Explore Polish pronunciation focusing on special letters like ą (wąż), ł (Łódź), ź (źrebak), and nasal vowels ę (zęby). Learn same-sound pairs such as ó/u and ż/rz, plus intonation and stress patterns for natural speech.
- Special letters in the Polish language: “ą”, “ć”, “ę”, “ł”, “ń”, “ś”, “ź”, “ż” – have a distinct, characteristic pronunciation.
- We pronounce them the same way, but write them differently: “ó / u”, “ż / rz”, “h / ch”, “ć / ci”, “dź / dzi”, “ś / si”, “ź / zi”.
- Intonation in yes/no questions: we raise our voice at the end of the sentence.
- Word stress: usually falls on the penultimate syllable.
Special Polish letters
| ą: wąż (snake) nasal vowel, similar to French sounds | ł: Łódź (Łódź) pronounced like English "w" | ź: źrebak (foal) soft consonant /ʑ/, similar to French "j" in "jour" |
| ę: zęby (teeth) nasal vowel, similar to French sounds | ń: koń (horse) soft consonant /ɲ/, similar to Spanish "ñ" | ż: żaba (frog) hard consonant /ʐ/, like in English "measure" |
| ć: ćma (moth) soft consonant /t͡ɕ/ | ś: środa (Wednesday) soft consonant /ɕ/, like "sh" in "sheep", but softer |
Same pronunciation – different spelling
| ó: stół (table) | u: but (boot) |
| ż: żaba (frog) | rz: rzeka (river) |
| h: historia (history) | ch: chleb (bread) |
| ć: ćma (moth) | ci: ciasto (dough) |
| dź: dźwig (crane) | dzi: dziecko (child) |
| ś: środa (Wednesday) | si: siostra (sister) |
| ź: źrebak (foal) | zi: ziemia (earth) |
Exceptions!
„rz” and „ż” have the same pronunciation (/ʐ/), but they change the meaning of the word. Example: morze (sea) – może (maybe)
Sometimes the stress falls on the third or fourth syllable from the end. Example: zrobiliśmy, widzieliście
Exercise 1: Multiple Choice
Instruction: Choose the correct solution
1. Jak się nazywasz? Zacznij od pierwszej litery swojego _______.
(What is your name? Start with the first letter of your _______.)2. Moje imię zaczyna się na literę __, która jest częścią polskiego alfabetu.
(My name starts with the letter __, which is part of the Polish alphabet.)3. W polskim alfabecie jest dwuznak 'sz', który wymawiamy jak pojedynczy dźwięk ___.
(In the Polish alphabet there is a digraph 'sz', which we pronounce like a single sound ___.)4. Znaki diakrytyczne, takie jak __ czy ś, zmieniają wymowę polskich słów.
(Diacritical marks, like __ or ś, change the pronunciation of Polish words.)5. Litera ż wymawia się tak samo jak dwuznak __, ale zmienia znaczenie słowa.
(The letter ż is pronounced the same as the digraph __, but changes the meaning of the word.)6. Zapytaj: 'Czy twoje imię zaczyna się na literę __?'.
(Ask: 'Does your name start with the letter __?'.)
