Tak or tack? Swedish vowel length matters

Swedish has some tiny sound differences that look fairly harmless on the page. They sit there inside a word, minding their own business, almost identical to their neighbours. Then you open your mouth and suddenly you are no longer talking about the thing on top of a house, but something you say when someone holds the door open.

Take the words tak and tack.

Tak means the roof of a house. Tack is what you say when someone gives you coffee, holds the door open, or kindly pretends to understand your pronunciation while you are still practising.

In tak, the vowel is long: taaak.

In tack, the vowel is short: ta-kk.

The difference may be small: a long vowel or a short vowel. But the meaning can change completely.

So how does this actually work?

The basic rule is simple

• One consonant after the vowel often means the vowel is long.

• Two consonants after the vowel often mean the vowel is short.

Long vowels

Examples:

tak

Pronunciation: roughly “taaak”

Meaning: roof

mat

Pronunciation: roughly “maaat”

Meaning: food

ful

Pronunciation: roughly “fuuul”

Meaning: ugly

väg

Pronunciation: roughly “väääg”

Meaning: road, way

Here, the vowel has room to stretch out. It walks into the room, takes off its coat, and makes itself heard.

Short vowels

Examples:

tack

Pronunciation: roughly “ta-kk”

Meaning: thank you

matt

Pronunciation: roughly “ma-tt”

Meaning: tired, dull, matte

full

Pronunciation: roughly “fu-ll”

Meaning: drunk or full

vägg

Pronunciation: roughly “vä-gg”

Meaning: wall

Here, the vowel hurries past. It barely has time to wave before the consonant shuts the door.

Compare these word pairs

The best way to practise is to listen to word pairs and say them out loud. Here are a few classics:

tak = roof

tack = thank you

mat = food

matt = tired, dull, matte

vit = white

vitt = white, neuter form

ful = ugly

full = full, drunk

glas = drinking glass / glass

glass = ice cream

väg = road

vägg = wall

hög = high

högg = chopped, struck

But Swedish spelling would not be Swedish spelling without a few little quirks.

The exceptions: m and n

As always with languages, there are exceptions and special cases. The consonants m and n sometimes behave a little differently.

At the end of a word, m is almost never doubled, even when the vowel before it is short:

hem

som

kom

Here, the vowel before m is short, but you still only write one m.

There are, however, a few exceptions:

damm

lamm

In many common short words ending in n, you also write just one n, even when the vowel before it is short:

han

den

vän

man

Here too, the vowel before n is short, but you only write one n.

So the basic pattern is still useful, but m and n sometimes do their own thing. They sit at the back of the classroom and do not always follow instructions.