Polish Alphabet & Pronunciation 4.65/5 (252)

Polish Alphabet & Pronunciation

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.

Video: The Polish Alphabet

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Letter
(lower case)
Letter
(upper case)
Phonetic notation
(IPA symbols)
Example Pronunciation
Listen to PronunciationaA[a] Listen to Pronunciation pracaas in English smart
Listen to PronunciationąĄ[ɔ̃] Listen to Pronunciation mążas in french bon
Listen to PronunciationbB[b] Listen to Pronunciation nieboas in English boy
Listen to PronunciationcC[t͡s] Listen to Pronunciation coas in English wits
Listen to PronunciationćĆ[t̠͡ɕ] Listen to Pronunciation byćas in English choice
Listen to PronunciationdD[d] Listen to Pronunciation dalekoas in English day
Listen to PronunciationeE[ɛ] Listen to Pronunciation teżas in English red
Listen to PronunciationęĘ[ɛ̃] Listen to Pronunciation imięas in french cousin
Listen to PronunciationfF[f] Listen to Pronunciation filmas in English fit
Listen to PronunciationgG[g] Listen to Pronunciation gośćas in English good
Listen to PronunciationhH[x] Listen to Pronunciation herbatabetween scottish loch and english heart
Listen to PronunciationiI[i] Listen to Pronunciation iśćas in English cheat
Listen to PronunciationjJ[j] Listen to Pronunciation jechaćas in English yes
Listen to PronunciationkK[k] Listen to Pronunciation kawaas in English scarce
Listen to PronunciationlL[l] Listen to Pronunciation lubićas in English lamp
Listen to PronunciationłŁ[w] Listen to Pronunciation miłyas in English water
Listen to PronunciationmM[m] Listen to Pronunciation mostas in English move
Listen to PronunciationnN[n] Listen to Pronunciation ranoas in English nut
Listen to PronunciationńŃ[ɲ] Listen to Pronunciation tańczyćas in English canyon
Listen to PronunciationoO[ɔ] Listen to Pronunciation oknoas in English port
Listen to PronunciationóÓ[u] Listen to Pronunciation mócas in English root
Listen to PronunciationpP[p] Listen to Pronunciation przerwaas in English place
Listen to PronunciationrR[r] Listen to Pronunciation robićthrilled r, as in italian Roma
Listen to PronunciationsS[s] Listen to Pronunciation synas in English salt
Listen to PronunciationśŚ[ɕ] Listen to Pronunciation środaas in English short
Listen to PronunciationtT[t] Listen to Pronunciation terazas in English stop
Listen to PronunciationuU[u] Listen to Pronunciation szukaćas in English root
Listen to PronunciationwW[v] Listen to Pronunciation wolnyas in English vowel
Listen to PronunciationyY[ɨ] Listen to Pronunciation czyas in English syllable
Listen to PronunciationzZ[z] Listen to Pronunciation zamekas in English zoo
Listen to PronunciationźŹ[ʑ] Listen to Pronunciation jeździćas in English teach
Listen to PronunciationżŻ[ʐ] Listen to Pronunciation żonaas in English vision

Download this page

Our two-page PDF file is the ultimate cheat-sheet to the Polish Alphabet. It contains all the tables shown on this page.

The Polish Alphabet PDF

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 mążas in french champignon
b or p[ɔm] Listen to Pronunciation ząbas in English combination
c, cz, d, dz, dż or t[ɔn] Listen to Pronunciation miesiącas in English monster
ć or dź[ɔɲ] Listen to Pronunciation wziąćas in french cognac
g or k[ɔŋ] Listen to Pronunciation pociągas 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 częstoas in french cousin
end of word[ɛ] Listen to Pronunciation imięas in English angle
b or p[ɛm] Listen to Pronunciation zębyas in English emphasis
c, cz, d, dz, dż or t[ɛn] Listen to Pronunciation wszędzieas in English then
ć or dź[ɛɲ] Listen to Pronunciation pięćas in English send
g or k[ɛŋ] Listen to Pronunciation pięknyas 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 chorybetween scottish loch and english heart
Listen to Pronunciation cz[ʈ͡ʂ] Listen to Pronunciation czas in English watch
Listen to Pronunciation dz[d͡z]dzwonas in English woods
Listen to Pronunciation[d̠͡ʑ] Listen to Pronunciation odpowieas in English Jeep
Listen to Pronunciation[ɖ͡ʐ] Listen to Pronunciation emas in English jungle
Listen to Pronunciation rz[ʐ] Listen to Pronunciation rzadkoas in french journal
Listen to Pronunciation sz[ʂ] Listen to Pronunciation szukaćas 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 dzias 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
ąU+0105ą
ĄU+0104Ą
ćU+0107ć
ĆU+0106Ć
ęU+0119ę
ĘU+0118Ę
łU+0142ł
ŁU+0141Ł
ńU+0144ń
ŃU+0143Ń
óU+00F3ó
ÓU+00D3Ó
śU+015Bś
ŚU+015AŚ
źU+017Aź
ŹU+0179Ź
żU+017Cż
ŻU+017BŻ

Download this page

Our two-page PDF file is the ultimate cheat-sheet to the Polish Alphabet. It contains all the tables shown on this page.

The Polish Alphabet PDF

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