Modern Icelandic Pronunciation
National Flag of Iceland Brief Introduction
Icelandic is descended from Old Norse, whose early speakers originated from Scandinavia from the 9th century onwards. It has stayed mostly unchanged since the early middle ages due to the existence of written laws and also the vernacular bible of Bishop Guðbrand. These written text are still readily understood by Icelandic readers today.
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The modern alphabet consists of the following thirty three letters:
| Upper Case | Lower Case | Name | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|
A | a | a | short 'a' as in 'car' |
Á | á | á | 'ow' as in 'cow' |
B | b | bé | same as english 'b' |
D | d | dé | same as english 'd' |
Ð | ð | eð | similar to 'th' in 'rather' |
E | e | e | short e as in 'get' |
É | é | é | long 'e' as in 'been' |
F | f | eff | similar to english 'f' but 'v' when between vowels or end of word |
G | g | ge | as 'g' in 'good' or 'ch' in scottish 'loch' when between vowels |
H | h | há | same as english 'h' in 'hat', but when a letter 'v' appears after it, it is sounded like 'k' |
I | i | i | short 'i' as in 'it' |
Í | í | í | long 'i' as in german 'kino' |
J | j | joð | pronounced like an english 'y' or german 'j' as in 'ja' |
K | k | ká | as 'k' in english 'kitchen' |
L | l | ell | single 'l' pronounced as in english 'lean', if double, 'll', it takes on a 'd' sound with almost an unaspirated scottish 'ch' as in 'loch' or 'dl' sound with the 'l' stopped short. |
M | m | emm | as 'm' in english 'man' |
N | n | enn | as 'n' in english new', but when it appears double, it sounds like 'dn' with 'n' sound cut short. Exception to this is when 'nn' appears in the article 'hinn' and its declensions. |
O | o | o | as 'o' in english 'got' |
Ó | ó | ó | long 'o' as in english 'so' |
P | p | pé | as 'p' in english 'pan' |
R | r | err | icelandic 'r' is always trilled like the french 'rue' |
S | s | ess | always as 's' in english 'sand' |
T | t | té | as 't' in english 'team' |
U | u | u | like 'u' in the french 'leur' |
Ú | ú | ú | as 'oo' in english 'cool' |
V | v | vaff | as 'v' in english 'van' |
X | x | ex | as 'x' in english 'axe' |
Y | y | upsílon | same sound value as 'i' |
Ý | ý | ý | same sound value as 'í' |
Z | z | seta | equivalent to 's' and used inside words only, historically representing letter in the word. There is a trend away from using it nowadays. |
Þ | þ | þorn | as 'th' in english 'thank' |
Æ | æ | æ | sounds like 'eye' in english |
Ö | ö | ö | as 'u' in english 'burn' or german 'hören' |
Plus three more that are only found in foreign words.
| Upper Case | Lower Case | Name | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | c | se | same as 'c' in the word's languge of origin |
| Q | q | kú | same as 'q' in the word's language of origin |
| W | w | tvöfalt vaff | same as 'w' in the word's language of origin |
Vowel Dipthongs
Also there are three vowel combinations that are used in everday speech and writing.
| Dipthong | Sound |
|---|---|
| AU, au | similar to the combination of a short icelandic 'u' and a long icelandic 'í' said quickly |
| EI, ei | as 'ay' english 'pay' |
| EY, ey | same as for 'ei' dipthong. |
This is meant as a guide to the approximate sounds in Modern Icelandic.