Short vowel, double letter
A short vowel has two consonants after it; a long vowel has one.
tashort vowel
cktwo consonants
Every stressed vowel in Swedish is either long or short, and the spelling tells you which.
Long: tak (roof), glas (glass). Short: tack (thanks), glass (ice cream).
So when you write a word you hear, listen to the vowel first. Short and quick? Double the next letter. Long and stretched? Write it once.
| Swedish | English | |
|---|---|---|
| tak · tack | roof · thanks | |
| glas · glass | glass · ice cream | |
| ful · full | ugly · full |
Watch out
tak when you mean thankstack
Short words ending in m or n usually keep one letter even after a short vowel: hem (home), fem (five), han (he), en (a).