{"id":531,"date":"2012-05-26T06:27:11","date_gmt":"2012-05-26T06:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=531"},"modified":"2012-05-26T06:33:29","modified_gmt":"2012-05-26T06:33:29","slug":"the-gs-that-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2012\/05\/26\/the-gs-that-be\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gs that Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dannebrog<\/a><\/p>\n

If the Danish R\u2019s confused you, you\u2019d better stop reading right now! The letter G is basically pronounced in three different ways:<\/p>\n

\u2022 As the hard G of English girl.<\/em><\/span> This is the ordinary sound of G when it comes in front of a syllable, a T or another G. (If you\u2019re not quite sure what a syllable is, you can try to clap the rhythm of a word, like Ho-no-lu-lu<\/em>. That\u2019s four syllables!)<\/span>
\nIn all these words, then, the G is hard: gr\u00f8n<\/strong> \u2019green\u2019, igen<\/strong> [i-GEN] \u2019again\u2019, digt<\/strong> \u2019poem\u2019, hygge.<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Note that in a few words, there is an \u201dinvisible\u201d double G that can be seen only when the word gets some ending: tryg<\/strong> \u2019safe\u2019 \u2013 trygge<\/strong> \u2019safe (plural)\u2019; myg<\/strong> \u2019mosquito\u2019 \u2013 myggen<\/strong> \u2019the mosquito\u2019; \u00e6g<\/strong> \u2019egg\u2019 \u2013 \u00e6gget<\/strong> \u2019the egg\u2019. Even without an ending, though, this G should be kept hard!)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 As the W part of the English word now!<\/em><\/span> This happens when the G follows an O, U, \u00c5, R or dark A (as in far<\/strong><\/a> \u2019father\u2019): tog<\/strong> [to-w] \u2019train\u2019, uge<\/strong> [U-weh, most often becoming U-eh] \u2019week\u2019, t\u00e5ge<\/strong> [TO-weh] \u2019fog\u2019, Norge<\/strong> [NO\u1d52\u02b3weh] \u2019Norway<\/a>\u2019, brag<\/strong> [brah-w] \u2019clash\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2022 As the Y part of the English word hey!<\/em><\/span> This happens when the G follows an E, I, Y, \u00c6, \u00d8, L or light A (as in kat<\/strong>): at lege<\/strong> [at LAH-yeh] \u2019to play\u2019, rig<\/strong> [ree-y or just reeh] \u2019rich\u2019, syg<\/strong> [see-y with rounded lips] \u2019ill\u2019, l\u00e6ge<\/strong> [LEH-yeh] \u2019doctor\u2019, h\u00f8g<\/strong> [hoo-y with rounded lips] \u2019hawk\u2019, elge<\/strong> [ELyeh] \u2019elks\u2019, tag<\/strong> [ta-y] \u2019roof\u2019.<\/p>\n

Notice the difference between dark A<\/span>+G and light A<\/span>+G: brag<\/strong> rhymes with English now<\/em>, while tag<\/strong> rhymes more or less with English play.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A strange thing about \u201dlight AG\u2019s\u201d is that they turn \u201ddark\u201d when they\u2019re lumped in front of another word to form a compound: flag<\/strong> (flag) is pronounced \u201dfla-y\u201d, but a flagstaff is flagstang<\/strong> \u2013 pronounced \u201dFLA-W-stang\u201d. A layer is a lag<\/strong> [la-y], but a \u201dlayered cake\u201d is lagkage<\/strong> [LA-W-ka-yeh]. Now that\u2019s weird, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the Danish R\u2019s confused you, you\u2019d better stop reading right now! The letter G is basically pronounced in three different ways: \u2022 As the hard G of English girl. This is the ordinary sound of G when it comes in front of a syllable, a T or another G. (If you\u2019re not quite sure…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[89882,89881,89880,89883],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dark-a","tag-flag","tag-g","tag-light-a"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t