/ˈaɪ.pə/

Danish

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO dan · Glottolog · 5,600,000 speakers
20
Consonants
49
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Danish — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 69 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

d̥z̥ ~

approximant

ð̞ ~ w ~ ʋ ~ j ~ ʁ̞ ~

fricative

h ~ f ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

ɕ ~ s ~

stop

d̥ ~ b̥ʰ ~ b̥ ~ ɡ̊ʰ ~ ɡ̊ ~

trill

r *

Vowels

ɔ ~ o ~ u ~ y ~ ø ~ ɒ ~ œ ~ œ̞ ~ yu̯ ~ øu̯ ~ œu̯ ~ ɒu̯ ~ i ~ i̯y ~ oʌ̯ ~ ɑ ~ ɑu̯ ~ ʌ ~ uʌ̯ ~ a ~ eʌ̯ ~ iu̯ ~ iʌ̯ ~ i̯æ ~ i̯ø ~ i̯œ ~ i̯œ̞ ~ i̯ɑ ~ i̯ɒ ~ i̯ʌ ~ œ̞ʌ̯ ~ yʌ̯ ~ æu̯ ~ æʌ̯ ~ ɑi̯ ~ øʌ̯ ~ œi̯ ~ i̯a ~ i̯u ~ i̯ɔ ~ eu̯ ~ i̯o ~ i̯e ~ ui̯ ~ i̯ɛ ~ ɛu̯ ~ ɛ ~ æ ~ e ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
69
phonemes

Danish has 69 phonemes, placing it in the 97th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Danish, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Danish, not in English (56)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

d̥z̥ ð̞ ʋ ʁ̞ ɕ d̥ b̥ʰ b̥ ɡ̊ʰ ɡ̊ r ɔ o u y ø œ œ̞ yu̯ øu̯ œu̯ ɒu̯ i̯y oʌ̯ ɑ ɑu̯ ʌ uʌ̯ a eʌ̯ iu̯ iʌ̯ i̯æ i̯ø i̯œ i̯œ̞ i̯ɑ i̯ɒ i̯ʌ œ̞ʌ̯ yʌ̯ æu̯ æʌ̯ ɑi̯ øʌ̯ œi̯ i̯a i̯u i̯ɔ eu̯ i̯o i̯e ui̯ i̯ɛ ɛu̯ æ

In English, not in Danish (32)

English speakers learning Danish won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

pʰ t̠ʃ iː oː b d ʊ z ɡ ʃ ʒ v ts d̠ʒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Danish →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Catalan 23%
Compare →
Toba-Batak 22%
Compare →
French 21%
Compare →
Javanese 20%
Compare →
Lingala 20%
Compare →

Compare Danish with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao