Language/Polish/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

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Alphabet and Pronunciation in Polish
Polish Alphabet, IPA Pronunciation
Videos, Virtual Keyboard...

Hi Polish Learners! 😃

In today's lesson, we will dive into the fascinating world of the Polish Alphabet and its Pronunciation. You will learn how to write the different letters of the Polish alphabet, including consonants and vowels, and how to pronounce them using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). To make it even easier, we have included a video with the pronunciation of each letter by a native Polish speaker.

As you progress through this lesson, you will also discover the intricacies of stress and accentuation in the Polish language, as well as digraphs and trigraphs. We will also cover letters that have no English equivalent and provide you with a virtual keyboard to practice typing each special character of this beautiful language.

Once you have mastered the Polish alphabet and pronunciation, you can further enhance your learning by exploring our Introduction to Polish Grammar Verbs and Tenses, understanding the nuances of Polish Accents, and even embarking on a comprehensive 0 to A1 Polish Course.

Happy learning! 😎

Polish Alphabet and IPA Pronunciation[edit | edit source]

The Slavic languages spoken by peoples of predominantly Catholic culture are written with the Latin alphabet, while those of the Orthodox peoples use the Cyrillic alphabet. Polish therefore uses the Latin alphabet, but it supplements it, in order to adapt it to its own phonetics, by means of accents, or a kind of cedilla to make letters "wet" or nasals. There are also double consonants, which constitute unique sounds (like [ch] in French): these consonants constitute separate entries in the dictionary and are therefore classified separately.

Recording[edit | edit source]

Listen to the following recording by a native speaker of the alphabet, in dictionary order:



Alphabet Table and English Equivalent[edit | edit source]

Upper

case

Lower

case

Polish name Usual value Rough English (or

other) equivalent

Other values
A a a /ä/ large More frontal [a] between palatal or palatalized consonants
Ą ą ą /ɔw̃/ nasal o, denouement [ɔn], [ɔŋ], [ɔm]; becomes /ɔ/ before /w/ (see Nasal vowels)
B b be /b/ bed [p] when devoiced
C c ce /t̪͡s̪/ pits [d̪͡z̪] if voiced. For ch, ci, cz see Digraphs
Ć ć cie /t͡ɕ/ cheap (alveolo-palatal) [d͡ʑ] if voiced
D d de /d̪/ dog [d̺] before /d͡ʐ/; [t̪] when devoiced; [t̺] before /t͡ʂ/. For dz etc. see Digraphs
E e e /ɛ/ bed [e] between palatal or palatalized consonants
Ę ę ę /ɛw̃/ nasal e [ɛn], [ɛŋ], [ɛm]; becomes /ɛ/ word-finally and before /w/ (see Nasal vowels)
F f ef /f/ fingers [v] if voiced
G g gie /ɡ/ go [k] when devoiced. For gi see Digraphs
H h ha /x/ Scots loch [ɣ] if voiced, may be glottal [ɦ] in a small number of dialects. For ch and (c)hi see Digraphs
I i i /i/ meet [j] before a consonant; marks palatization of the preceding consonant before a vowel (see Spelling rules)
J j jot /j/ yes
K k ka /k/ king [ɡ] if voiced. For ki see Digraphs
L l el /l/ light May be [lʲ] instead in eastern dialects
Ł ł /w/ will May be [ɫ̪] instead in eastern dialects
M m em /m/ men [ɱ] before labiodental consonants
N n en /n̪/ not [n̺] before /t͡ʂ d͡ʐ/; can be [ŋ] before /k ɡ/. For ni see Digraphs
Ń ń /ɲ̟/ canyon (alveolo-palatal) Can be [j̃] in syllable coda
O o o /ɔ/ (for accents without the cot-caught merger) long [o] between palatal or palatalized consonants
Ó ó óo z kreskąu kreskowane or u zamknięte /u/ boot [ʉ] between palatal or palatalized consonants
P p pe /p/ spot [b] if voiced
(Q) (q) ku /k/ question Only in some traditional loanwords as quasi- and recent as quadquiz.
R r er /ɾ/ American English better Can also sometimes be an approximant, a fricative, and rarely - a trill. See Polish phonology. For rz see Digraphs
S s es /s̪/ sea For sz, si see Digraphs
Ś ś /ɕ/ sheep (alveolo-palatal) [ʑ] (cf. Ź) if voiced
T t te /t̪/ start [t̺] before /t͡ʂ/; [d̪] if voiced; [d̺] before /d͡ʐ/.
U u uu zwykłe or u otwarte /u/ boot [ʉ] between palatal or palatalized consonants, sometimes [w] after vowels
(V) (v) fał /v/ vow Only in some traditional loanwords as varsavianavelvide, recent as vanVanuatuvlog, some acronyms as TVPVAT and in artistic forms, as vlepka.
W w wu /v/ vow [f] when devoiced
(X) (x) iks /ks/ fox Only in some loanwords as xenia, also historical letter for native words prior to 19th century, e.g. xiążęxięstwo (now książę 'prince', księstwo 'duchy'), which remains in abbreviations of these words (sometimes used x. instead of ks.) and some names, as Xymena, Xawery, surnames as Xiężopolski, Axentowicz, Axer and names of some companies in Poland with -ex suffix.
Y y or igrek /ɨ/ bit
Z z zet /z̪/ zoo [s̪] when devoiced. For digraphs see Digraphs
Ź ź ziet /ʑ/ vision (alveolo-palatal) [ɕ] when devoiced. For  see Digraphs
Ż ż żet or zet z kropką /ʐ/ vision [ʂ] when devoiced. For  see Digraphs

Polish alphabet is based on the Latin aplhabet, but also includes letters with diacritics:

  • acute accent/kreska: ń, ś, ź, ć, ó
  • overdot/kropka: ż
  • tail/ogonek: ą, ę
  • stroke: ł

Letters[edit | edit source]

  • A a - a - /ä/
  • Ą ą - ą - /ɔ̃/
  • B b - be - /b/
  • C C - ce - /t̪͡s̪/
  • Ć ć - cie - /t͡ɕ/
  • D d - de - /d̪/
  • E e - e - /ɛ/
  • Ę ę - ę - /ɛ̃/
  • F f - ef - /f/
  • G g - gie - /ɡ/
  • H h - ha/cha - /x/
  • I i - i - /i/
  • J j - jot - /j/
  • K k - ka - /k/
  • L l - el - /l/
  • Ł ł - eł - /w/
  • M m - em - /m/
  • N n - en - /n̪/
  • Ń ń - eń - /ɲ̟/
  • O o - o - /ɔ/
  • Ó ó - ó zamknięte/ó z kreską - /u/
  • P p - pe - /p/
  • R r - er - /r/
  • S s - es - /s̪/
  • Ś ś - eś - /ɕ/
  • T t - te - /t̪/
  • U u - u - /u/
  • W w - wu - /v/
  • Y y - igrek - /ɘ̟/
  • Z z - zet - /z̪/
  • Ź ź - ziet - /ʑ/
  • Ż ż - żet - /ʐ/

Digraphs and Trigaphs[edit | edit source]

  • cz - czy
  • dz - dzy
  • dzi - dzi
  • dż - dży
  • dź - dzi
  • sz - szy
  • rz - rzy/ży

English equivalents[edit | edit source]

  • a as in large
  • b as in bed
  • c as in pits
  • d as in dog
  • e as in bed
  • f as in fingers
  • g as in go
  • i as in meet but shorter
  • j as in yes
  • k as in king
  • l as in light
  • ł as in will
  • m as in men
  • n as in not
  • o as in long
  • ó as in boot
  • p as in spot
  • s as in sea
  • t as in start
  • u as in boot
  • w as in vow
  • z as in zoo

Remember, that polish consonants are never aspirated!

Sounds without english equivalents[edit | edit source]

  • ą - French français
  • ć - cheap but softer
  • cz - cheap but less softer
  • dz - voised c
  • dź - voised c but softer
  • dż - John but less softer
  • ę - nasal e
  • ch/h - Scots loch or German macht
  • ń - canyon but softer
  • sz - sheep
  • ś - sheep but softer
  • rz/ż - vision but less softer
  • ź - vision but softer

I after consonants and befor vowel[edit | edit source]

Letter i after consonats make it palatalized. It's like a adding y as in yes after the consonant (V - vowel):

  • biV biały
  • ciV ciepły (ciV = ćV)
  • dziV dzień (dziV = dżV)
  • fiV fiat
  • giV gierka
  • kiV kiedy
  • miV mięso
  • niV nienawiść (niV = ńV)
  • piV pieprz
  • siV siekiera (siV = śV)
  • ziV ziemia (ziV = źV)

The Polish Accentuation[edit | edit source]

The accentuation rule in Polish is very simple. In 99% of cases, the stress is on the penultimate syllable. Here are some examples :

  • Akcent: 'ak' is the stressed syllable. (akcent = accent)
  • Telewizor: 'wi' is the stressed syllable. (telewizor = Television)
  • Kuchnia: 'kuch' is the stressed syllable. (kuchnia = Kitchen)
  • Komórka: 'mór' is the stressed syllable. (komórka = Battery)
  • Kierownik: 'row' is the stressed syllable. (kierownik = Manager)

There are only a few words often of Latin origin ending in -yka or -ika, in this case the emphasis is on the antepenultimate syllable, examples:

  • Matematyka: 'ma' is the stressed syllable. (matematyka = mathematics)
  • Gramatyka - 'ma' is the stressed syllable. (gramatyka = grammar)

Unicode and HTML[edit | edit source]

Letter Unicode HTML
ą U+0105 ą
Ą U+0104 &#260
ć U+0107 ć
Ć U+0106 Ć
ę U+0119 ę
Ę U+0118 Ę
ł U+0142 ł
Ł U+0141 Ł
ń U+0144 ń
Ń U+0143 Ń
ó U+00F3 ó

ó

Ó U+00D3 Ó

Ó

ś U+015B ś
Ś U+015A Ś
ź U+017A ź
Ź U+0179 Ź
ż U+017C ż
Ż U+017B Ż

Alphabet and Pronunciation Equivalent in Different Languages[edit | edit source]

LETTERS IN

POLISH

PRONUNCIATION

ENGLISH SPEAKERS

PRONUNCIATION

PORTUGUESE SPEAKERS

A ah a
Ą ohn on
B b b
C ts ts
Ć ch tch
CH h r
CZ ch tch
D d d
DZ dz / ts dz / ts
dz / ts dz / ts
dz / ts dz / ts
E eh e
Ę ehn en
F f f
GE / GI geh / gih gue / gui
GA / GO / GU gah / goh / gou ga / go / gu
H h r
I ih i
J ih i
K k k
L l l
Ł ou u
M m m
N n n
Ń ny nh
O oh o
Ó oo uu
P p p
Q q q
R r r
RZ sh ch
S s s
S sh ch
T t t
U ou u
V v / b v – b
W v v
X sh ch
Y eh eh
Z z z
Ź z z
Ż zh j

Video - Polish Alphabet Pronunciation by a Native Speaker[edit | edit source]


Polish Online Virtual Keyboard[edit | edit source]


Authors[edit | edit source]

Chronoperates


Sources[edit | edit source]

Videos[edit | edit source]

Polish Alphabet & Pronunciation - YouTube[edit | edit source]

Polish alphabet. Pronunciation - YouTube[edit | edit source]

Polish Alphabet Polish Pronunciation Guide - YouTube[edit | edit source]

Polish for beginners. Lesson 1. Alphabet & pronunciation - YouTube[edit | edit source]

Polish alphabet: Names of the letters - YouTube[edit | edit source]

Other Lessons[edit | edit source]

Contributors

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