Pronunciation and Spelling
Alfabe
In Polish there are sounds, letters and combinations of letters that are non-existent in other languages. Some of them are similar to English sounds and may easily be compared. The closest counterparts are presented in the last column of the table below:
Lehçe mektup | Lehçe örnek | Comparable to: (mostly English words) |
---|---|---|
LEHÇE ALFABE | ||
a | arbuz | father |
ą | kąt | bon (Fransızca kelime) |
b | brama | ben |
c | cena | cats (when pronounced fast) pizza (in Italian) |
ć | ćma | cheese |
d | dom | dog |
e | ekran | egg |
ę | kęs | fin (Fransızca kelime) |
f | film | face |
g | gnu | guitar |
h | hak | home |
i | iglo | eat |
j | jak | yellow |
k | kto | kick |
l | las | lamp |
ł | łan | widow |
m | moc | make |
n | noga | neck |
ń | koń | onion piñata (İspanyolca kelime) |
o | okno | walk |
ó | lód | blue |
p | pan | pen |
q | Quo vadis? (sadece yabancı kelimelerle) | queen |
r | rak | perro (İspanyolca kelime) |
s | sen | snake |
ś | śnieg | sheep |
t | tak | ten |
u | ul | blue |
v | vice versa | van |
x | taxi (sadece yabancı kelimelerle) | taxi |
y | syn | tin |
z | znak | zebra |
ź | źle | Asia |
ż | żona | pleasure |
LETTER COMBINATIONS: | ||
cz | czar | chop |
ć=ci | ćma, cień (ć before a consonant, ci before a vowel) | cheese |
sz | szafa | shop |
ś=si | śnieg siny (ś before a consonant, si before a vowel) | sheep |
dz | dzwon | pads (when pronounced fast) |
dż | dżungla | jungle |
dź=dzi | dźwig dzień (dź before a consonant, dzi before a vowel) | jeans |
ń=ni | kończyć niebo (ń before a consonant, ni before a vowel) | onion piñata (Spanish word) |
ź=zi | źle ziemia (ź before a consonant, zi before a vowel) | Asia |
h=ch | hak chory | home |
ż=rz | żona rzeka | pleasure |
u=ó | ul | blue |
One important rule about pronunciation concerns the position of stress in a Polish word. It mostly falls on the penultimate syllable (the last but one), eg.:
praw-do-po-do-bnie (prawdopodobnie - probably)
na-u-czy-ciel-ka (nauczycielka - a teacher)
te-le-wi-zor (telewizor - a TV set)
kie-ro-wni-ca (kierownica - a steering wheel)
dru-kar-ka (drukarka - a printer)
le-kar-ka (lekarka - a doctor)
o-kno (okno - a window)
ta-ta (tata - dad)
dom (dom - house)
This means that we always have to ‘count’ from the end of the word if there are three or more syllables. If the word has two syllables, the stress falls on the first one; if it is a one-syllable word, obviously it is stressed.
There are some exceptions to the above rule:
- French words: me-’nu
- Acronyms: AGD [a-gie-’de]
- Latin words: ma-te-’ma-ty-ka
- Compound numerals: ‘dzie-więć-set
- Plural past tense verb forms: ku-’pi-liś-cie
- Subjunctive mood: przy-’je-chał-by, po-je-’cha-li-byś-cie
Spelling rules
No matter if a consonant has a ‘dash’ above it (ć, ń, ś, ź) or it is followed by the vowel ‘i’, it makes the same sound, only the spelling is different (ć, ń, ś, ź before consonants; ci, ni, si, zi before vowels).
When consonants appear at the end of the word, there is a slight difference, eg. koń - koni, nić - nici; in each of the pairs the ‘i’ sound is much longer in the second word and we can easily hear it as it makes a separate vowel of the word (ko-ni, ni-ci).
You might have noticed that between some letters there is an equals sign. This doesn’t mean that there is no difference between which one we use, here only the pronunciation is identical. It is not a common situation, but sometimes changing the letter may change the meaning, eg. morze / może (sea / perhaps), hart / chart (fortitude / greyhound), etc. In other cases it might be difficult to remember which one should be used but there are some rules, too, eg.:
h/ch:
- We use ‘ch’ after the letter ‘s’.
- We use ‘ch’ at the end of the words (exception: druh).
- We use ‘ch’ when in other forms of the same word we have ‘sz’, eg. mucha-muszka.
- We use ‘h’ when in another form of the same word or in a word from the same family we have ‘g, ż, z, d’ ,eg. druh - drużyna.
ż/rz:
- We use ‘rz’ after b, p, d, t, g, k, ch, j, w, eg. brzask, drzewo, trzask, grzać, krzak, chrzan, wrzeć (exceptions: pszczoła, pszenica, bukszpan; exceptions are also comparative and superlative adjectives: lepszy, najpiękniejszy, etc.).
- We use ‘rz’ when in other forms of the same word we have ‘r’, eg. lekarz - lekarka, rowerzysta - rower, dworzec - dworca, etc.
- We use ‘rz’ in some word endings: -arz, -erz, -mierz, -mistrz, eg. piłkarz, szermierz, ciśnieniomierz, zegarmistrz, etc.
- We use ‘ż’ when in other forms of the same word we have ‘g, dz, h, z, ź, s’, eg. każę - kazać, niżej - nisko.
- We use ‘ż’ after ‘l, ł, r, n’ eg. lżej, oranżada, etc.
ó/u:
- We use ‘u’ at the beginning of words: ulica, ugryźć, usterka (exceptions: ósmy, ówdzie).
- We use ‘u’ in the following word endings: -un, -unek, -uchna, -uszka, -uszek, -uch, -us, -usia (eg. opiekun, szacunek, fartuszek, córusia)
- We use ‘u’ in verbs ending in -uję, -ujesz, etc., eg. pracuję, kupują (the infinitive forms end in -ować, eg. kupować, pracować).
- We use ‘ó’ when in other forms of the same word we have ‘o, e, a’, eg. róg - rogi, wiózł - wiezie, powtórzyć - powtarzać.
- We use ‘ó’ in words ending in -ów, -ówka, -ówna, eg. studentów, pocztówka, Nowakówna (exceptions: skuwka, zasuwka).