at), på [på'], (on), ost
[åsd] (cheese) åben [å:b(æ)n] (open), låne [lå:næ] (borrow), låse [lå:sæ] (lock) os [ås] (us), bold [bål'd] (ball), kold [kål'] (cold), godt [gåd] (good), stop [ståb] |
aa1 aa2 aa3 |
| [i] | il [i'l] (hurry), ild [il'] (fire), de
[di'] (they), is [is'] (ice), bliv [bliu']
(stay (imp.)), blive [bli:væ] (stay), give [gi:væ] (give), spise [sbi:sæ] (eat), altid [ältið] (always) |
i1 i2 |
