One of the first things you learn in your native language is the alphabet. It’s not too strange to think, then, that when you’re learning Polish, you should start with the Polish alphabet. Admittedly, it looks pretty similar to the English alphabet in a lot of ways, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same. Drilling down and focusing on the Polish alphabet’s letters will help with your pronunciation, and it will make it so that you’re speaking a new language with confidence in no time.
Learning the Polish Alphabet
Polish is a West Slavic language that uses a modified Latin alphabet. It consists of 32 letters, 9 of which have diacritical marks. These are Ą, Ć, Ę, Ł, Ń, Ó, Ś, Ź and Ż. Q, X, and V are not used except in loanwords.
How to Pronounce Polish Letters with Diacritics
The pronunciation of diacritical letters is one of the characteristic features of the Polish language. Here’s each one in context.
ą — pąk
ć — ćma
ę — gęś
ł — łoś
ń — koń
ó* — bóg
ś — ktoś
ź — paź
ż — nóż
*Since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the pronunciation of U and Ó has not differed much in principle. Previously, the pronunciation of Ó was closer to O.
Fun fact! If someone is “ę ą” it means that he is haughty. The wording probably alludes to the belief that members of the upper class were extremely reverential about pronouncing nasal vowels.
Saying The Polish Letters
In addition to knowing what the letters look like, it will be helpful to know how you would say each of the individual letters aloud. Note that you can dictate some of the letters to someone in several ways.
A — a
Ą — ą, a with the tail (A z ogonkiem)
B — be
C — ce
Ć — ci (e), ce with the dash (or acute accent)
D — de
E — e
Ę — ę, e with the tail
F — ef
G — gie
H — ha
I — i
J — jot
K — ka
L — el
Ł — eł, el with the stroke (L z kreska)
M — em
N — en
Ń — eń, en with the dash (N z kreska), or n with the acute accent (sometimes ni)
O — o
Ó — ó, o dashed (O kreskowane), o with the dash or acute accent (O z kreska), u closed (U zamkniete)
P — pe
Q — ku
R — er
S — es
Ś — eś, es with the dash or acute accent (S z kreska), sometimes si
T — te
U — u, u open (U otwarte)
V — fał
W — wu
X — iks
Y — y, igrek
Z — zet
Ź — ziet, zet with the dash or acute accent (Z z kreska), sometimes zi
Ż — żet, zet with the dot (Z z kropka), sometimes ży
Special Polish Pronunciation Quirks
According to the Polish Academy of Sciences, the most common letter of the Polish alphabet is A, followed by E and O. The most common consonant in words is Z, which isn’t nearly as common as the vowels, but still pops up much more than you’re probably used to in English.
Letter Combinations You Need to Know
The popularity of “z” is related to its presence in digraphs (two-letter combinations that make one sound) that appear in Polish. It’s CH, CZ, DZ, DŹ, DŻ, RZ and SZ.
ch — chwast
cz — czapka
dz — dzban
dź — dźwig
dż — dżem
rz — rzeka
sz — szept
The above letters do not always form a digraph. Here are a few exceptions where letters must be spoken separately.
- nadzwyczajny
- budżet
- odżywianie
- marznąć
Diacritics and digraphs are not enough. A characteristic feature of the Polish language is also palatalization, that is, the softening of consonants by means of the vowel I.
ci — ciasto (sounds more like ć)
ni — niski (sounds more like ń)
si — sikorka (sounds more like ś)
zi — zima (sounds more like ź)
Master the Polish Alphabet with Practice
Polish pronunciation can be troublesome for English speakers, but there is good news: once you master the letters, you can pronounce any Polish words you see. Follow these tips to help you learn.
Polish Pronunciation Tips to Remember
- Most letters sound the same no matter where they are in the word. This is very unlike English.
- A diacritic usually indicates a soft sound and a z usually indicates a hard sound.
- Pronounce the nasal vowels (ą and ę) with your mouth slightly open.
- Listen to audio by native speakers to train yourself accurately and better hear the nuances.
Polish Tongue Twisters
- W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie.
- W czasie suszy szosa sucha.
- Król Karol kupił królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego.
Poles also find it difficult to pronounce them correctly, so don’t worry if you break your tongue half way through. Even if you’re not perfect, tongue twisters can be a fun way to practice some of the trickiest aspects of the language.
Polish Dialects
The 39.7 million native speakers worldwide don’t all speak Polish the same. This guide focuses on Standard Polish (język ogólnopolski). Here are a few other major Polish dialects.
- Greater Polish (Wielkopolski): spoken in and near Poznań
- Lesser Polish (Małopolski): spoken in Kraków and southeast regions
- Mazovian (Mazowiecki): spoken in Warsaw and Northeastern Poland
- Silesian (Śląski): spoken in Upper Silesia
Most Polish speakers live in Poland, but there are also major immigrant communities in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.