8 Pronunciation
Reductions
In Chapter 4 you read about «silent letters», i.e. consonants that are written, but do not represent a sound. In some cases the vowel «e» is written, but not pronounced. If an /e/ occurs in an unstressed syllable between /t, d, n, l, s/ and /n/, the /e/ is not pronounced. The final /n/ constitues the second syllable and must be pronounced clearly. When you pronounce these words you go straight from /t, d, n, l, s/ in the end of one syllable to the /n/ of the next.
| Careful pronunciation |
Common pronunciation |
| tretten |
/2treten/ |
thirteen |
/2tretn̩/ |
| boden |
/1bu:den/ |
the storage room |
/1bu:dn̩/ |
| vinen |
/1vi:nen/ |
the wine |
/1vi:nn̩/ |
| bilen |
/1bi:len/ |
the car |
/1bi:ln̩/ |
| bussen |
/1bʉsen/ |
the bus |
/1bʉsn̩/ |
This rule is for instance applied:
- for numbers 13 – 19 (tretten, fjorten, femten, seksten, sytten, atten, nitten)
- when masculine nouns ending in /t, d, n, l, s/ in basic form are put in singular definite form
| en hatt |
→ |
hatten |
the hat |
| en bod |
→ |
boden |
the storage room |
| en vin |
→ |
vinen |
the wine |
| en bil |
→ |
bilen |
the car |
en buss
|
→
|
bussen
|
the bus
|
- all nouns in masculine, feminine and neuter form in plural definite form
| en hatt |
→ |
hattene |
| en bod |
→ |
bodene |
| en vin |
→ |
vinene |
| en bil |
→ |
bilene |
| en buss |
→ |
bussene |
