Guide to Polish Alphabet with Pronunciation

ABECADŁO – the POLISH ALPHABET

It is not a secret that Polish language is a difficult one to learn. Even Polish native speakers make mistakes. As the Polish alphabet has more letters than the English one and the pronunciation is not easy, learning Polish alphabet may be challenging for the foreigners.

Our task for today is to make it easier for you to learn the Polish alphabet and the right pronunciation.

The most important information about the Polish alphabet:

ABECADŁO is a different name for the ALPHABET.
It is based on the Latin alphabet.
It has 6 more letters than the English alphabet.
It contains 9go intriguing characters:
Ą, Ć, Ę, Ł, Ń, Ó, Ś, Ź, Ż

Today we will focus on the Polish alphabet and its letters.

Look at that sentence. This is a pangram. It contains all of the Polish letters!
Pójdźże kiń tę chmurność w głąb flaszy.

*English example of a pangram:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

PRONUNCIATION IN POLISH ALPHABET

It’s time to focus on the right pronunciation of the letters which are in the Polish alphabet.

		(English equivalent)
A (a)	/ä/	large
Ą (ą)	/ɔ̃/	denouement; nasal o
B (b)	/b/	bed
C (c)	/t̪͡s̪/	pits
Ć (ć)	/t͡ɕ/	chips
D (d)	/d̪/	door
E (e)	/ɛ/	bell
Ę (ę)	/ɛ̃/	nasal e; slightly lengthened e
F (f)	/f/	four
G (g)	/ɡ/	go
H (h)	/x/	hike
I (i)	/i/	feet
J (j)	/j/	yellow
K (k)	/k/	key
L (l)	/l/	lollipop
Ł (ł)	/w/	will
M (m)	/m/	more
N (n)	/n̪/	night
Ń (ń)	/ɲ̟/	canyon
O (o)	/ɔ/	dog
Ó (ó)	/u/	good
P (p)	/p/	parrot
R (r)	/r/	similar to the sound written as R in many languages
S (s)	/s̪/	snake
Ś (ś)	/ɕ/	sheep
T (t)	/t̪/	start
U (u)	/u/	food
W (w)	/w/	vow
Y (y)	/ɘ̟/	bit
Z (z)	/z̪/	zebra
Ź (ź)	/ʑ/	vision (alveolo-palatal)
Ż (ż)	/ʐ/	vision

The Polish language also has 7 digraphs.
Let us take a look at their pronunciation.

CH	halloween
CZ	challenge
DZ	lads
DŹ	jealous
DŻ	adjust
RZ	treasure
SZ	shadow

LETTERS AND EXAMPLES IN POLISH ALPHABET

Let’s take a closer look at the Polish alphabet and the letters when they appear:

at the beginning,
in the middle
and at the end of the words.
(some letters do not appear in all 3 cases)

A (a)	ALFABET	PORANEK	KORONA	/alphabet, morning, crown
Ą (ą)		BRĄZOWY	CHCĄ	/brown, they want
B (b)	BIEGAĆ	GRABIE	KLUB	/to run, rake, club
C (c)	CUKIEREK	PRACA	KAC	/candy, job, hangover
Ć (ć)	ĆMA	ZAĆMA	IŚĆ	/moth, cataract, to go
D (d)	DOM	BUDOWAĆ	GRAD	/house, to build, hail
E (e)	EKIERKA	WIEM	NIE	/set square, I know, not
Ę (ę)	FALA	GĘSTY	LUBIĘ	/thick, I like
F (f)	FALA	RAFA	KLIF	/wave, reef, cliff
G (g)	GÓRY	MOGĘ	RÓG	/mountains, I can, horn
H (h)	HAK	BOHATER	DRUH	/hook, hero, comrade
I (i)	IGŁA	MIŁY	DRZWI	/needle, nice, door
J (j)	JABŁKO	PAJĄK	MÓJ	/apple, spider, my
K (k)	KOLOR	POLSKI	JAK	/colour, Polish, how
L (l)	LODY	MALINA	BAL	/ice cream, raspberry, ball
Ł (ł)	ŁÓDŹ	MAŁY	WAŁ	/boat, small, embankment
M (m)	MATKA	KAMIEŃ	DAM	/mother, stone, I will give
N (n)	NOC	MANIAK	KOKON	/night, maniac, cocoon
Ń (ń)	/ɲ̟/	SŁOŃCE	WOŃ	/sun, aroma
O (o)	OKULISTA	MORZE	DZIECKO	/oculist, sea, child
Ó (ó)	ÓSMY	BÓL		/8th, pain
P (p)	PALEC	GŁUPI	TELESKOP	/finger, stupid, telescope
R (r)	ROBIĆ	BARDZO	DAR	/to do, very, gift
S (s)	SUKIENKA	MASAŻ	MUS	/dress, massage, mousse
Ś (ś)	ŚLIWKA	MAŚĆ	KTOŚ	/plum, ointment, somebody
T (t)	TAK	PŁYTA	KOT	/yes, disc, cat
U (u)	UL	KULA	TABU	/hive, sphere, taboo
W (w)	WIR	ZABAWKA	KREW	/moil, toy, blood
Y (y)	YETI	DYM	PALMY	/yeti, smoke, palms
Z (z)	ZEBRA	DZWONEK	RAZ	/zebra, bell, once
Ź (ź)	ŹREBAK	DŹWIG	MAŹ	/foal, crane, slime
Ż (ż)	ŻABA	WAŻKA	JEŻ	/frog, dragonfly, hedgehog

DIFFERENCES IN POLISH LANGUAGE

Let’s look at the most important differences between the English and Polish alphabet and try to learn them.

The Polish language has 8 vowel sounds.
The English language has 22 vowel sounds.
There is no English equivalent of any of the Polish vowels.
The Polish language has no weak vowels.
Polish words with double consonants are difficult to pronounce for English speakers, as they tend to treat them as one consonant. /horror, lasso…/

TEST YOUR TONGUE WITH POLISH LANGUAGE

Before you start, look at the Polish alphabet once again and try to remember the right pronunciation.

TASK 1.

Read the lines 4 times, starting slowly and ending up reading them as fast as you can.

Ą Ą Ć R Ą Ą Ć R Ą Ą Ć R Ą Ą Ć R Ą Ą Ć R

K C G G K C G G K C G G K C G G K C G G

Z Ź Ż Y Z Ź Ż Y Z Ź Ż Y Z Ź Ż Y Z Ź Ż Y

U O Ó W U O Ó W U O Ó W U O Ó W

B P P T B P P T B P P T B P P T B P P T

Ś S E I Ś S E I Ś S E I Ś S E I Ś S E I Ś S E I

TASK 2.

Play your favourite song and try to sing the Polish alphabet to its melody.
(Don’t miss this task, we can hear you;) )

TASK 3.

Solve a test in order to check if you remember the most important information about the Polish alphabet and the right pronunciation.

………………………….. is a different name for ALPHABET.
• Abecede
• Abecadło
• Abededeło

The Polish alphabet ……..is based on the Latin alphabet.
• Is
• Isn’t

Which letters have the same pronunciation?
• S and Ś
• U and Ó
• Ż and Ź

Which sentence is correct?
• The Polish language has 8 vowel sounds and the English language has 23 vowel sounds.
• The Polish language has 6 vowel sounds and the English language has 22 vowel sounds.
• The Polish language has 8 vowel sounds and the English language has 22 vowel sounds.
• The Polish language has 6 vowel sounds and the English language has 23 vowel sounds.