Lesson 1

Polish alphabet

A pronunciation-first start with Polish letters, special signs, and digraphs.

Recommended flow

Start with these three actions

1Listen firstPlay the audio and follow the text once.
2Tap a sentenceOpen a phrase to replay it, translate it, or practice speaking.

A short history of the Polish alphabet

Language familySlavic languageWriting traditionLatin alphabet since the Middle AgesBasic alphabet32 lettersMostly foreignQ, V, X

Polish belongs to the Slavic language family, but for many centuries it has been written with the Latin alphabet. This is connected above all with the year 966, when Poland adopted Christianity from the West. Together with the religious and written Latin tradition, the letters of the Latin alphabet also arrived.

Polish had sounds that did not exist in Classical Latin, so over time special signs were added: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż. These signs make Polish spelling look unusual at first, but they also make pronunciation more precise.

Today the Polish alphabet has 32 letters. Q, V, and X are not part of the basic Polish alphabet; they appear mainly in foreign words, proper names, and international terms, for example: quiz, video, Xenia.

Listen and read

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Lesson notes

Small pronunciation details that appear in the text.

These notes explain the numbers that appear in the text.

Ą is nasal

ExampleĄ, ząb.

Ą is nasal. In ząb, start with an open o sound and finish with a light n.

Ć is soft

ExampleĆ, ćma.

Ć is close to ch in cheese, but shorter, softer, and made farther forward.

Ę is nasal too

ExampleĘ, ręka.

In ręka, ę is close to eng in length before k. Keep it short and do not over-nasalize it.

Ł in words

ExampleŁ, łódź.

In words like łódź, modern Polish ł sounds like w in water. Use that word sound here; the isolated letter may sound different.

Ń is soft n

ExampleŃ, koń.

Ń is a soft n, close to ny in canyon. Keep it as one smooth sound.

Ó sounds like u

ExampleÓ, mój.

Ó sounds like oo in boot. In mój it is written ó; in some other words the same /u/ sound is written u.

Ś is soft

ExampleŚ, ślimak.

Ś is like sh in she, but thinner and softer. Keep the tongue high.

Ź is soft voiced

ExampleŹ, źle.

Ź is the voiced version of ś, close to a softer s in vision. Keep it light.

Ż is hard voiced

ExampleŻ, żaba.

Ż is close to the s in measure or vision, but firmer and farther back than ź.

Cz is hard

ExampleCz, czekolada.

Cz is like ch in chocolate, but firmer. Keep the two letters together.

Sz is wider

ExampleSz, szkoła.

Sz is like sh in shoe. It is fuller and a little farther back in the mouth than ś.

Rz sounds like ż

ExampleRz, rzeka.

In standard Polish, rz and ż have the same sound. The spelling is the part you memorize by word.

Dź is soft

ExampleDź, dźwięk.

Dź is close to j in jeans, but softer and lighter. Say it as one short sound.

Dż is hard

ExampleDż, dżem.

Dż is close to j in jam, but firmer. Keep the two letters together.

Ch is one sound

ExampleCh, chleb.

Ch is one rough sound, like ch in Scottish loch or German Bach. Do not read it like ch in cheese.

Dz is one sound

ExampleDz, dzwon.

Dz is one quick sound, like ds in beds. Start with d and release into z without a pause.