Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are North Germanic languages. Though they share many similarities, the vowels of Danish can be quite different from those of Norwegian and Swedish. Let us consider a few examples.
The word ja means yes in all languages. In Norwegian and Swedish, the vowel is low back, but in Danish it is low front. The vowel is unrounded in the three languages, but it is more open in Danish than in the other two.
The word du means you in all three languages. The Norwegian and Swedish vowel is a high central vowel, but the Danish vowel is high back. The Danish vowel has the same quality as in German.
In the word busk (bush), the vowel is a mid central rounded tense vowel in Norwegian and Swedish. In Danish, however, the vowel is a high back rounded lax vowel. It is higher and more retracted than the vowel of Norwegian and Swedish.
Another example is found in the word bro. In Danish the vowel is a mid back vowel, but in Norwegian and Swedish it is a high back vowel. The vowel of bro in Norwegian and Swedish is the vowel of du in Danish.
The vowels of Danish often differ from those of Norwegian and Swedish. They can differ not only in height but also in backness. The low front back vowel of Danish does not exist in Norwegian or in Swedish, and the high central rounded vowel of Norwegian and Swedish does not exist in Danish.
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