Rødgrød med fløde and the hardest Danish words to say
Rødgrød med fløde is the Danish sentence every Dane will ask you to say, because it has almost every sound that is hard for foreigners: the throat r, the rounded ø, three soft d’s and a stød. It means “red berry pudding with cream”. Here is how to pronounce rødgrød med fløde, one sound at a time, and ten more hard Danish words to practise. Tap any word to hear it.
What is rødgrød med fløde in English?
Red berry pudding with cream. Rødgrød is a summer dessert of red berries, cooked and thickened, and fløde is cream, poured on top. Word for word it is “red porridge with cream”. Danes eat it in summer, but they say it all year round, because it is the classic test for foreigners. If a Dane at a party asks you to say it, they mean well. Say it, and they will laugh, and then they will tell you that they cannot say it in English either.
How to pronounce rødgrød med fløde, sound by sound
Do not try to say it all at once. Build it from the pieces, and say every piece out loud after the voice.
| Piece | What to do | Hear it |
|---|---|---|
| r | The r is made in the back of the throat, like a soft French r. Not with the tip of the tongue. | rød |
| ø | Like the vowel in British “bird”, with rounded lips. Say “ay”, then round your lips without moving your tongue. | ø |
| soft d | Close to the “th” in “this”, but with the tip of the tongue down behind the lower teeth. | rød |
| gr | A g, then the throat r right after it. The two sounds almost melt together. | grød |
| med | Short, with a soft d, or no d at all in fast speech. | med |
| fløde | Long ø, a soft d, and a weak “uh” at the end. | fløde |
Then put it together: first rødgrød, then rødgrød med fløde. Most Danes say rød and grød with a small stød, a catch in the throat on the vowel. You will be understood without it, so leave it for later.
The one thing to get right: keep your tongue down for every d. The moment the tip of your tongue touches the top of your mouth, it becomes an English d, and it sounds like “road-grode”. That is the mistake Danes are listening for.
Why is it so hard?
Because English has none of the four sounds in it. English speakers say the r with the tongue, have no ø, say d’s as d’s, and have no stød. In one short sentence you meet all four, twice. That is also why it is a good exercise: if you can say rødgrød med fløde, you can say most of Danish. The full explanation of each sound is in the Danish pronunciation guide.
Say it, then check
- Tap rød and say it three times. Is your tongue down at the end?
- Tap grød. Does the r come from your throat?
- Tap fløde. Are your lips round on the ø?
- Now the whole sentence: rødgrød med fløde. Record yourself on your phone and listen next to the voice.
Ten more hard Danish words to pronounce
These are the words my students find hardest after rødgrød med fløde. Each one has a trap, and the trap is written next to it.
- KøbenhavnCopenhagen. Stress on the first part, and swallow the rest: “KØ-ben-haun”.
- hyggeligtcosy, nice. The g’s are almost gone, and the t at the end is barely there.
- selvfølgeligof course. Five syllables written, closer to four said; the v and the g’s are soft.
- spørgsmåla question. The g is silent: “spørs-mål”.
- fødselsdagbirthday. Said “fød-sels-da”, the g at the end is silent.
- bådeboth. Said “bå-the”, with a soft d, not a silent one.
- megetvery, much. Two syllables, no hard g, no t: “mai-et”.
- æbleskiverthe round Christmas pancakes. The æ is like the e in “bed”, and the r at the end is not an r.
- hunddog. The d is silent, and the stød is the only thing that makes it different from hun, she.
- ørredtrout. An ø, a throat r, and a soft d at the end, in one short word.
Questions people ask
What does rødgrød med fløde mean?
Red berry pudding with cream. Rød is red, grød is porridge, med is with, and fløde is cream.
What is the hardest Danish word to say?
For most English speakers it is a word with an ø, a soft d and a throat r in it, which is why rødgrød med fløde is the classic. In my lessons, hyggeligt and selvfølgelig cause the most trouble in real conversations.
Do Danes expect foreigners to say it right?
No. It is a game, not a test. A Dane who asks you to say it is being friendly, and will be pleased by any attempt.
Updated 16 October 2026