learn danish through english

source: trust me im a native danish speaker and a baby genius :-)

the letter U

in danish sounds like a U (oo sound) or an O (oh sound)

never sounds like an uh sound like in the english word run

sounds like U when it stands alone or before N, soft G, soft D, T, S, P, R + more

sounds like O when it stands before ND, hard G, K, NK, NG, + more

there's also a secret U sound when R comes before U. don't worry about it, just pronounce it like U (oo sound) for now.

lots of danish words have the same germanic root as english but the pronounciation is very different

a U in a danish word often becomes OU in english spelling

sometimes it stays U or becomes O or OO

here's some examples

danish	english
hus mus lus bluse sund mund rund bundet fundet snude hund ude du skulle kunne vidunder hul skud bue albue vindue knude due kul under at dukke dum drukket plukket at smugle kube	house mouse louse blouse healthy as in "of sound mind" mouth round bound found snout hound or dog out you should could wonder hole shot bow elbow window knot dove coal under to duck dumb drunk plucked or picked to smuggle cube

the letter Ø

Ø is a mysterious letter that has multiple sounds

when the root word is germanic and we use Ø in danish, we often use EA or EE in english.

when the root word is french, we use Ø in danish when french and english use EU

danish	english
brød død mjød at høre rød grøn sød nød at bløde at søge at møde søster søn dør chauffør	bread dead and death mead to hear red green sweet need or nut to bleed to seek to meet sister son door chauffeur