Swedish MOC

Vowel Length in Swedish

Swedish has two phonemic vowel lengths: long and short. Which length occurs can be predicted using the following categories¹:

1. V — Stressed vowel in open syllables are long
   • få /foː/ to get
2. VC — Stressed vowels followed by one consonant are long.
   • får /foːr/ get; sheep
3. VCC or VCC &c. — Stressed vowels followed by a long consonant group (two or more) are short.
   • fått /fɔtː/ gotten
4. Unstressed — Always short
   • tala /ˈtɑːˌla/ to speak

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Footnotes

1. 2008. Swedish: an essential grammar ↩