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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | A | [a] | praca | as in English smart | |
| ą | Ą | [ɔ̃] | mąż | as in french bon | |
| b | B | [b] | niebo | as in English boy | |
| c | C | [t͡s] | co | as in English wits | |
| ć | Ć | [t̠͡ɕ] | być | as in English choice | |
| d | D | [d] | daleko | as in English day | |
| e | E | [ɛ] | też | as in English red | |
| ę | Ę | [ɛ̃] | imię | as in french cousin | |
| f | F | [f] | film | as in English fit | |
| g | G | [g] | gość | as in English good | |
| h | H | [x] | herbata | between scottish loch and english heart | |
| i | I | [i] | iść | as in English cheat | |
| j | J | [j] | jechać | as in English yes | |
| k | K | [k] | kawa | as in English scarce | |
| l | L | [l] | lubić | as in English lamp | |
| ł | Ł | [w] | miły | as in English water | |
| m | M | [m] | most | as in English move | |
| n | N | [n] | rano | as in English nut | |
| ń | Ń | [ɲ] | tańczyć | as in English canyon | |
| o | O | [ɔ] | okno | as in English port | |
| ó | Ó | [u] | móc | as in English root | |
| p | P | [p] | przerwa | as in English place | |
| r | R | [r] | robić | thrilled r, as in italian Roma | |
| s | S | [s] | syn | as in English salt | |
| ś | Ś | [ɕ] | środa | as in English short | |
| t | T | [t] | teraz | as in English stop | |
| u | U | [u] | szukać | as in English root | |
| w | W | [v] | wolny | as in English vowel | |
| y | Y | [ɨ] | czy | as in English syllable | |
| z | Z | [z] | zamek | as in English zoo | |
| ź | Ź | [ʑ] | jeździć | as in English teach | |
| ż | Ż | [ʐ] | żona | as 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.
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 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] | mąż | as in french champignon |
| b or p | [ɔm] | ząb | as in English combination |
| c, cz, d, dz, dż or t | [ɔn] | miesiąc | as in English monster |
| ć or dź | [ɔɲ] | wziąć | as in french cognac |
| g or k | [ɔŋ] | pociąg | as in English wrong |
The letter 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] | często | as in french cousin |
| end of word | [ɛ] | imię | as in English angle |
| b or p | [ɛm] | zęby | as in English emphasis |
| c, cz, d, dz, dż or t | [ɛn] | wszędzie | as in English then |
| ć or dź | [ɛɲ] | pięć | as in English send |
| g or k | [ɛŋ] | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ch | [x] | chory | between scottish loch and english heart |
| cz | [ʈ͡ʂ] | czuć | as in English watch |
| dz | [d͡z] | dzwon | as in English woods |
| dź | [d̠͡ʑ] | odpowiedź | as in English Jeep |
| dż | [ɖ͡ʐ] | dżem | as in English jungle |
| rz | [ʐ] | rzadko | as in french journal |
| sz | [ʂ] | szukać | as in English shoes |
Trigraphs
The only Trigraph in the Polish language is "dzi".
| Combination | Phonetic notation (IPA symbols) | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| dzi | [ʥ̑] | 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 | kropka |
| : | colon | dwukropek |
| , | comma | przecinek |
| ; | semicolon | średnik |
| ! | exclamation mark | wykrzyknik |
| ? | question mark | pytajnik |
| - | dash / hyphen | kreska |
| / | slash | kreska ukośna |
| backslash | ukośnik | |
| @ | at sign | 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 |
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.