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

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	eł	/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	eń	/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	ó, o z kreską, u 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 quad, quiz.
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	eś	/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	u, u 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 varsaviana, vel, vide, recent as van, Vanuatu, vlog, some acronyms as TVP, VAT 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. xiążę, xięstwo (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	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 dź see Digraphs
Ż	ż	żet or zet z kropką	/ʐ/	vision	[ʂ] when devoiced. For dż 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

• 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)

The Polish Accentuation

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)
  

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

Polish Online Virtual Keyboard

Authors

Chronoperates

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_alphabet
• https://www.po-polsku.fr/prononciation.php