Polish/Polish pronunciation
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< Polish
^ Polish ^ < Some useful expressions >
Polish pronunciation is rather regular. If you learn the rules, you'll be able to guess how a word is pronounced, unlike in English.
Vowels are pronounced similar to their counterparts in most other European languages (not English though) but note, there are no long vowels.
Stress is almost always on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable.[1]
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b d f h k l m n p t z are pronounced as you'd expect them to be.
| IPA | Comments/Roughly... | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | brać (to take) | |
| c | ts | Like ts in cats. Equivalent to German z in Zeit. |
co (what) |
| e | ɛ | Like in met. | jem (I eat, am eating) |
| g | g | Always hard like in game, never like gene. | gips (plaster) |
| i | i | feet but shorter. Acts like Polish j in front of another vowel, thus, niebo (sky) is pronounced like njebo (not an actual word!). |
ulica (street) świnia (pig) |
| j | j | Like y in yes. | jeden (one) |
| o | ɔ | author or cord. | dobry (good) |
| r | r | Rolled r. ɾ is also acceptable. |
krok (step) |
| s | s | Always soft like in silk. It is never pronounced as a z. |
syn (son) |
| u | u | tool or soup. | usta (lips) |
| w | v | Pronounced like v. Before voiceless consonants, it may be pronounced as f. |
wyspa (island) pierwszy (first) |
| y | ɨ | Somewhat similar to sit or myth. It is never pronounced ee. Compare the verbs być (to be) and bić (to beat). The first sounds roughly like the English word bitch while the second is closer to beach. |
syn (son) ty (you) |
Special letters are:
| IPA | Comments/Roughly... | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ą | "Nasal o" Pronounced like on or om (when followed by b or p) or [ɔw̃]. See ą for details. Colloquially: When ą is followed by ł, most Poles will pronounce it as o. |
wąż (snake) mąż (husband) |
|
| ć | tɕ | Soft tch. Similar to but clearly softer than cz. | być (to be) ćma (moth) |
| ę | "Nasal e" Pronounced like en or em (when followed by b or p) or [ɛw̃]. See ę for details. Colloquially: 1) When ę is the last letter of a word, or 2) When followed by l or ł most Poles will pronounce it like a regular Polish e, slightly lengthened. |
węże (snakes) mogę (I can, am able to) |
|
| Ł ł | w | Pronounced like an English w as in will. (L with stroke was originally a special type of l. This is still acceptable and understood by most Poles.) |
łosoś (salmon) mgła (fog, mist) |
| ń | ɲ | Pronounced like soft n in onion. Similar to Spanish ñ and French gn. |
kwiecień (April) |
| ó | u | Exactly the same as u, like tool or soup. | móc (to be able to) |
| ś | ɕ | Soft sh. Similar to but clearly softer than sz. | świeca (candle) iść(to go) |
| ź | ʑ | Soft zh. Similar to but clearly softer than ż and rz. | źle (wrongly, badly) |
| ż | ʐ | Hard zh. Sounds exactly the same as rz. Fairly similar to Zhivago, vision and French je suis. |
żółty (yellow) |
Special letter combos are:
| IPA | Comments/Roughly... | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| au | loud. Exception: Compound words, e.g., words with the prefix na or za such as nauczyć and zaufać. In that case, the vowels a and u are pronounced separately. |
Augustów | |
| ch | x | Same as h. | chór (choir, chorus) |
| ci | c followed by i is pronounced just like ć. If ci is followed by another vowel, the i serves only to produce the ć sound, so ciastko (cookie) could be misspelled "ćastko". |
płacić (to pay) pociąg (train) |
|
| cz | tʂ | Hard tch. Fairly similar to chip. | czas (time) cześć (hi, hello!) |
| dz | dz | cads | dzwon (bell, ringing) |
| dź | dʑ | Somewhat similar to gene. Similar to but softer than dż. |
dźwięk (sound) źdźbło (blade of grass) |
| dzi | dz followed by i is pronounced just like dź. If dzi is followed by another vowel, the i serves only to produce the dź sound, so dziadek (grandfather) could be misspelled "dźadek". |
dzisiaj (today) dziewczyna (girl, girlfriend) |
|
| dż | dʐ | John. | dżem (jam) |
| eu | Similar to eł | Europa (Europe) | |
| rz | ʐ | Hard zh. Sounds exactly the same as ż. Fairly similar to Zhivago, vision and French je suis. (Even Poles find it impossible to pronounce after k, ch, p, or t. Pronouncing it as "sh" is fine in those cases). |
marzec (March) |
| si | s followed by i is pronounced just like ś. If si is followed by another vowel, the i serves only to produce the ś sound, so siatka (net) could be misspelled "śatka". |
sierpień (August) | |
| sz | ʂ | Hard sh. Fairly similar to ship. | obszar (area, territory) płaszcz (coat, cloak) |
| zi | z followed by i is pronounced just like ź. If zi is followed by another vowel, the i serves only to produce the ź sound, so ziarno (grain) could be misspelled "źarno". |
zima (winter) ziemia (earth, ground) |
- If you don't know how to pronounce hard/soft pairs, you can use the same form and you will usually be understood.
- Note: In words like lekki (light), oddech (breath), dziennik (daily newspaper), zza (from beyond, behind), greccy ("Greek", masculine, plural, nominative adjective), or ssak (mammal), the doubled consonants are pronounced individually or lengthened.
- You may also notice something called final devoicing, for example:
- chodź (come!) sounds like choć (though)
- final ż sounds more like sz... (już → yush)
Similarly: - final b → p
- final g → k
- final d → t
- final w → f
- final z → s
Devoicing is not something you need to focus on but you should be aware of it.
- For the combination oi (e.g. stoi, moi, twoi), the vowels are pronounced separately, never "oy".
[edit] Notes
- ↑ As noted above, stress is almost always on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable. The exceptions are:
- words with a conditional ending. Here you need to momentarily ignore the ending (which always starts with by), then find the penult:
- verbs: chciałabym, robilibyśmy
- other words: żebyście
- a very small number of foreign loanwords: matematyka, gramatyka. However, most loanwords have stress on the penult.
- verbs in the past tense using the endings -śmy or -ście (1st and 2nd person plural). Here ante-penultimate stress is more correct. However, some Poles have a tendency to put stress on the penult.[1]
- words with a conditional ending. Here you need to momentarily ignore the ending (which always starts with by), then find the penult:
