Language/Polish/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Alphabet and Pronunciation in Polish

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Hello Everyone, 😊

In today’s lesson we are going to study the following topic: ”ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION” in Polish

Please feel free to edit this page if you think it can be improved!

Good learning!

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Alphabet and Pronunciation in Polish

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 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)

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