The Swedish alphabet is your first step into the language. It's built on the familiar 26-letter Latin alphabet, but with three extra characters at the very end. This brings the total count to 29 letters.

These three extra letters are all vowels, and they give Swedish some of its most distinct sounds. Here is the full alphabet, in order.

Getting comfortable with å, ä, and ö is key to sounding natural in Swedish. They might look intimidating, but their sounds are found in English, too. Let's break them down.

The letter å is pronounced like the 'o' in the English word "or" or the 'aw' in "awe."

The letter ä sounds like the 'e' in "bed." Think of the sound you make when you say "air."

Finally, the letter ö. This sound is similar to the 'i' in "bird" or the 'u' in "fur." To make it, try saying "ee" but with your lips rounded as if you were about to say "oh."

Like all vowels in Swedish, these can have long and short sounds, but mastering these basic pronunciations is a fantastic start.

One of the most unique features of Swedish is its musical quality, often called a pitch accent. Instead of just stressing a syllable with volume, Swedish uses the pitch of the voice, making it rise and fall in specific patterns across a word. This is why Swedish can sound like it's being sung.

There are two main pitch accents, often called Accent 1 and Accent 2. The accent a word uses can change its meaning entirely.

With Accent 1, the pitch typically falls on the stressed syllable. With Accent 2, the pitch falls and then rises again, creating a more wave-like melody. You don't need to memorize these patterns right away. Just listening for this musical quality will help your ear get used to the sounds of Swedish.

Now that you have the basic building blocks, let's review.

You've taken a great first step into learning Swedish. Getting familiar with the alphabet and its unique sounds is the foundation for everything else to come.