Typing in Faroese requires access to a few special letters that don’t exist on a standard English keyboard.

Setting up your devices correctly right now will save you a lot of frustration later.

This guide will show you exactly how to install Faroese keyboard layouts and type these special characters on any operating system.

The Faroese special characters

The Faroese alphabet consists of 29 letters.

It shares most of its letters with the English alphabet, but it excludes the letters c, q, w, x, and z.

Instead, Faroese includes eight special characters that you’ll need to know how to type.

Five of these are regular vowels combined with an acute accent.

The other three are unique characters shared with a few other Nordic languages.

How to type Faroese on Windows

The most permanent way to type in Faroese on a PC is to install the dedicated language layout.

You can add this by opening your Windows settings and navigating to the Time & Language menu.

Click on Language & Region, then select the option to add a language.

Search for Faroese, install it, and Windows will instantly add the layout to your system.

You can quickly switch between your English keyboard and your new Faroese keyboard by pressing the Windows key and the Spacebar at the same time.

When using the Faroese layout on a physical US English keyboard, the special letters replace several punctuation marks.

Here’s a quick reference table showing where the most important keys move to:

To type the accented vowels like “á” or “ó”, you must first press the apostrophe key (which acts as a dead key) and then press your desired vowel.

How to type Faroese on Mac

Apple makes it incredibly easy to type Faroese letters on a Mac without constantly switching layouts.

If you only type in Faroese occasionally, you can simply press and hold down a vowel key on your keyboard.

A small popup menu will appear above the letter with numbered options for accented characters.

For example, holding down the “o” key will let you choose both “ó” and “ø” by pressing the corresponding number.

Holding down the “d” key will give you the option to type “ð”.

If you plan to type in Faroese frequently, you should add the dedicated keyboard layout.

Open your System Settings and navigate to the Keyboard menu.

Under the Text Input section, click Edit and then click the plus icon to add Faroese.

You can then toggle between keyboards using the globe key or by pressing Control and Space.

How to type Faroese on iPhone and iPad

Typing Faroese on your iPhone or iPad is just as simple as on a Mac.

The long-press method works perfectly here as well.

Simply tap and hold the letter “o” on your screen to see the pop-up options for “ó” and “ø”.

However, adding the official Faroese keyboard gives you the massive advantage of Faroese predictive text and autocorrect.

Go to your Settings app and tap on General.

Tap on Keyboard, then Keyboards, and finally Add New Keyboard.

Search for Faroese and add it to your active list.

You can now switch to the Faroese layout by tapping the globe icon located in the bottom left corner of your screen.

How to type Faroese on Android

Android devices also support both the long-press method and a dedicated Faroese keyboard.

If you use Gboard, which is the default Google keyboard, adding the language takes only a few seconds.

Open any app where you can type to bring up your keyboard on the screen.

Tap the settings gear icon located just above the keys.

Select Languages, then tap Add keyboard, and search for Faroese.

Once added, you can easily switch languages by swiping the spacebar to the left or right.

Having this keyboard enabled will give you highly accurate Faroese spelling suggestions as you type.