Language/Polish/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

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

Names of letters

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

And digraphs and trigaphs:

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

English equivalents

• 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

Remeber, that polish consonants are never aspirated!

Sounds without english equivalents

• 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

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)

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