[citation needed] Southern Sámi belongs to the Saamic group within the Uralic language family.

[4] Language courses are also offered at different Sámi-language centres throughout the Southern Sámi area.

The spelling is closely based on Swedish and Norwegian and uses the following Latin alphabet: In 1976, the Sámi Language Council recommended the use of ⟨æ⟩ and ⟨ö⟩, but in practice the latter is replaced by ⟨ø⟩ in Norway and the former by ⟨ä⟩ in Sweden.

[5] This is in accordance with the usage in Norwegian and Swedish, based on computer or typewriter availability.

The phonological differences are relatively small; the phonemic system of the northern dialect is explained below.

The vowels may combine to form ten different diphthongs: In Southern Sámi, all consonants occur as geminates in word-medial position.

The comitative expresses participation and instrument, and the essive marks a state or a function.

An overview of the modern inflection of guelie 'fish': Earlier, in the comitative singular and in the plural, besides the nominative i, umlaut of the root vowel to öö took place: Gen. Pl.

Personal pronouns inflect for three numbers (singular, dual, and plural) and seven cases (all of the above with the exception of the essive).

The majority of these pronouns change based on whether they refer to a singular or plural entity, and some also adapt to different cases.

In the verbum, a distinction must be made between odd-syllable and even-syllable verbs; in the latter, there are six different stem classes.

In Southern Sámi, the negative verb conjugates according to tense (past and non-past), mood (indicative and imperative), person (first, second, and third), and number (singular, dual, and plural).

An example of a plural object in the nominative: delliethenmanne1.SG.NOMnaarra-hsnare-NOM.PLtjeegk-i-mset.up-PST-1SGdellie manne naarra-h tjeegk-i-mthen 1.SG.NOM snare-NOM.PL set.up-PST-1SG"Then I set up snares.

The TAM categories mentioned above are based on non-finite verb forms and are expressed in periphrastic constructions with an auxiliary.

Southern Sámi has some features that separate the language from its closest relatives, like SOV instead of SVO as basic constituent order, no stem gradation, and a genitive possessive.