Learn about the Danish alphabet
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Intro |
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| Michael: Is the Danish alphabet the same as the English alphabet? |
| Anna: And what are the differences? |
| Michael: At DanishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Dagmar Dyhr, a kindergarten student, is studying the alphabet with her mom, Diana Dyhr. She sees an unfamiliar letter and asks, |
| "What letter is that?" |
| Dagmar: Hvilket bogstav er det der? |
| Dialogue |
| Dagmar: Hvilket bogstav er det der? |
| Diana: Det er /øː/. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Dagmar: Hvilket bogstav er det der? |
| Michael: "What letter is that?" |
| Diana: Det er /øː/. |
| Michael: "It's /øː/." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Danish uses the Danish alphabet, which is the Latin alphabet plus three additional letters. These additional letters might look familiar to English speakers, but they have been altered with diacritics—marks that have been added to the base character to change their pronunciation. The three distinct letters are the vowels |
| Anna: æ, ø, and å. |
| The first letter, |
| Anna: Æ (æ), |
| Michael: looks like an A attached with an E, and it sounds like the A in "sad" or "hat." It's the first letter of the Danish word for "honor," |
| Anna: ære. |
| Michael: This letter is pronounced as /æ/, like in |
| Anna: at lære, |
| Michael: which means "to learn." Next, the letter, |
| Anna: Ø (ø), |
| Michael: is often difficult to pronounce unless you know what sound to mimic. It sounds very close to the EA in "earth" or "early." It is pronounced as /ø/ like in |
| Anna: øgle, |
| Michael: meaning "lizard." The third letter, |
| Anna: Å (å), |
| Michael: looks like an A with a ring above it. It sounds a lot like the O in "orange" or "lord." It is pronounced as /o/, as in |
| Anna: år. |
| Michael: meaning "year." |
| Expansion |
| Michael: So far, we have learned that Danish uses the same alphabet as English, plus three distinct characters. Does it mean that the two alphabets also sound alike? |
| Let's listen together to the Danish alphabet: |
| Anna: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z, æ, ø, å. |
| Michael: Out of the 29 letters, 20 are consonants, or |
| Anna: konsonanter |
| Michael: and nine are vowels, or |
| Anna: vokaler. |
| Michael: Note that each vowel can be pronounced either as "long" or "short." Basically, a short vowel is followed by a double consonant, such as LL or TT, while a long vowel is not. |
| Anna: Moreover, some letters may also have the sounds of other vowels. For example, many words with ER are pronounced like /æ/ such as her, |
| Michael: which means "here." Just like in English, many Danish words sound different than you'd expect from their written form. One example that many young Danish children struggle with when they learn to read and write is the word |
| Anna: mig, |
| Michael: meaning "me." Despite the way it sounds, it's spelled |
| Anna: M-i-g. |
| Michael: This is just one out of many exceptions that have to be learned by memorization. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we've heard in this lesson. I'll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Danish. Anna will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "What letter is that?" |
| Anna: Hvilket bogstav er det der? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Anna: Hvilket bogstav er det der? |
| Anna: Hvilket bogstav er det der? |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "It's /øː/?" |
| Anna: Det er /øː/. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Anna: Det er /øː/. |
| Anna: Det er /øː/. |
Outro |
| Michael: Great job. Now, you know about the Danish alphabet. Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! Be sure to download the lesson notes for this lesson at DanishClass101.com, and move on to the next lesson! |
| Anna: Farvel! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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