Polish Alphabet & Pronunciation
The polish alphabet (“alfabet polski“) consists of 32 letters (23 consonants and 9 vowels). Unlike other slavic languages, the polish language (“język polski“) uses Latin Script with additional diacritics for the special polish phonemes (such as ą and ł). A good rule to remember is that with the most Polish words, the stress lies on the second last syllable.
The Polish Alphabet
Additional letters in the polish alphabet are ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż. In Polish, the letters q, v and x are only used in foreign words.
Pronunciation of the nasal vowels ą and ę
The pronunciation of the Polish nasal vowels ą and ę depends on the consonant following them. For example, the letter ę can be pronuonced like “n“, “en” or french “on“, depending on the context.
The letter Listen to Pronunciation ą
| following consonant | Phonetic notation (IPA symbols) | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| single, end of word or before ch, f, h, rz, s, sz, ś, w, z, ź or ż | [ɔ̃] | Listen to Pronunciation mąż | as in french champignon |
| b or p | [ɔm] | Listen to Pronunciation ząb | as in English combination |
| c, cz, d, dz, dż or t | [ɔn] | Listen to Pronunciation miesiąc | as in English monster |
| ć or dź | [ɔɲ] | Listen to Pronunciation wziąć | as in french cognac |
| g or k | [ɔŋ] | Listen to Pronunciation pociąg | as in English wrong |
The letter Listen to Pronunciation ę
| following consonant | Phonetic notation (IPA symbols) | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| single or before ch, f, h, rz, s, sz, ś, w, z, ź or ż | [ɛ̃] | Listen to Pronunciation często | as in french cousin |
| end of word | [ɛ] | Listen to Pronunciation imię | as in English angle |
| b or p | [ɛm] | Listen to Pronunciation zęby | as in English emphasis |
| c, cz, d, dz, dż or t | [ɛn] | Listen to Pronunciation wszędzie | as in English then |
| ć or dź | [ɛɲ] | Listen to Pronunciation pięć | as in English send |
| g or k | [ɛŋ] | Listen to Pronunciation piękny | as in English strength |
Letter combinations in the Polish language (Digraphs and Trigraphs)
Digraphs (combinations of two letters) and Trigraphs (combinations of three letters) are pronounced like one single letter. On the other hand, two consecutive consonants are mostly pronounced separately in Polish. E.g., both “b” in the word “hobby” are vocalized, with a short pause between both letters (“hob-by“).
Digraphs
Digraphs in the Polish alphabet are ch, cz, dz, dź, dż, rz and sz.
| Combination | Phonetic notation (IPA symbols) | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listen to Pronunciation ch | [x] | Listen to Pronunciation chory | between scottish loch and english heart |
| Listen to Pronunciation cz | [ʈ͡ʂ] | Listen to Pronunciation czuć | as in English watch |
| Listen to Pronunciation dz | [d͡z] | dzwon | as in English woods |
| Listen to Pronunciation dź | [d̠͡ʑ] | Listen to Pronunciation odpowiedź | as in English Jeep |
| Listen to Pronunciation dż | [ɖ͡ʐ] | Listen to Pronunciation dżem | as in English jungle |
| Listen to Pronunciation rz | [ʐ] | Listen to Pronunciation rzadko | as in french journal |
| Listen to Pronunciation sz | [ʂ] | Listen to Pronunciation szukać | as in English shoes |
Trigraphs
The only Trigraph in the Polish language is “dzi“.
| Combination | Phonetic notation (IPA symbols) | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listen to Pronunciation dzi | [ʥ̑] | Listen to Pronunciation dzień | as in English Jeep |
To hear the pronunciation of the Polish alphabet and digraphs, watch the video “Polish Alphabet & Pronunciation” under Learning Polish with Videos & Podcasts.
Punctuation marks
| Symbol | English | Polish |
|---|---|---|
| . | period / full stop | Listen to Pronunciation kropka |
| : | colon | Listen to Pronunciation dwukropek |
| , | comma | Listen to Pronunciation przecinek |
| ; | semicolon | Listen to Pronunciation średnik |
| ! | exclamation mark | Listen to Pronunciation wykrzyknik |
| ? | question mark | Listen to Pronunciation pytajnik |
| – | dash / hyphen | Listen to Pronunciation kreska |
| / | slash | Listen to Pronunciation kreska ukośna |
| backslash | Listen to Pronunciation ukośnik | |
| @ | at sign | Listen to Pronunciation małpa |
Unicode-Signs and HTML codes of Polish letters
In order to display Polish letters correctly on Computers, websites and in web addresses, in many cases they have to be encoded:
| Letter | Unicode | HTML |
|---|---|---|
| ą | U+0105 | ą |
| Ą | U+0104 | Ą |
| 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 | U+00D3 | 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 |
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