Icelandic/Alphabet and Pronunciation

Stafróf og framburður

Alphabet and pronunciation

The Icelandic alphabet consists of 32 letters. There are also three letters only used for foreign words, and one deleted letter (which is sometimes still used only for foreign words). The Icelandic language uses the Latin alphabet, which is the same as the English alphabet and most Western European languages. There are some letters that are not found in English, and even some letters that only Icelandic uses.

Íslenska stafrófið

The Icelandic keyboard layout.

Upper case	Lower case	Name
А	а	a
Á	á	á
B	b	bé
D	d	dé
Ð	ð	eð
E	e	e
É	é	é
F	f	eff
G	g	gé
H	h	há
I	i	i
Í	í	í
J	j	joð
K	k	ká
L	l	ell
M	m	emm
N	n	enn
O	o	o
Ó	ó	ó
P	p	pé
R	r	err
S	s	ess
T	t	té
U	u	u
Ú	ú	ú
V	v	vaff
X	x	ex
Y	y	y
Ý	ý	ý
Þ	þ	þorn
Æ	æ	æ
Ö	ö	ö

Letters C, Q, and W are not part of the Icelandic alphabet, but are used in foreign words:

Upper case	Lower case	Name
C	c	sé
Q	q	kú
W	w	tvöfalt vaff

The final letter, Z, no longer appears in Icelandic words as of 1973, and therefore is no longer used in the Icelandic language either. However, it is still technically used only in very rare cases preserved in historic names of structures, organizations, and the like, such as Verzló (a school in Reykjavík). And words that once contained the letter Z nowadays contain the letter S.

Upper case	Lower case	Name
Z	z	seta

With the exception of letters C, Q and W, these letters do appear in the Icelandic language in foreign words, unlike the deleted letter Z, which only appears in very rare cases in foreign words and therefore are also used more often than the deleted letter is.

Until 1980, the Icelandic alphabet used to consist of 36 letters and also included the 3 letters that are only used for foreign words and the deleted letter (which is still technically only used for foreign words but very rarely) (and computers still order this way):

A Á B C D Ð E É F G H I Í J K L M N O Ó P Q R S T U Ú V W X Y Ý Z Þ Æ Ö

How the letters are pronounced

Letter	Explanation
A	is like "a" in "bar", "tar" , ''car '' ''dar'' , ' par''
Á	is like "ou" in "house", "about" and "shout"
B	same as English P, but without the puff of air, as in "spit"
D	same as English T, but without the puff of air, as in "stick"
Ð	is like "th" in "feather", "father" and "that", but as the last letter of a word it is like "th" in "thin".
E	same as in English except that it's always short, like in "bed" and "end"
É	same as English "yay"
F	same as in English "from"; like "p" in "hip" before n
G	like "k" in "wick" at the beginning of a word or between a vowel and -l, -n; /ɣ/ after vowels, before a, u, ð, r, and when it's the last character of a word; like "ch" in Scottish "loch" after vowels and before t, s; like "y" in "young" between vowel and -i, -j; dropped between a, á, ó, u, ú
H	same as in English "hello"
I	is like the first "i" in "inside" and "impossible"
Í	like an English "ee" and the "i" in "Maria" and the "y" in "diary"
J	is like "y" in "yes", "yogurt" and "yield"
K	same as in English "king"
L	same as in English "love"
M	same as in English "mom"
N	same as in English "never"
O	like "a" in British English "all" and "o" in "bolt"
Ó	is like "o" in "sole" and like "oa" in "goat" and "soap"
P	generally same as in English "Peter", but can be softer
R	generally same as in Scottish English, virtually identical to a Spanish rolled R, from the very front of the mouth
S	same as in English "soup"
T	same as in English "time"
U	virtually identical to a French "u" (as in "cul"), or a German "ü" (as in "über"). Equivalent to English "i" as in "kit", but with the lips rounded.
Ú	like English "oo" as in "zoo"
V	between English V and W
X	same as in English "six"
Y	exactly like Icelandic "i", it's only a matter of spelling
Ý	exactly like Icelandic "í", it's only a matter of spelling
Þ	like English "th" in "thunder", "theatre" and "thong"
Æ	is like the name of the letter "i" in English or the sound of the letters "ai" in the words "Thai food". Hi/hæ & bye/bæ are the same in English and Icelandic.
Ö	like German "ö" and English "u" in "urgent" or "fur". Equivalent to English "e" as in "bed", but with the lips rounded.

Notes:

• Icelandic words never begin with Ð, and no words end with Þ.
• I and Y share the same pronunciation, as do Í and Ý.
• HV is pronounced as KV, but is sometimes pronounced as Scots WH.
• J, L, M, N, and R are voiceless before H and in most areas before K, P, and T (no English equivalent)
• L and R are voiceless at the end of a word
• There are no silent letters in Icelandic., though in spoken language some letters might produce a different sound than usual.
• Double BB, DD, GG, RR, and SS are pronounced for longer than their monograph equivalents.
• Double FF is pronounced as English F.
• Double LL is pronounced something like tl.
• Double MM and NN are often pronounced as pm and tn.
• Double KK, PP, and TT are pronounced with an H to their left and pronounced for longer than their monograph equivalents.
• If a K is followed by a t, it is pronounced similarly to a Spanish j (e.g. lukt – lantern).
• Likewise, a P followed by a t changes into an f sound (e.g. Að skipta – to shift).
• F in the middle of a word is often pronounced as a v (e.g. Að skafa – to shave).
• If you are not able to type in Icelandic letters, you can substitute Ð with DH, Þ with TH, Æ with AE, and Á, É, Í, Ó, Ö, Ú, Ý with AA, EE, II, OO, OE, UU, YY.
• Stress in Icelandic is always the first syllable.

Diphthongs

Diphthong	Sound
au	Pronounced as öi
ei, ey	like the ay in stay

Dialects of Icelandic

All dialects of Icelandic have assimilated into the standard spoken language, but people from Reykjavík tend to speak a little differently from people from Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Ísafjörður and other countryside towns and villages. For example, the word for hot dog in Icelandic is pylsa; in Akureyri, they would say pil-sah but in Reykjavík you often will hear pulsa. Another example is the word for to want, langar: in Ísafjörður (the northwestern part of Iceland), you often will hear lahng-ar but in Reykjavík you will hear lángar.