Icelandic has 32 letters. Some may be familiar to you, and some are unique.
This is the full alphabet:
A Á B D Ð E É F G H I Í J K L M N O Ó P R S T U Ú V X Y Ý Þ Æ Ö
The letters C, Q, W and Z are only used in foreign words or names.
Here you can hear the Alphabet Song in Icelandic. You can try to sing along if you want.
A, Á, B, D, Ð, E, É,
F, G, H, I, Í, J, K.
L, M, N, O, Ó og P
eiga þar að standa hjá.
R, S, T, U, Ú, V næst
X, Y, Ý, svo Þ, Æ, Ö.
Íslenskt stafróf er hér læst
í erindin þessi skrítin tvö.
Note that the diacritics or accents change the sound of the letter completely. They do not indicate stress of the word. The stress of a word is almost always on the first syllable.
Most vowels can be either long or short.
Letter | Pronunciation | IPA | Example |
A | Ah (as in car) | a or a: | Api (a monkey) |
Á | Ow (as in cow) | au og au: | Tá (a toe) |
E | Eh (as in bed) | ɛ or ɛ: | Eldur (fire) |
I | Ih (as in fish) | ɪ or ɪ: | Fiskur (a fish) |
Í | Ee (as in see) | i or i: | Ís (ice) |
O | O (as in long) | ɔ or ɔ: | Kona (a woman) |
U | This sound does not exist in English but it is like ü in German | ʏ or ʏ: | Hundur (a dog) |
Ú | Oo (as in boot) | u or u: | Hús (a house) |
Y | Same as I | ɪ or ɪ: | Yddari (a pencil sharpener) |
Ý | Same as Í | i or i: | Ýsa (haddock) |
Ö | Like i in bird or french eu | œ or œ: | Önd (a duck) |
Dipthongs | |||
Au | Ö + í – IPA: [ˈœ̼ʏ̯] | œy or œy: | Auga (an eye) |
Ei/ey | Ey (as in hey) | ei or ei: | Eyja (an island) |
É | “yeah” | Ég (I) | |
Ó | “oh” | ou or ou: | Stóll (a chair) |
Æ | Eye | ai og ai: | Læra (learn) |
Most consonants are pronounced the same way they are in English. The ones you need to watch for are:
Letter | Sound | Notes |
Þ þ | “Th” in thing | Only at the beginning of words |
Ð ð | “Th” in this | Never at the beginning of words |
F | “F”, “v”, “m” or “b” | Sometimes pronounced as “v”, “m” or “b” if not at the beginning of word, otherwise like “f” Afi (grandfather) is pronounced like avi, in Keflavík the “f” is pronounced like a “b” |
LL | Somtimes pronounced like “tl” or “dl” | Kalla -> “kahtla” |
R | Rolled | |
J | Like “y” in yes | Já (yes) |
G | Can be pronounced like “g”, “y”, “gh” or not at all, depending on the word. | |
H | Most often like English “h” | Pronounced like “k” if before a “v” (hv) |
Lastly I recommend listening to Youtube videos about the Icelandic alphabet.