Icelandic has a rich and unique vowel system that can be a challenge for non-native speakers. The system is based on 14 distinct vowel letters, many of which have an acute accent mark, indicating a different sound rather than just stress. These are considered separate letters in the Icelandic alphabet.

The vowel letters in Icelandic are:

• Monophthongs (single vowel sounds): a, e, i, o, u, y, æ, ö
• Vowels with acute accents: á, é, í, ó, ú, ý

In addition to the monophthongs, Icelandic also features several diphthongs (combinations of two vowel sounds), which are also considered part of the vowel system. These include:

• au
• ei
• ey

The pronunciation of these vowels can be quite different from their English counterparts, making it a key area of focus for anyone learning the language.

Long / Short vowel

A vowel is pronounced long when it is followed by at most one consonant. A vowel is pronounced short when it is followed by two or more consonants.

Listen to examples:

• a - baka (to bake) - pabbi (dad)
• á - lás (lock) - skáld (poet)
• e - vera (to be) - eldur (fire)
• é - fé (sheep/money) - fékk (got)
• i - liða (ice) - illur (bad)
• í - vín (wine) - bíll (car)
• o - loka (to close) - þorp (village)
• ö - mjög (very) - önd (duck)
• ó - góður (good) - nótt (night)
• u - gulur (yellow) - fullur (full)
• ú - hús (house) - súkkulaði (chocolate)
• y - dyr (door) - mynd (picture)
• ý - nýr (new) - prýddi (decorated)
• æ - sætur (sweet) - hætta (to stop)
• au - auka (to increase) - haust (autumn)
• ei - heimur (world) - steinn (stone)
• ey - geyma (to store) - keypt (bought)

í = ý (both pronounced /iː/, like "ee" in "see")

i = y (both pronounced /ɪ/, like "i" in "sit")

ei = ey (both pronounced /ei/, like "ay" in "say")

Listen to examples:

• ís (ice)
• frýs (freezes)
• vinur (friend)
• lyfta (to lift)
• greina (to analyze)
• breyta (to change)

Icelandic consonants have unique pronunciations, especially the aspirated, pre-aspirated stops, and voiceless sonorants.

Listen to examples:

Aspirated: Strong puff of air. /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/

• pabbi (dad)
• taka (to take)
• koma (to come)

Unaspirated: No puff of air. /p, t, k/

• spá (to prophesy)
• stór (big)
• skafa (to scrape)

Pre-aspirated Stops: a short voiceless puff (h) before the consonant. (hp, ht, hk)

• löpp (paw)
• nótt (night)
• þakka (to thank)

Voiceless Sonorants (Hl, Hn, Hr, Hv). The 'h' here makes the following sound voiceless.

• hlaupa (to run)
• hneta (nut)
• hringur (ring/circle)
• hvítur (white)

Different pronunciation of p.

Listen to examples:

P /pʰ/

• pabbi (dad)
• peningur (money)
• póstur (mail/post)

P /p/:

• spá (to prophesy)
• spenna (tension/excitement)
• spila (to play)

P /f/:

• skipta (to divide)
• Egyptaland (Egypt)

Different pronunciation of k.

Listen to examples:

K /kʰ/:

• köttur (cat)
• kær (dear)

K /k/:

• skafa (to scrape)
• skólí (school)

K /hk/:

• bakka (bank/hill)
• þakka (to thank)

K /x/:

• abstrakt (abstract)
• aðjunkt (adjunct)

Different pronunciation of g.

Listen to examples:

G /k/:

• ganga (to walk)
• gestur (guest)
• langur (long)
• fingur (finger)

G /j/:

• magi (stomach)
• vegir (roads)

G /ɣ/:

• saga (story)
• þegar (when)

G /x/:

• dag (day)
• hægt (slowly)

G /kj/:

• gefa (to give)
• leggja (to lay)

G /gv/:

• guð (god)

Different pronunciation of t.

Listen to examples:

T /tʰ/:

• taka (to take)
• tíu (ten)

T /t/:

• stór (big)
• ást (love)

T /ht/:

• þetta (this - neuter)
• léttur (light - weight)

Other consonants

These consonants have similar pronunciation to English. Listen to examples:

S

• sól (sun)
• hús (house)

B

• bók (book)
• labba (to walk)

D

• dóttir (daughter)
• dansa (to dance)

V

• vatn (water)
• kvöld (evening)

X

• sex (six)
• vaxa (to grow)

The letter f in Icelandic has multiple pronunciations that depend on its position within a word and the sounds surrounding it. Unlike in English, where it's consistently pronounced as a labiodental fricative [f], the Icelandic f can sound like a v or a p.

Unaspirated voiceless plosive [p]

This is a unique pronunciation of f in Icelandic. It hardens into a p sound when it is followed by the letters l or n.

Fnt as [m̥t]

The fnt cluster in jafnt is also pronounced as a single sound, [m̥t]. Similar to hefnd, the f and n merge into a voiceless bilabial nasal, [m̥], and the t is pronounced as an unaspirated dental plosive, [t]. This makes the pronunciation of jafnt sound like "jamt."

Listen to examples:

F /f/:

• fara (to go)
• oft (often)

F /v/:

• hafa (to have)
• lifa (to live)

F /p/:

• Keflavík (airport town name)
• nafn (name)

F /m/:

• hefnd (revenge)
• nefnd (committee)

F /m̥/:

• jafnt (equally)

Different pronunciation of h.

Listen to examples:

H /h/:

• hátt (high)
• hætta (danger)

H /kʰ/:

• hvítur (white)
• hver (who/each)

Hj:

• hjarta (heart)

Hé:

• héðan (from here)

Hr:

• hraður (fast)

Hl:

• hljóð (sound)

Hn:

• hnífur (knife)

Ð (eth) never appears at the beginning of an Icelandic word.

• blað (paper)
• eða (or)
• iðka (to practice)

Þ (thorn) always appears at the beginning of a word.

• þú (you - singular)
• þing (parliament)

Other consonants

These consonants have different pronunciation when they are in different positions of a words. Listen to examples:

L

• lífið (the life)
• sál (soul)
• salt (salt)
• bíll (car)

J

• já (yes)
• hjálpa (to help)

R

• rós (rose)
• orka (energy)

M

• minn (my)
• lampi (lamp)

N

• nú (now)
• enginn (nobody)

Foreign consonants in Icelandic:

C, Q, W, and Z are not part of the standard Icelandic alphabet.

Listen to examples:

C /s/

• Cello (often spelled selló)

C /k/

• Cuba (often spelled Kúba)

Q /k/

• Quíz (quiz)

W /v/

• Whisky (often spelled viskí)

Z /s/

• Pizza (often spelled pitsa)

When 3 or more consonants come together, a common tendency is to drop one of them.

Listen to examples:

• sigldi (sailed)
• æskti (love)
• barns (child's)
• lengd (length)
• nefnd (mentioned)
• hefnd (revenge)
• álft (swan)

Two or more consonants together makes pronunciation different in Icelandic.

Listen to examples:

pp (pronounced as /hp/)

• klippa (to cut)
• toppur (top)
• tappa (to pour)

tt (pronounced as /ht/)

• þetta (this)
• léttur (light)
• gott (good)

kk (pronounced as /hk/)

• ekki (not)
• kokkur (chef)
• lokka (lure)

kkt /xt/

• óþekkt (unknown)

ppt /ft/

• yppta (shrug)

*Note the pre-aspiration /h/ in the following words.

Listen to examples:

pl /hpl/:

• epli (apple)

pn /hpn/:

• opna (open)

tl /htl/:

• ætla (to intend)

tn /htn/:

• vatn (water)

kl /hkl/:

• miklu (much)

kn /hkn/:

• sakna (to miss)

KJ / GJ pronunciation is common in Icelandic. Sometimes G pronounces like kj / gj.

Listen to examples:

kj

• kjóll (dress)
• kjúklingur (chicken)
• virkja (to activate)

gj

• gjald (fee, payment)
• gjafir (gifts)
• leggja (to lay, to put)
• teygja (to stretch)
• beygja (to bend)

Other words that sound like kj / gj

• gefa (to give)
• geta (ability)

LL is tricky in Icelandic pronunciation. They have different sounds in different words.

Listen to examples:

ll /tl/:

• Fjall (mountain)
• Jökull (glacier)
• Kalla (to call)

ll /l:/:

• pilla (pill) - Words borrowed from other languages
• Gulli (a nickname for Guðlaugur)

lld, llt:

• snilld (genius)
• villtur (wild)

rl /rtl/:

• Perla (pearl)
• Karl (a man)
• Varla (barely)

sl /stl/:

• Íslenskur (Icelandic)
• Veisla (party)
• Slys (accident)

NN is another tricky sounds to practice. Like LL, they have different pronunciation in different words.

Listen to examples:

nn /tn/

• einn (one)
• brúnn (brown)
• steinn (stone)

nn /n:/

• enn (yet, still)
• inn (in, inside)

rn /rtn/

• barn (child)
• þarna (there)
• hérna (her, well)

sn /stn/

• snúa (to turn)
• asni (donkey)
• Gísli (male name)

F pronounces differently when it comes with different alphabets.

Listen to examples:

fl /pl/:

• afla (to obtain)
• tafla (tablet)

fld:

• tvíefldur (very strong)

fn /pn/:

• hefna (to avenge)
• jafn (equal)

fnd, fnt:

• nefnd (committee)
• jafnt (equally)

rfl /rtl/:

• hvarfla (to wander)

rfn /rtn/:

• þarfnast (to need)

Primary stress in Icelandic almost always falls on the first syllable of a word.

Listen to examples:

• tala (to speak)
• maður (man)
• tölvurnar (the computers)
• Ísland (Iceland)
• Ameríka (America)
• banani (banana)

In compound words, the primary stress falls on the first syllable of the first component. Secondary stress can then fall on the first syllable of subsequent components.

Listen to examples:

• handklæði (towel) = hand + klæði
• bókabúð (bookstore) = bóka + búð

Why does drop happen?

This phenomenon is primarily a natural consequence of the language being spoken quickly. Certain sound combinations are phonetically challenging to articulate in rapid succession, so speakers naturally simplify them for ease of pronunciation.

For learners, this "drop" or elision can be one of the more difficult aspects of transitioning from understanding written Icelandic to comprehending spoken Icelandic.

Listen to examples:

drop h

• kom hann með henni? (Did he come with her?) → sounds like: kom ann með enni?

drop ð

• húsið mitt (my house) → sounds like: húsi mitt

drop þ

• lærðir þú heima? (Did you study at home?) → sounds like: lærðir ú heima?

drop vowel

• sástu þetta? (Did you see this?) → sounds like: sást etta?

The terms voiced and unvoiced (or voiceless) describe whether or not the vocal cords vibrate when a sound is produced.

Listen to examples:

Voiced (the consonant sounds involve vocal cord vibration.)

• vanda (to do with care)
• orga (cry loudly)

Unvoiced (consonant sounds do not involve vocal cord vibration.)

• vanta (to lack)
• orka (energy)

Other unvoiced words

• stelpa (girl)
• elta (to chase)
• fálki (falcon)
• gylltur (golden)
• varta (wart)
• verpa (to lay eggs)
• þurrka (to dry)

I hope you enjoy the pronunciation practice! These exercises are essential to help you understand the core ideas of Icelandic sounds.

However, the examples provided are limited. We need more practice for our speaking and listening skills.

I will now show you how to use an online tool for listening to and practicing Icelandic pronunciation.

Practicing Icelandic pronunciation

1. Access the Íslensk nútímamálsorðabók.
2. Enter the word (Leitarorð), and click Leita (search).
3. Look for the word you want to practice.
4. Click Framburður (pronunciation) to hear the recorded pronunciation.