Pronunciation of Polish
Position of the Polish vowels in the vowel trapezoid
This article deals with the pronunciation of the Polish language .
In the course of its development, Polish lost the distinction between long and short vowels. Today only the latter exist. However, Polish distinguishes between hard and soft consonants. Soft consonants are always indicated orthographically by a diacritic or a subsequent i . Double consonants (like nn ) are stretched like in Italian or spoken individually in quick succession. The word stress of the Polish strengthened with a few exceptions on the penultimate syllable.
| Polish letter | Phonetic spelling | Pronunciation while spelling | similar sound in German or another language | example | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | [ a ] | a | A ddress | a dres | Just like in German. |
| ą | [ ɔ̃ ] | ɔ̃ | B on bon, Champign on | w ą ż (the snake) | Before "f", "w", "s", "ś", "sz", "rz", "z", "ż", "ź" and "ch" a nasal "o", before "b" and “p” like “om”, before “g” and “k” like in “Kongo” or “Uncle”, otherwise like “on”. |
| b | [ b ] | bɛ | B ar | b ar | A little more voiced than the German "b" in bar . |
| c | [ t͡s ] | t͡sɛ | Z ucker | c ukier | Like the German “z”, except before “i”, then like “ć”. |
| ć | [ t̠͡ɕ ] |
t̠͡ɕ ( t̠͡ɕɛ ) ( t̠͡ɕi ) |
something like Ch ile or Ch illi | ć ma (moth) | A sound between "c" and "cz". It is a voiceless alveolopalatal affricate that has a slight resemblance to the German “tch” in “Entchen”. While in the German sound the narrowing is formed between the tongue and the palate, in the Polish sound the narrowing takes place between the edge of the tongue or tongue and the perineum or palate. |
| d | [ d ] | dɛ |
D raht, D om |
d ramat, d om (house) |
A little more voiced than the German "d". |
| e | [ ɛ ] | ɛ | Eff e ct | e f e ct | Always like in “Br e tt” or “f e tt”. |
| ę | [ ɛ̃ ] | ɛ̃ | Cous in | j ę zyk (tongue, language) | Before "f", "w", "s", "ś", "sz", "rz", "z", "ż", "ź" and "ch" a nasal "e", before "b" and "p" like "em", before "g" and "k" like in "eng" or "Enkel", otherwise like "en", at the end of the word mostly pronounced like an "e". |
| f | [ f ] | ɛf | F ragment | f ragment | Just like in German. |
| G | [ g ] | gʲɛ | G as | g az | A little more voiced than in German. |
| H | [ x ] | xa | Since ch | h umor (humor) | Identical to the German "Ach-Laut". |
| i | [ i ] | i | I gel | i nstynkt (instinct) | As in “L ie d”, but a little shorter. |
| j | [ j ] | jɔt | J acke | j ajko (egg) | Similar to German. |
| k | [ k ] | ka | K asse | k asa | Bare "k". |
| l | [ l ] | ɛl | L LEGEND | l egenda | Just like in German. |
| ł | [ w ] | ɛw | closely. w ater, w orld | ł ódź (boat) | Labialized voiced velar approximant , in German without equivalent. |
| m | [ m ] | ɛm | M ai | m aj | Just like in German. |
| n | [ n ] | ɛn | N ovelle | n Owela | Before an “i” like “ń”. |
| ń | [ ɲ ] |
ɲ ( eɲ ) |
Ko gn ak, Champi gn on, Spanish España | ko ń (horse) | Soft “n” like “ ñ ” in Spanish. |
| O | [ ɔ ] | ɔ | K o nto | k o nt o | As in “P o st” or “W o lle”. |
| O | [ u ] |
ɔ kreskowane ('dashed ɔ '), ɔ z kreską(' ɔ dashed') |
d u mpf, b u nt | s ó l (salt) | Same as "u". |
| p | [ p ] | pɛ | Galo pp | p ech (misfortune) | Bare "p". |
| r | [ r ] | ɛr | R omanze | r omans | Rolled in front or " suppository-R ". |
| s | [ s ] | ɛs | Ba ss | ba s | Voiceless "s" as in German "ss" and "ß", before an "i" like "ś". |
| ś | [ ɕ ] |
ɕi ( ɛɕ ) |
Ku ch e, March ch s |
ś nić (dream) | A sound between "s" and "sz". It is a voiceless alveolopalatal fricative that is similar to the German "ch" in "Küche". While in the German sound the narrowing is formed between the tongue and the palate, in the Polish sound the narrowing takes place between the edge of the tongue or tongue and the perineum or palate. |
| t | [ t ] | tɛ | T ennis | t enis | Bare "t" as in standing . |
| u | [ u ] | u | St u dent | s u ma (sum) | As in German; the connection au or eu in loan words but also [aw] or [ɛw]. |
| w | [ v ] | vu | W aage | w aga | Identical to the German "w" or the "v" in " V ase". |
| y | [ ɨ ] |
ˈIgrɛk ( ˈɨgrɛk ) |
schw i mmen | s y n (son) | As in English "sw i mmen" or "f i rule". |
| z | [ z ] | zɛt | S uppe (in Hochlautung) | z upa | Voiced "s", before an "i" like "ź". |
| ź | [ ʑ ] |
zɛt z kreską (' zɛt with dash') ( ʑɛt ) |
--- | ź rebię (foal) | A sound between “z” and “ż”, voiced “ś”, voiced alveolopalatal fricative . |
| ż | [ ʐ ] |
zɛt z kropką (' zɛt with point') ( ʐɛt ) |
Gara g e | ż aba (frog) | Voiced "sch", same as "rz". |
| Polish letter combination |
Phonetic spelling | Pronunciation while spelling | similar sound in German or another language | example | Remarks |
| ch | [ x ] | t͡sɛ xa | Since ch | there ch | Similar to German. |
| cz | [ ʈ͡ʂ ] |
ʈ͡ʂ ( t͡sɛ zɛt ) |
lish eche | Cz ech | Similar to German. |
| sz | [ ʃ ] |
ɛs zɛt ( ʃ ) |
Sch al, Sch ule | sz alik, sz koła | Voiceless "sch". |
| rz | [ ʐ ] | ɛr zɛt | Gara g e | rz ecz (thing), p rz erwa (pause) | After “p”, “t”, “k” and “ch”, voiceless “sch” as in German “ Sch ule”, otherwise voiced “sch” such as “g” in “Gara g e”. |
| dz | [ d͡z ] |
dɛ zɛt ( d͡z ) |
like Italian z ero or English a dz e | dz won (bell) | Voiced "z". |
| dż | [ ɖ͡ʐ ] |
dɛ zɛt z kropką (' dɛ zɛt with point') ( ɖ͡ʐ ) |
Dsh unresolved, J azz, J whether | dż ungla, dż em (jam) | Voiced "dsch". |
| dź | [ d̠͡ʑ ] |
dɛ zɛt z kreską (' dɛ zɛt with dash') ( dɛ ʑɛt ) ( d̠͡ʑ ) |
--- | dź wig (crane) | A sound between “dz” and “dż”, voiced “ć”, voiced alveolopalatal affricate . |
Regarding the pronunciation of h and ł : In some regions a different pronunciation can be found:
- ³ - in velarisierter ( [ ɫ ] ) shape, similar to the pronunciation of "l" in the Rhineland or the hard "л" in Russian.
- h - as voiced glottal fricative ( [ ɦ ] ), but articulated in the larynx .
Web links
- Polish pronunciation with audio file, example from the Polish language and approximation in American English including an example in: polish-translators .com from Sadowska Languages .
Wikibooks: How to pronounce Polish - learning and teaching materials
Wikiversity: (English) - Course materials (English)
Commons : Polish pronunciation - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
