# Danish: her (pronunciation)



## frugihoyi

When is "her" pronounced _hia_ and when is it pronounced _ha_?


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## Andreas_Jensen

To begin with the pronounciation of "her" varies somewhat with dialect and also a bit from person to person. But you are right that in a way there are to different ways of pronouncing it. First of all, I'd write the first way as "hea" instead of "hia"... One has to understand the pronounciation of a Danish "e" which to many foreigners seems like an "i" but really isn't. If you're in Copenhagen you should have someone pronounce it for you, or maybe someone here can expain it... It you know French it's quite the same "e"-sound as the French "é" (at least I'm almost positive)  To write it "phonetically" as "hea" I guess it's okay, as long as you remember that it's one syllable.

Back to the question... I'd say there are no real rules for when to use what pronounciation... The "ha" way is kind of a sloppy, fast way of saying, but in only works in some sentences, that's true. The "hea" way almost always works... You also have to notice that "hea" has a lot of stress "glottal stop - stød". Examples:

"Er han her?" Could be pronounced in both ways...
"Her er den!" Only as "hea"
"Her er ikke nogen" Mostly as "ha" but the other one goes as well and 
probably sound more correct/posh.

When I think about it, you probably use "hea" when you are very specifik about the location or when making an exclamation... The "ha" is about more general locations, for example "jeg er _ha_" (I'm here - at the party) - "jeg er hea" (I'm right here - in the bathroom). 

As an advice I'd say always go for "hea" until you get a better hang of it... It will never sound immensely strange and people will understand you.

Hope this helps...


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## Sepia

I couldn't think of anyone I have ever heard who pronounced "her" like _ha - _at least not based on English pronounciation rules (or any other I could imagine). The comparison with the French "é" is good, at least to describe the way they pronounce it in Copenhagen. 

In many other regions the "e" is a slightly more open sound. It is difficult to hear any difference between "her" and "hær" (=army). The "e" is like in "hesitate". The "r" is the BE "r" in the middle of words like army, Arthur, Bernard.


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## Andreas_Jensen

"Her" is definitely (and quite oftenly) pronounced as "ha" on some occasions. At least for people that don't speak a regional dialect very far from standard Danish (and there are very few of these dialects). Sepia, it says you're from Germany. Are you a member of the Danish-speaking community there? If so, I have difficulty accounting for the way Danish is spoken there and even in the south of Jutland. But in Copenhagen and most places in Denmark people will often pronounce "her" as "ha" (as in the laugh: Ha ha ha!). Especially when it's places in the beginning of sentences. For example, in the sentence: "Her er ikke mere brød" - I'm sure that most people would say "ha". If you say the sentence to yourself in a rapid way, you'll see what I mean. If you were really bad, you'd pronounce the sentence above as "ha-a ik mer brød"... Especially in Copenhagen.

You're right about the lacking difference between "hær" and "her" for some regional ways of speech. I don't agree about your explanation for the "e" though as the vowel sound in "hær" is a lot like the "a" in English "hands" and "ash". But again, I'm sure this can vary for some places. I'd say the "r" is actually, quite simply, as in British (that is non-rhotic, Oxford English) "here", which phonetically can have a lot of resemblance to an "a" in the end of the word, if you're unused to this way of pronouncing "r"'s. That is, the Danish, High German and Standard British way (don't know about Dutch).


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## BoTrojan

Andreas,

Looking at one of the examples you gave, it seems to me that at least in one context, the difference is one of emphasis.  By that I mean the following:

*ER* han her?

In this case, it would be the shorter, softer version "ha", because it's un-emphasized.

Er han *HER*?

In this case, the emphasis is on "her" and so you would say the "hea" version without exception.

Make sense?


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## Andreas_Jensen

Makes complete sense... I agree... So I guess a temporary conclusion could be that it's pronounced "hea" if one wishes to put an emphasis on "her" and that it's pronounced as "ha" if there is no special emphasis on "her"... Much along the same lines of what I wrote earlier... That you'd say "hea" if you want to be very specifik about a location.


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## BoTrojan

*"That you'd say "hea" if you want to be very specifik about a location."*

One good turn deserves another, Andreas.  The above sentence should be:

"That you'd say "hea" if you want*ed* to be very specifi*c* about a location."

The first is for mood consistency between the two clauses (and by the way, many natives would make this mistake ... at least in the U.S.  Also, no one would fail to understand your meaning in the original, so it's a very small mistake)

The second was probably a type-o on your part, eh?


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## frugihoyi

Thanks, that's a good explanation.


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## Andreas_Jensen

BoTrojan said:


> *"That you'd say "hea" if you want to be very specifik about a location."*
> 
> One good turn deserves another, Andreas.  The above sentence should be:
> 
> "That you'd say "hea" if you want*ed* to be very specifi*c* about a location."
> 
> The first is for mood consistency between the two clauses (and by the way, many natives would make this mistake ... at least in the U.S.  Also, no one would fail to understand your meaning in the original, so it's a very small mistake)
> 
> The second was probably a type-o on your part, eh?



Touchée!  Besides, it doesn't really matter if it's a Nordic languages forum... If I slip up, please crack down ;-) (if you feel like it, of course)

Right about the type-o...


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