#13 Duck face Y (how to pronounce the letter Y + exercises) [pronunciation] [uttale]

The letter Y in Norwegian requires precise lip positioning. Mastering this sound prevents embarrassing mistakes like saying "to drool" when you meant "to ride a bike." If yiu don't master "u" yet, you might want to start with episode 11 first. 

• Y pronunciation requires vertical lip opening rather than horizontal (no smiling!). 
• The "duck face technique" helps position lips correctly for authentic Y sounds. 
• Try holding a pen between your upper lip and nose for proper lip positioning. 
• Long Y examples: yte (to contribute), yr (eager/rain), by (to bid/city/town), sky (cloud). 
• Short Y examples: yrke (profession), yste (to make cheese), idyll (idyllic situation). 
• Short vowels generally open the mouth (jaws) more than long vowels.  

Beginner tip: Practice moving between I, U and Y sounds regularly, focusing on lip movement while keeping tongue position stable.

Bonus: Here's the song I talked about (Idyll). 

Chapters

• 0:14 Why Learn the Letter Y?
• 0:54 Connection Between I, U, and Y
• 1:51 The Duck Face Technique
• 3:29 Practice with Long Y Sounds
• 5:45 Practice with Short Y Sounds
• 8:00 Final Tips on Y Pronunciation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Why do we need to talk about the letter Y? What's the fuzz about it? In episode 11, I taught you how to pronounce the letter U, which is pronounced like U in Norwegian, and if you haven't listened to that episode and you struggle a little bit with that sound, I suggest you go back to that episode, listen to that carefully and muster the letter U first, and then you can come back to Y, y, e, big question, y. So I want you to imagine the three letters I, u and Y In that order I, u and Y In that order I, u and Y, because they are connected somehow and I would say that the letter U is the connector between the two.

Speaker 1: 1:16

So when you start saying E, e the letter I, e the letter I sound E in Norwegian, e it's very difficult not to smile. You have to show your teeth and your lips are opened horizontally E. Now when you go from E to U, u, you see that your lips are going together. You're not showing your teeth anymore, your lips have a round shape. And now when you want to say why and you might want to ask me why, why do you pronounce it like that you have to make a duck face Well, not really a duck face, but if you can imagine a duck or duck face, then it makes it easier to remember how to pronounce. So you're going from U go from. U start with that, you're just making a round, and then you want your lips to open vertically, upwards and downwards, so not horizontally. You do not want to smile.

Speaker 1: 2:34

It's very difficult to smile when you say e but what you do show is the two front teeth on the top and on the bottom of your tooth rows, if that makes sense at all. So basically, imagine you're showing the four teeth that you have in the middle of your tooth rows. If that is hard, another thing you can try to do is that you take a pen and you try to keep it between your upper lips and the nose. You might not be able to do it, but the sound will be right at least. So take the pen, place it on top of your upper lips and try to hold it between the lips and the nose and see what happens.

Speaker 1: 3:31

E E.

Speaker 1: 3:34

It might seem a little bit weird in the beginning when you pronounce it, because you're not used to having your lips in that position. It might feel super awkward and of course, in the beginning when you pronounce it, it will be very exaggerated. We don't do it that much, we don't open that much. It's much more subtle. And as for you and all the sounds that are new to you, a good thing is that when you learn how to pronounce it, being able to recognize that sound will also be easier, even though the difference in between y and I in norwegian is very, very subtle " for I, and [y] for y.

Speaker 1: 4:24

I know it's super subtle, but you can hear it, norwegians can hear it, and if you do not pronounce it right, you might say funny things like [si'kle] instead of [sy'kle]. The first one means to drool and the other one means to ride a bike. Of course, everybody understands what you wanted to say, but it's still funny. So, yeah, it's important to master it because you don't want people to misunderstand what you want to say, to misunderstand what you want to say. So we're going to do all of the three vowels, going from [i], then to [u], then to [y] and back and forth like that to practice, and then I'm going to give you some words to pronounce, okay, so let's start with [i], then you round your lips [I-U], and then you open up [y].

Speaker 1: 5:29

[I-u-y]

Speaker 1: 5:36

Let's start from the top: .

Speaker 1: 6:04

let's do some words now, starting with with long sound, long [y].

Speaker 1: 6:13

[yt] *å yte

Speaker 1: 6:33

If this was hard, know that you can always go back to [i] and take it from there. What is also important to notice is that if your tongue position is changing when you go from [i] to [y], then you're doing it wrong. The tongue should be at the same place, only your lips should change, the configuration of your lips only.

Speaker 1: 6:57

"t, eat, eat.

Speaker 1: 7:04

[yt] means yeah, how do I translate that word? It's a word that can mean different things, but it can mean to put in some effort to do a good job. It can also mean to provide or to contribute. Yeah, that's eat, eat. So two letters, but a lot of meanings. I want to give another word, even though I know that the R might be difficult to pronounce for some. But if you master the R, let's do it [yr]. The R could also be pronounced like a French R, [yr].

Speaker 1: 7:54

[yr]

Speaker 1: 7:57

[yr], If that's easier. Ir Ir or ir means to be eager, it can also mean to. It can also mean rain, and that's why the webpage id is called id, because it's a fun wordplay. Now let's do some examples where we don't start with [y], but still a long [y] sound: "By. B, B, B B means to bid, or it means city or town.

Speaker 1: 9:04

[sky] This even though it's written the same way as sky, and if you pronounce it incorrectly, then you're saying ski or the English word ski. Okay, so that was with a long vowel. Let's now do some examples with the short vowel, starting with E. I'm doing my best[y] to find short words. It's not always so easy, but I'll see what Yrke means profession. I c f. yrke

Speaker 1: 10:07

[Ys'te], yste. Very, very handy word. You already know the word for cheese, I guess "st. Now yste is the verb that we use when you make cheese. Not sure what it is in English Yste. Let's move on to words not starting with I. This is a good one Idyll, idyll. So in the beginning you have an I and in the end you have an Y, so you have both in one word idyll. Idyll is a noun. It means something that is idyllic, an idyllic scene maybe would be a good translation or an idyllic situation. There is actually a well-known song called Idyll by Post-idobygge. If you search for Idyll, a Norwegian song, you're probably going to find it. It's a very nice summer song. I like it a lot. You should listen to it, anyways. So that was Idyll. And then the last word Okay, the only one I could think of right now is [fyll], fyll.

Speaker 1: 11:55

[Fyll]

Speaker 1: 12:05

So ", depending on the context, could mean fill to fill up something, or filling or drunkenness, so many options. Okay, I hope that went well. If it was hard, do it again, practice on your own and notice if there maybe are some words that are more difficult to say than others. If so, then it might be because E is not in the beginning, so then you might have to go back with that. Or maybe there are other sounds that you find difficult to pronounce, so that might also be something. So that might also be something.

Speaker 1: 13:00

And another thing to be aware of is that the difference between long and short vowels might not be mastered right now I will make an episode about that later but one thing to be aware of is that the shorter vowels tend to open up a little bit, meaning that you don't, basically you open your mouth more when you have an open vowel sorry, a short vowel compared to a long vowel. So this might influence how it sounds like. So this might influence how it sounds like. So, when you hear people pronouncing short and long [y], maybe you're better at recognizing one of them than the other. Probably the longer one will be the one that is the easiest to recognize. It's much clearer than the short one, but that will of course get better with practice. So Takk for i dag! Lykke til! Good luck! Vi høres!