Language/Polish/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Alphabet and Pronunciation in Polish

Polish Alphabet, IPA Pronuncation, Video, Virtual Keyboard...

Hello Polyglots,

In today's lesson, you will learn how to write the different letters of the Polish alphabet, how to pronounce these letters whether it is through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), or through a video with the pronunciation of the letters by a native speaker.

You will also find at the end of this lesson a virtual keyboard to be able to type each special character of this language.

Polish Alphabet and IPA 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

Letters

• 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

• 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

Remember, 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)

Alphabet and Pronunciation Equivalent in Different Languages

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
DŹ	dz / ts	dz / ts
DŻ	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

Authors

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