# Danish: diphthongs



## InMotion

Hello everyone. I was hoping you could help me out with this. I'd need to know the phonetics to every Danish diphthong, specially 'IE'. Thank you very much. Gracias.


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## hanne

I think we're currently a bit short on people who are good at Danish *and* phonetic explanations (I'm good at Danish ), but I'll see what I can do...
ie (as in ferie/holiday, patient (at a hospital etc)) is pronounced something like ye.
I won't even try to list all diphthongs, but if you have any more specific questions I'll do my best to give you an answer .


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## Wilma_Sweden

I found this book, Danish: an Essential grammar, with google book search. It lists a number of Danish diphthongs, on page 5, but does not include /ie/. It's possible that this is not regarded as a dipththong, perhaps they're simply two adjoining vowel sounds... 

What do you think, Hanne, is there anything missing in that book? The link above goes straight to the page with the diphthongs.

/Wilma


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## hanne

I don't like the thought of ie being two vowels in ferie (whereas in e.g. værdier I'd say they are). But perhaps you could say that the i works as a j, and then it may not be a diphthong, if it isn't two vowels?
Otherwise I can't spot anything that's missing from that list - but there may well be some that just don't pop in to my mind either...


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## InMotion

Ok, thank you all. I asked you this question because I know someone by the name of Nielsen and I insisted on pronounciating it as in German (Nilsen) while she told me both vowels are to be pronounciated.


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## hanne

Well, Nielsen is generally pronounced as Nilsen here, I'd never pronounce the e...
Are you sure she's Danish? Because I suspect the Norwegians or Swedes might pronounce Nielsen and Nilsen differently (will need them to confirm that though - I'm thinking of e.g. Sanna Nielsen).


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## Sepia

hanne said:


> I don't like the thought of ie being two vowels in ferie (whereas in e.g. værdier I'd say they are). But perhaps you could say that the i works as a j, and then it may not be a diphthong, if it isn't two vowels?
> Otherwise I can't spot anything that's missing from that list - but there may well be some that just don't pop in to my mind either...



I'd say, it depends on the dialect you are speaking. I know it as two vowels, but not everybody speaks it like that. I'd even say, various Greater Copenhagen dialects have different pronounciations of "ferie". Which part of CPH are you from?


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## hanne

So to you ferie has 3 syllables? I'm wondering if I need to revise what I consider a diphthong, because I just can't get fe-ri-e to make sense as anything but exaggerated/slowed down pronunciation... Btw, do you at least agree with me on Nielsen=Nilsen?
I'm from a bit everywhere in Cph, but Frederiksberg probably had the biggest impact on how I speak.


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## Wilma_Sweden

hanne said:


> So to you ferie has 3 syllables? I'm wondering if I need to revise what I consider a diphthong, because I just can't get fe-ri-e to make sense as anything but exaggerated/slowed down pronunciation... Btw, do you at least agree with me on Nielsen=Nilsen?
> I'm from a bit everywhere in Cph, but Frederiksberg probably had the biggest impact on how I speak.


I think the problem here is separating diphthongs from vowel clusters (or hiatus) - ferie may well have two syllables only, but to me it's still a vowel cluster rather than a diphthong. As far as Sanna Nielsen is concerned, I have always believed that it should be pronounced with a long i: /ni:lsen/ *but I may be mistaken*. A Swede would probably pronounce Nilsen the same as Nilsson, i.e. with a short i /nilsen, nilson/. Perhaps the long i: is a result of someone attempting to pronounce both the vowels... Is the Danish pronunciation with a short or a long i?

/Wilma


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## Plopp

I was born in Cph, Denmark, but consider Swedish to by my native language, though I still speak a little Danish. I would pronounce the name Nielsen as /nels(e)n/ where the -ie- more sounds like a sharp -e- than the -i-sound in Swedish Nilsson, and the last -e- almost  'disappears'. What do the "true" Danes say?


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## hanne

The concept "vowel cluster" just entered my vocabulary (thanks Wilma ), but I still have no idea about the actual difference between that and a diphthong - the wiki-page just says that one is longer than the other. So you can read my comments above with that non-distinction in mind - sorry for any confusion.



Plopp said:


> I was born in Cph, Denmark, but consider Swedish to by my native language, though I still speak a little Danish. I would pronounce the name Nielsen as /nels(e)n/ where the -ie- more sounds like a sharp -e- than the -i-sound in Swedish Nilsson, and the last -e- almost  'disappears'. What do the "true" Danes say?


, is what one of them says.
It's short in both Nielsen and Nilsen (which are pronounced the same, so in Nielsen it's definitely neither a diphthong, nor a vowel cluster, nor two separate vowels!), and you're right that it's more of an e than an i sound - and that we tend to eat the last e as well.


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## Wilma_Sweden

hanne said:


> The concept "vowel cluster" just entered my vocabulary (thanks Wilma ), but I still have no idea about the actual difference between that and a diphthong - the wiki-page just says that one is longer than the other. So you can read my comments above with that non-distinction in mind - sorry for any confusion.


The distinction between diphthong and vowel cluster appears to be a bit fuzzy and also seems to vary from one language to another, so I don't blame anyone for getting confused. Ferie is one of those fuzzy ones, I guess. 

/Wilma


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## Sepia

hanne said:


> So to you ferie has 3 syllables? I'm wondering if I need to revise what I consider a diphthong, because I just can't get fe-ri-e to make sense as anything but exaggerated/slowed down pronunciation... Btw, do you at least agree with me on Nielsen=Nilsen?
> I'm from a bit everywhere in Cph, but Frederiksberg probably had the biggest impact on how I speak.




Oh, you can speak that word very fast and still have three syllables!! - ever heard how people in "Soenderjylland" are speaking? I can't, however, regionalize who is speaking the word with a diphtong and who don't. But many people down there speak it without a diphtong and they generally can speak very fast.

I am aware that it is a diphtong in the Vesterbro quarter, so I suppose it still is in most parts of Frederiksberg too - that is, basing on my experience from the time when I lived there. But Greater Copenhagen dialects have changed a lot too. Some are disappearing and new ones are emerging.


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