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Language Detective 🕵️‍♂️

Decode Swedish words! Trace them back to their English roots.

Consonants (Sound Shift)

−
SV EN SV → EN Hint
sk sh skepp → Ship sk becomes sh sound
t / d th tack → Thank t/d often corresponds to th
d (inside) th fader → father Inner d becomes th
v w / wh vit → White v sounds like w/wh
k ch kyrka → Church Soft k becomes ch
g y dag → day End g becomes y
v f / fe liv → life v hardens to f

Vowels

−
SV EN SV → EN Hint
u ou / ow hus → house u sounds like ou
o / u oo bok → book o often matches oo
ö / ä ea bröd → bread Umlauts often match ea
e ee se → see Long e = ee
i i (long) fin → fine Same letter, different sound
å a / ai hår → hair å matches a/ai
e o (long) sten → stone Historical shift e ↔ o
y ew ny → new y sounds like ew
å aw strå → straw Phonetic match

Prefixes (Start of word)

−
SV EN SV → EN Hint
o- un- ovänlig → unfriendly o = not/un
för- for- förlåta → forgive Identical sound
miss- mis- misstag → mistake Double s in Swedish
kon- con- kontroll → control k instead of c
ex- ex- export → export Identical
över- over- överblick → overview v matches v
ut- out- uteffekt → output u sounds like out
under- under- understå → understand Identical
upp- up- upprörd → upset pp matches p

W-Drop & Special Clusters

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SV EN SV → EN Hint
o- (before r) wo- ord → word w dropped before round vowels
u- (before l) wo- ull → wool w dropped
-gg- -dg- brygga → bridge Hard g vs soft dg
-mm -mb lamm → lamb Assimilation
-cka -nk dricka → drink ck matches nk
av of av → of v matches f sound

Spelling & Latin/Greek Roots

−
SV EN SV → EN Hint
k c katt → cat Phonetic k
f ph foto → photo Simplified f
kv qu kvick → quick Phonetic spelling
tt ght natt → night ght simplifies to tt
el / le le äpple / äppel → apple Letter swap

Silent Letters & Clusters

−
SV EN SV → EN Hint
kn- kn- knä → knee K is pronounced in SV!
vr- wr- vrist → wrist v matches w
skr- scr- skruv → screw k matches c
sk- sc- skanna → scan k matches c
-ll -ld kall → cold Assimilation
sv- sw- svan → swan v matches w

Endings & Suffixes

−
SV EN SV → EN Hint
-isera -ize organisera → organize Verb ending
-iv -ive aktiv → active e drops
-är -ary militär → military Stress shift
-bel -ble flexibel → flexible Letter swap
-lig -ly vänlig → friendly Adjective ending
-isk -ic fantastisk → fantastic k matches c
-ös -ous nervös → nervous French influence
-kt -ct direkt → direct k matches c
-ig -y hungrig → hungry Adjective ending
-tet -ty kvalitet → quality Latin roots
-ism -ism realism → realism Identical
-tion -tion station → station Identical
-lös -less hopplös → hopeless loss = less
-het -ness godhet → goodness Noun suffix
-skap -ship vänskap → friendship Cognate suffix
-dom -dom visdom → wisdom Identical
-are -er lärare → teacher Doer suffix
-sam -some ensam → lonesome Adjective suffix
-ell -al kulturell → cultural Stress on final syllable