Polish language: pronounciation
In Polish, one pronounces every letter (apart from the combinations ch, cz, sz, dź, dż and rz) separately.
Vowels:
a | as in hat |
e | as in met |
i | as in meet |
o | as in pot |
u | as in whose |
ó | as in pool |
y | as in dim |
There are also two nasal vowels in the Polish language: ą and ę.
ą is pronounced as "on", like the French nasal o.
if the ą is followed by a "b" or "p", it is pronounced as "om"
ę is pronounced as "en", like the French nasal e.
As with ą, the ę is pronounced as "em" before "b" or "p".
A final ę is pronounced as a usual Polish "e".
Consonants:
c | "ts" as in cats |
ć, ci | as in cheese |
ck | as tsk |
cz | as in chair |
ch | as in loch |
dz | as in goods |
dź, dzi | as in jeans |
dż | as in jam |
j | as in yes |
l | as in last |
ł | as in winter |
ń, ni | as in onion |
rz | as in pleasure |
ś, si | as in sheep |
sz | as in show |
w | as in van |
ź, zi | as in Rhodesia |
ż | as in pleasure, same as rz |
Two identical consonants following each other are pronounced separately. e.g.: An-na
Once in a while the pronunciation of consonants may change: they can either be voiced or voiceless.
The most common shifting is the devoicing, this means a voiced consonant is said as it's voiceless counterpart.
This happens at the end of a word or when standing before a voiceless consonant.
When ś, cz or k stand before an voiced consonant except of w and rz they are pronounced as their voiced counterpart.
voiced | voiceless |
b | p |
d | t |
g | k |
w | f |
z | s |
ź | ś |
dz | c |
dź | ć |
ż, rz | sz |
dż | cz |
if a consonant is followed by an "i" it is softened.
Stress:
Usually the 2nd last syllable is stressed.
But there are also a few cases in which the 3rd last syllable is stressed. Usually these are foreign words.
If a monosyllabic preposition and a monosyllabic pronoun stand together the preposition is stressed. The same happens with the combination nie and verb.
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