Polish alphabet. Polish alphabet with transcription, pronunciation and translation. Soft sounds of the Polish alphabet

It seems to me, or should we start learning all languages from the alphabet? Of course, you can simply repeat phrases and words by ear, but this definitely requires an environment and more time. I propose a faster and not necessarily medium-needed way - the Polish alphabet with transcription for beginners!

There is a huge amount of material on the Internet about the Polish alphabet for beginners; this is probably the best described and talked about topic. But in almost any explanation I was always missing something. So today it's time for the alphabet in ProPolski's explanation. 🙂 I will try to tell you everything I know. 🙂

Polish alphabet

The Polish alphabet has 32 letters: a, ą, b, c, ć, d, e, ę, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ł, m, n, ń, o, ó, p, r, s, ś, t, u, w, y, z, ź, ż. And some more letter combinations: sz, cz, rz, ch, dz, dż, dź.

In the Polish alphabet missing letters Q, V and X, but that doesn't mean you won't meet them. They can appear in words of foreign (non-Polish) origin, most often in proper names. Eg, V- is constantly found in our first and last names in foreign passports.

Regarding the transcription: I am her ardent opponent. 🙂 Wait a minute to throw slippers. Why is transcription needed in English? I understand that. Indeed, there the letter “a” can be read in several different ways depending on its position in the word, closed or open syllable, letter combinations, diphthongs and who knows what else (let philologists correct). 😉 Polish doesn’t have all this. I see “a” - I read [a]. I see “o” - I read [o]. Etc:). Do you know why? Because Polish is a mixture of the Latin alphabet and the Slavic language! Roughly speaking, Slavic (our) sounds are described in Latin letters.

If you are learning Polish from a philological point of view, you may not like my explanation, since there really are nuances of simplification and distortion of sounds depending on many factors. But for philologists they are unimportant.

That is why transcription (as it seems to me) is simply not needed here. But since there is a constant demand for it, I will still add it to the table with the alphabet, but then I will show how to do without this transcription. I will only give it where I would like to read out loud, but there is no such opportunity yet.

We start with a general simplified table, all comments follow it.

Polish alphabet for beginners, with transcription

		Letter name in Polish	Letter name in Russian	Trance. in Russian	Examples	How to read Russian.	Yak chitati ukr.
A	a	/a/	/A/	[a]	Adam	[and I'll give]	[and I'll give]
Ą	ą	/ą/ a z ogonkiem	/with a light/	[He ];	dąb, piąty	[to m b], [py n you]	[to m b], [pyo n ti]
B	b	/be/	/bae/	[b]	bar	[ba r]	[ba r]
C	c	/ce/	/tse/	[ts]	co, cena	[tso], [tse na]	[tso], [price]
Ć	ć	/cie/ ce z kreską	/che/ tse z kresko m	[whose]	ćma, być	[chma], [whatever]	[chma], [bitch]
D	d	/de/	/de/	[d]	dom	[house]	[house]
E	e	/e/	/e/	[e]	Ewa	[uh va]	[e va]
Ę	ę	/ę/ e z ogonkiem	/with a light/	[e n ]; [um]	gęś, dęby	[ge n shch], [de m would]	[Genya], [de m bi]
F	f	/ef/	/eff/	[f]	film	[movie]	[fil m]
G	g	/gie/	/ge/	[G]	grupa	[group]	[gru pa]
H	h	/ha/	/Ha/	[X]	herbata	[herba ta]	[herba ta]
I	i	/i/	/And/	[And]	imię	[and me]	[i m]
J	j	/jot/	/yot/	[th]	ja, kajak	[I ], [ka yak]	[I ], [ka yak]
K	k	/ka/	/ka/	[To]	color, who	[ko l e r], [Who ]	[collo r], [Who ]
L	l	/el/	/el/	[l]	lekcja	[le ktsya]	[lє kts’ya]
Ł	ł	/eł/	/еw/	[ў]; [w]	łatwo	[yours]	[yours]
M	m	/em/	/Em/	[m]	mam	[ma m]	[ma m]
N	n	/en/	/en/	[n]	noc	[but c]	[but c]
Ń	ń	/eń/ en z kreską	/en/ en z kresko m/	[ny]	koń, słońce	[horse], [so ntse]	[horse], [sўo ntse]
O	o	/o/	/O/	[O]	window	[window]	[window]
Ó	ó	/o kresko- wane / o z kreską / u zamknięte	/about kresko- vane/ o z kresko m / y zamkne n te/	[y]	Osma, Krakow	[u sma], [kra kuv]	[u sma], [kra kuv]
P	p	/pe/	/pe/	[P]	pan	[pa n]	[pa n]
R	r	/er/	/er/	[R]	ryba	[fish]	[ri ba]
S	s	/es/	/es/	[With]	sens	[se ns]	[se ns]
Ś	ś	/eś/ es z kreską	/eshch/ es z kresko m/	[shch]	śnieg, coś	[shchne g], [tso shch]	[shchnє g], [tso shch]
T	t	/te/	/te/	[T]	to	[That ]	[That ]
U	u	/u/ u otwarte	/u/ at otvarte/	[y]	ulica	[Street]	[street]
W	w	/wu/	/woo/	[V]	water	[yes]	[yes]
Y	y	/igrek/	/igrek/	[s]	syn good	[son], [goodbye]	[sin], [to brie]
Z	z	/zet/	/zet/	[h]	zebra	[ze sconce]	[zebra]
Ź	ź	/ziet/ zet z kreską	/zhet/ z kresko m /	[zh]	źle	[zhil]	[zhle]
Ż	ż	/żet/ zet z kropką	/zhet/ zet z kropko m /	[and]	że, żaba	[zhe], [zha ba]	[same], [zha ba]

And audio from the creators of the textbook Krok po Kroku:

I have a lot of comments on the alphabet, so everything is itemized with headings to make it easier for you to navigate.

Transcription to the Polish alphabet (claims)

I specifically wrote that the transcription is approximate, because it is so. The same [whose] is not ours, or ą ę have no analogues at all. But most of the letters still have a “Slavic” pronunciation, which means they are very close or almost identical to Russian (Ukrainian, Belarusian) sounds.

Letter Ł added two transcriptions due to the complete absence of this sound in the Russian and Ukrainian alphabets. But it is in Belarusian! Ў - it's her! Belarusians, you are great! Indeed, in 2003, in honor of the letter ў (“u short”, “u non-syllabic” in Belarusian - “u non-syllabic”) a monument was erected in the city of Polotsk! But to me, as someone who does not speak Belarusian, English [w] is close. You just need to pronounce it correctly! (Watson is not Watson, but Watson! :)

For me, if I have to, it is much more convenient to additionally use Ukrainian symbols for transcriptions: for example, źle - [zhle], imię - [imє], będzie - [benje], it seems clearer, more powerful.

Why are the names of Polish letters needed?

And they are needed, believe me.

Come do przychodni (to the clinic). And there you are met by a very ambitious young lady who is sure that she will write your first and last name without peeking into your document. And it begins: Katarina? Katerina? Spell it! Or, for example, you definitely need to know the name of the letter V - [fau], since we have a lot of it in the transliteration of our names and surnames. Lukianova, at least. I can count on the fingers of one hand the Poles who have correctly copied my name from documents. Most of them write Lukianowa. And I know that I must follow this and shout in time: “Przez V!” - [pshez fow!]

In addition to the first and last name, you may need the names of letters when talking about university buildings (a, be, tse, de, ef, ge), about the route number (buses en, ka), when you simply have to dictate something to someone (you never know).

If you are not convinced, then definitely learn to spell your first and last name. Just in case.

Why do some letters of the Polish alphabet have several names?

Have you noticed that there are two sounds [u] in the Polish alphabet? We need to somehow distinguish them when we talk about this or that letter ( u or ó ). You can talk [u] and [about kreskowane], or you can - as the Poles often say - [u otwarte] and [u zamknente], that is, open and closed [u]. In my opinion, this is more logical and simpler.

These letter names are worth noting

Namely, the letter w is called /wu/, which means if you want to pronounce the address of a website, for example, www.google.com, you will need, yes, yes, to pronounce /vuvuvu/.google.com. But it doesn’t work like that with Wi-Fi - in Polish wi-fi is read /wi-fi/. 🙂

j- this is /yot/, forget about /jay/ altogether. Same with g- /ge/ gє/. And with y- /igrek/.

You need to know the names of the letters :)

Large and small letters of the Polish alphabet

You may need all letters except ą, ę, ń in their capital form. Not a single word begins with ą, ę, ń.

Accent

I continue to study the Polish alphabet

Some of the letters, as you have already noticed, are nothing to learn. All you have to do is shove English into the background - and it’s done. I mean letters like: a, b, d, e, f, k, m, n, o, r, s, t, u, z. We read them head-on, without accent.

Others, too, you almost don’t need to learn, but just remember a couple of subtleties: c- always [ts], g- [ґ] (geese-geese, ha-ha-ha), h(And ch at the same time) - [x], j- [th].

And also w- [V], y- [s], u And ó - [y]. It's a matter of habit. We need to get used to this type of sounds that are already familiar to our ears.

L, Ł

As for the letters L And Ł :

L- average between soft [l] and regular [l]. More accurately, this sound is conveyed in English [l]. Therefore, at first you can “hammer” it and say it in words simply as [l] - lampa [lamp], lektor [lecturer], tylko [tylko], sklep [crypt]. The main thing here is not to say it with a firm [l].
Ł - this is not L; and not V. Not even once. Anyone who knows how to correctly pronounce the English sound W can safely do it in Polish instead of Ł. For those from Belarus, the sound is Ў. Whoever is neither English nor Belarusian - the mechanism of pronunciation of the letter does not involve either the teeth, or the tongue, or the palate. Lips in a “hard-flaccid tube” + sound. Language is not involved! This is called artykulacja wargowa - labial articulation.

But if this whole article hasn’t taught you anything, give it up and take a couple of lessons from. Not a course, just a couple of lessons. Well, or think carefully, huh?

If the material was interesting and useful, I will be glad to support you! I'm putting together a good camera so I can start making quality training videos for you. 🙂

Ekaterina Lukyanova

Hello..com. I live in Poland..com.

: 25 comments

Witam! Everything is interesting. But I can’t agree with the pronunciation of Ć - it’s not Ch’, and it’s close to Q’ with a slight, barely audible touch of the hard H. And just to say - the hard sound Ts.

Smart material. Brief, easy to read, with airy humor, understandable for everyone. Hats off to this is attached.
Thanks for the useful material. I would like to note that in the Ukrainian language there is no word street, but there is vulitsya (transcription).
- Please Kris :)
  And it’s good that you noticed that there is no word “street” 🙂 Like shchneg, tsoshch and many other words presented in this column, where you noticed “street”.
  Transcription is the transfer of elements of spoken speech (phonemes, allophones, sounds) in writing using any system of signs. Phonetic transcription is a graphic recording of the sound of a word, one of the types of transcription. Purposes an accurate graphic recording of pronunciation. Each individual sound (and even its variants) must be separately recorded in the recording. That is, not the translation of the word, but the sounds recorded in the recording. Although recording the sound of a Polish word in Cyrillic may be a mixture of transcription and transliteration. But the main thing is that it makes absolutely no difference whether the word street is in Ukrainian or not, the main thing is that the word ulica will be read this way by those who know the Ukrainian language and do not know or do not want to know Russian, with the emphasis on the red i.
  In addition, it seems that the column in the sign is called “Yak chitati ukr.”
  And not at all “how the word is translated into Ukrainian.”
  - In the Ukrainian language, after hissing consonants - ch, sch - there is no soft sign, even in transcription. And everything is clear with the transcription, thank you, I’ll study it.
    - This is not a transcription of Ukrainian words, but a transcription of Polish ones. Although the word “transcription”, again, is incorrect in this context. It is simply a way of reading, written using the Ukrainian alphabet. Whether it is placed or not makes no difference, the main thing is to understand that the Polish letters in this key are soft, and the Ukrainian alphabet has not come up with another symbol other than a soft sign. That’s why I’m writing a soft sign there.
Good afternoon Wouldn’t it be difficult for you to write an example of written (handwritten) work? Just attach a photo. How to spell ł, rz, I (capital i)? Well, just some excerpt, but most importantly, by hand, in written, not printed letters. Thank you!
I saw a sample on the Internet, but I don’t want individual letters, but at least words.
“Watson is not Watson, but Watson!” Watson - effectively Watson, how to spell, and how to convey to Vimova VOTSAN, or tell VATSAN, why VOTSON 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iyKN1BsGk4
And Watson seems to you, you, a Russian lady from Ukraine. From the Russians, W - Watson and Wilde - were not identified with this. “Correctness” lies not only in what one says, but also in who hears the range of sounds of his basic language.
Once the “correctness” of your English is established, then you need to feed on discussion, because it lies in which region, and with which accent, and if in which village, that correctness is determined. If you also want to roughly convey to Vimov the nicknames of “that same doctor,” then it will sound like Votsan (for a Ukrainian), or Uatsan (for a Russian). Bo Ukrainians often “close” names from voiced to voiced, Olshana (Russian)-Vilshana (Ukrainian), Umat-guman (Ukrainian)
- I don’t see any point in discussing English pronunciation. I only hope that some philologist will run by here and see your suggestions that it depends on the country and the village.
  I will repeat on my own behalf - there are differences between real transcription and interpretation in writing or pronunciation in other languages. You can prove as much as you like how it is pronounced in Russian or Ukrainian, but in English one thing is pronounced unambiguously, whether in British or American - . It is this English, and not Russian or Ukrainian, sound that can be attributed to ł.
  Well, or I can just suggest speaking Polish like Ukrainian - watvo, zhuwty, byavy, vonchich, it will be fun :)
  - “British, that in American -” For British, ask to take the RP accent, which is used by 3% of the population of Britain, who decide to talk as they want, that’s why I guessed “countries, towns and villages” 😉 I don’t make any kind of claim, so long as you ї "ew". Ale, I quote you “You just need to pronounce it correctly! (Watson is not Watson, but Watson! 🙂)” That’s how you pronounce English. W seems to be like U. Although your very favorite Russian Wikipedia itself did not appear as “correctly”, because Watson (Watson) submits through “B”, then through “U”. And from Ukrainian Wikipedia it renders W as “B”. Watson, Wald, Winston i.d. So I repeat once again that “correctness” lies in the minds of those who hear. And for myself, I made it clear that I should not approach the “correct” Vimova with “U”. It’s hard to sound too loud for me as a bilingual. And as for the “Ukrainian style”, well, there’s nothing terrible and no one will laugh at you, because the accent will sound and it will be known and developed in the process of spitting. And the names may change depending on the place of residence. Ale Polish, not as wide as English, so accents, maybe mute. That’s why the Scouses of Liverpool, the Corkonians of Ireland, the Maltese of Bujibi, and other rich corners of the world didn’t laugh at me. So the Poles didn’t say anything when I paid them “zvoti” 😉 The accent remains with the learned language, which requires respect. And obviously, don’t say anything about not knowing the language. No offense 🙂
    - You and I are talking about different things. I am talking about the correct pronunciation of the letter ł in Polish. Or like the Belarusian Ў, or like the English W. I had no conversation about Russian or Ukrainian languages.
      I don't think the accent is the latter. I want to speak without an accent, like the Poles. Therefore, I will not learn a language with an accent. I'm able to sit down and figure out the sound. This is why you learn the alphabet, this is why everything is explained in this article.
      If you don’t want to speak without an accent, no one is forcing you, please use [zvoti] instead of [zoote].
      Please, let's stop trying to prove to me that I don't know Ukrainian (after all, this is the goal of everyone who comments on my examples and comparisons with this language; although regarding the letter W - alas for everyone - I did not give examples in Ukrainian) and come back to the Polish language. This is what the blog is about after all. More constructive - less negative, shanovny ser798. Pozdrawiam.
      - So we speak clearly about different speeches. Let vono sound like the English W, but you confirm that vono may sound like “U”, hence your “Watson”, how the Belarusian Ў sound, I don’t know. Less than that. By analogy, before “Watson” and “Wald”, you might say “Washington” and “Wikipedia”, although ru.Wikipedia itself seems to be “more correct”, Watson and Wald, but rather “Wikipedia” and “Washington” . Perhaps they were undercorrected 🙂 uk.Wikipedia, however, gives it unambiguously: Watson, Wald, Washington and Wikipedia. The bottom line is that you can’t teach accent through text. It is necessary to speak more vividly with the native speaker: hear how you speak, understand your articulation, the position of your lips and tongue when speaking. Separate the collar ligament from the new one. And for me, as a Ukrainian reader, the English “W” sounds like “B”, not “U”. Oce and everything.
        
        That's why the accent is rich and subtle. And they may change in adults when moving from one place of residence to another. From the point of view of the English, Americans speak with an accent, and from the point of view of the residents of St. Petersburg, Moscow understands the Moscow accent. It is possible for you to record a video with explanations of Vimov, to ease your understanding a little. The axis is for you and the whole construct. Let's leave it at that. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82_(%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B3% D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80) Reply

Note. When writing, we replace special Polish characters with combinations of a Latin letter and a stroke or comma. And in the transcription, wherever there should be a comma in the Polish text, we put a semicolon.

So we write:
- A, - C" - E, - L" - N" - O" - S"
The letters z and zhet are written the same way: , - Z".

Pronunciation

We present here only the basic rules that are designed to help those who do not know Polish start speaking. In fact, Polish pronunciation is much more complex, and without hearing live speech it is impossible to learn how to correctly pronounce hissing and nasal sounds.

Vowels
The vowel “A” is always pronounced like the Russian semi-darkened A
The vowel “O” is always pronounced like the Russian stressed O.
The vowel “U” has a double letter image: “U” - “O’” and is pronounced like the Russian U.
The vowel “E” is pronounced like the Russian stressed E. The Russian e used in transcription corresponds to the Polish language:
at the beginning of a word - "ie". in the middle of a word - "ie". The vowel “I” is pronounced like the Russian I.
The vowel “I” at the beginning of a word does not change, unlike the Russian language, its quality, i.e. not pronounced as Y after words ending in hard consonants; in the middle of a word softens the previous consonant.
The vowel “Y” is always pronounced like the Russian Y. , in transcription after w, w, w we write I.

Nasal vowels: "A," "E,".
Polish has nasal vowels. These sounds do not exist in Russian. The vowels “A,” “E,” (nasal) in transcription are designated according to pronunciation, namely: (nasal)
o", e" before g, k, ch, w, f, z, s, z’, s’
he, en - before d, t, dz, c, dz’, сz
om, em - before b, p
on, en - before dz, s’.
The vowel “A” sounds like the middle between “OU” and “ON” (“YOU” and “YON”) (while H is not pronounced, as in English -ing endings). After soft consonants it is read as “YON” (with a nasal “N”), after hard consonants it is read as “ON” (with a nasal “N”. It retains its nasal character at the end of words.
The vowel “E” sounds like the middle between “EU” and “EN” (“EU” and “EN”) (the rules are the same as for A). In colloquial speech, “E” at the end of words is pronounced as pure E.

Consonants
The consonants “V”, “P”, “D”, “T”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “M”, “N” are pronounced simply like Russian B, P, D , T, G, K, V, F, M, N.
The consonant “G” is always pronounced (also at the end of the genitive case of adjectives and pronouns) as G (for example, dobrego [dobrego], and is not softened, as in Russian [dobrevo].
The consonants “S”, “Z”, “S” before the vowels a a, e e, o o’ u y and before consonants are pronounced as Russian Ts, Z, S.
The consonant “N” = “SN”, which has a double written image, is always pronounced like the Russian X.
The consonant “L’” (L with an apostrophe) sounds like a cross between B and U (very similar to the pronunciation of the English W). Does not combine with the vowel I.
The consonant “L” corresponds to the Russian L and is not combined with the vowel Y. (The pure L sound does not occur in the Polish language - either V-U or L.)
The consonant “Z’” (Z with a dot), “RZ” (zh), which has a double written image, corresponds to the Russian Zh. This sound does not combine with I.
The consonant “SZ” is pronounced like the Russian Ш and is not combined with the vowel I.
The consonant “DZ” (ДЗ) is a voiced correspondence to the consonant “C” and is pronounced together.
The consonant “СZ” (Ч) differs from the Russian CH in that this sound is always hard and is not combined with I. Therefore, in the transcription, CH should be read approximately like the CH in the Russian word “better”, and not as in the words “often, man” ", etc. (For the Russian language it is quite difficult to imagine how “Ch” can be hard. ;-))
The consonant “DZ’” (Z with a dot), in the transcription DZh, is a voiced correspondence to the consonant “CZ”, is pronounced together and does not combine with I.
In the Polish language, there is often a combination of the consonant “SZ” - with the consonant “CZ” - “SZCZ” in the transcription Ш. They do not merge into one sound and are pronounced firmly (for example, Deszcz - [deschch]). The combination “Z’DZ’” (both Zs with a dot) is the voiced counterpart of the combination “SZCZ”. The sound “J” corresponds to the Russian J.
In transcription we write I after the vowels, and at the beginning of the word, as in Russian, e, ё, yu, ya. In the transcription of words such as, for example, racja, kolizja, komisja,
“cja” is denoted as tsya [ratsya]
„zja" - zya [kolizya]
"sja" - sya [komisya].

Softness of consonants

The consonants “B”, “P”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “CH”, “M”, just like in Russian, can be soft and hard. These consonants can only be soft before vowels. They cannot be soft at the end of a word or syllable:
Before the vowels A, O, E, U (O’), the softness of the consonants is indicated by the letter “I”, which in this case is only a sign of the softness of the consonant. These letter combinations are transcribed as: E, E, Yu, I
The consonant “N’” (N with an apostrophe) is pronounced like the Russian Нь (dzien’ [dzhen]).
The consonant “S’” (S with an apostrophe), in the transcription ш, is softer (as much as possible) than the Russian Ш, almost as approximately as the first consonant in the word “happiness”. The consonant “Z” (Z with an apostrophe) (Зь) is the voiced correspondence of the consonant “S’”.
The consonant “С’” (C with an apostrophe) (Чь) is pronounced a little softer than the Russian ТЧь
(pisac [pisach]).
This consonant is pronounced approximately the same way as the Russian consonant CH in the words “often, person”, etc.
The consonant “DZ’” (Z with an apostrophe) is a voiced correspondence to the consonant “C’” and is pronounced together. In the Polish language there is a combination of consonants “S’” and “C’” - “S’C’”. In this combination, both consonants are pronounced clearly and do not merge. (In fact, this is the easiest combination to pronounce: ШЧ (czes'c' - [cheschch]).) The softness of consonants at the end of words and before consonants is indicated in Polish by N', S', Z', C', DZ ', in transcription we write n, sch, zh, ch, dj, and before vowels to soften in Polish we write i (ia, ie, io, iu), in transcription i, e, e, yu.
At the end of words, voiced words are pronounced dull.

Accent

This is the only thing you will never have problems with - in Polish the stress is always on the penultimate syllable. (Exceptions are complex reflexive verbs, which are almost absent in our phrasebook).

Learning Polish is quite easy. The Russian-Polish phrasebook will help you without any problems if you find yourself in Poland. But before you start full-fledged phrases, try to learn the following rules regarding vowels and consonants of the Polish alphabet, as well as the specifics of stress in words. The learning process will be facilitated by the fact that the pronunciation of letters in Polish is often identical to Russian.

The pronunciation of Polish letters is often the same as Russian. The vowel letters listed below, which are found in the Polish alphabet, are pronounced like this:

[A] – substressed [A];
[O] – substressed [O];
[U] – U (in addition, this letter is depicted as double: [U]-);
[E] – shock [E].
[E] in Russian transcription has the following Polish analogues:
- ie (at the beginning and middle of a word). In this case, the vowel [i] is pronounced like [i] in Russian.
[Y] – [Y].

Remember that [i] is written in transcription after letters such as [ш], [ш], [ж].

[A] and [E] are nasal vowels inherent in the Polish language. They are written in transcription in the same way as they are pronounced before such types of letters as:

[e"], [o"] – before such as capital letters k, z, s’, s, g, f, z’, ch, w;
[en], [he] - d, t, dz, c, dz’, сz;
[em], [ohm] - b, p;
[en], [on] - dz, s.’

In pronunciation, [A] fluctuates between [ON] and [OU]. Please note that [H] is not pronounced the same as the English ending [-ing].

It is read as [EN] after soft consonants, and as [OH] after hard ones. These variations retain the nasal character of word endings.

[E] in sound fluctuates between [EN] and [EU]. The same rules apply for this letter as for the letter [A]. How [E] this letter is pronounced in colloquial speech.

Consonants

The letters “B”, “P”, “D”, “T”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “M”, “N” are characterized by the same reading as for the letters . But with one nuance in the form of the letter [G]. It is pronounced as [G], and is not softened.

[S], [Z], [S], which are located before a, e, o’ u y, are equivalent in pronunciation to Ts, Z, S in the Russian alphabet.
[H] is equal, and reads as [X].
sounds similar to the letters [U] and [B].
[L] – [L]
[Z], – [zh]
– [SH]
– [C]
[J] – [Y]
, – [H]

The Polish language is rich in combinations of consonants such as. They are designated in transcription as [Ш]. In the pronunciation of such combinations, dividing them into separate sounds is excluded. They are pronounced smoothly and firmly.

Russian-Polish phrasebooks will help you better navigate pronunciation. They are good for beginners.

Accent

In a language like Polish, there is a concept of reduction in the rules of stress. Reduction is a change in sounds in syllables. Reduction is typical for vowel unstressed sounds.

The rules of accents themselves are easy to learn. In Polish, the stress always falls on a specific syllable – the penultimate one. And if a word should be read with stress on another syllable, then in Polish it will always be indicated by stress.

But there is room for exceptions. They tend to be quite blurry. The difficulty is that they are constantly changing.

In pictures for children

A very good method that is suitable for children is to learn Polish in pictures. This will not only allow you to better assimilate information and facilitate the memorization process. Learning the Polish alphabet in pictures significantly delays the moment when children's interest in learning the language begins to fade.

Learning with pictures also develops associative thinking. By associating a letter or phrase of the Polish alphabet with a specific image, the child remembers them faster.

Almost always [Ш] is pronounced as [Ш].

Polish cities

In Poland there are cities such as:

Szczecin;
Krakow;
Gdansk;
Warsaw;
Poznan;
Wroclaw;
Lodz.

These cities included in the list above have a population of more than four hundred thousand people. Cities from these seven are not only the most populated, but also the most attractive.

These are the cities with the most developed infrastructure. Tourists and students most often come to such cities. In addition to them, these cities are often visited by businessmen of various levels.
Cities in Poland have crossed the mark of nine hundred and thirteen.

Polish surnames in alphabetical order

Surnames with endings –skiy became the most numerous. Surnames with this ending used to mean belonging to the area in which its owners were born. Since ancient times, such surnames were exclusively among the nobility. In the 15th and 16th centuries, surnames with this ending spread among ordinary people.

Last name ending in –skiy Although quite common in Poland, such surnames can be worn by people who are not related to Poles. Surnames derived from crafts or other occupations have become a kind of indicator of their prevalence and popularity in the old days.

The list includes surnames most common in Poland:

Vishnevs(y)ky
Wozniak
Wojciechowski
Wujcik
Dombrovsky
Kozlovsky
Zeli(e)sky
Kamin(s)ski(s)
Kaczmarek
Kvya(i)tkovsky
Kowalski(s)
Kowalczyk
Krawczyk
Lewandowski
Mazur
Novak
Shimanskiy
Yankovsky

How to read the inscriptions?

The following rule applies to verbs in Polish: no ending after letters such as [T]. Besides this, there is one more universal rule: in almost all cases the ending [-s] is read as [-uv]. For example, "Krakow" would be pronounced "Krakow".

The Polish language has a lot in common with Russian. Both the rules of phonetics and grammar are quite similar. Russian-Polish transcription is easily understood. In addition, Russian-Polish phrase books are sold in many stores. Russian-Polish phrasebooks or tutorials will make your trip to Poland much easier.

Lesson 1 - Alphabet

The Polish alphabet is based on the Latin writing system with the addition of diacritics such as kreska, graphically similar to an acute accent (ć, ń, ó, ś, ź) , dot kropka (ż), "tail" - ogonek (ą, ę) and the devil (ł) . It should be noted that the Polish and Czech alphabets are the two main forms of writing systems based on the Latin alphabet and developed for Slavic languages. Slovak, Slovenian and Croatian languages use a writing system based on the Czech alphabet. The writing of the Kashubian language is based on the Polish writing system, and the writing of Serbian combines the latter two.

The Polish alphabet consists of 32 letters: 9 vowels and 23 consonants.

There are no letters in the Polish alphabet q(ku), v(faw) and x(x), which sometimes still appear in the names of companies, trademarks, as well as in some words of foreign origin. These letters are rarely used in writing. They are not necessary due to the peculiarities of Polish pronunciation. In borrowings they are most often replaced by letters and letter combinations kw, w, ks/gz accordingly (for example: kwarc- quartz, veranda- veranda, extra- extra). Letters y And w They are pronounced differently in different positions.

The written language of the Polish language also includes seven digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dź, dż, rz, sz.

Despite the fact that the orthography of the Polish language is mostly based on the phonetic-morphological principle, some sounds in writing can have more than one form:

[x]- either h, or ch;
[and]- either ż , or rz(Although rż stands for group );
[y]- either u, or ó ;
softly pronounced or ć, dź, ń, ś, ź, or ci, dzi, ni, si, zi(ć, ń and others before a consonant or at the end of a word, while ci, ni and others are used before vowels a, ą, e, ę, o, u; letters c, dz, n, s, z- exclusively before i).

Sometimes a combination of consonants rz are used to convey " rz"along with sound [and].

The pronunciation of double consonants in Polish differs from the pronunciation of single consonants. It should be noted that lengthening of the sound should not occur, as in Finnish and Italian, but this is acceptable in informal communication. According to the rules, the speaker must articulate and pronounce each of the two sounds separately, that is, instead of lengthening, the consonant is repeated. For example, the word panna(young girl) should not be read in the same way as pana (master, master - genitive case), but should be pronounced like this: pan-na. This applies not only to native Polish words (such as panna or oddech), but also borrowing (lasso, attyka). In Polish, double consonants can appear at the beginning of a word, for example: czczenie(worship), dżdżownica(earthworm), ssak(mammal), wwóz(import, import), zstąpić(go down) and zza(because of, thanks), but never appear at the end of words of Slavic origin.

The Polish alphabet is based on the Latin writing system with the addition of diacritics such as kreska, graphically similar to an acute accent (ć, ń, ó, ś, ź) , dot kropka (ż), "tail" - ogonek (ą, ę) and the devil (ł) . It should be noted that the Polish and Czech alphabets are the two main forms of writing systems based on the Latin alphabet and developed for the Slavic languages. Slovak, Slovenian and Croatian languages use a writing system based on the Czech alphabet. The writing of the Kashubian language is based on the Polish writing system, and the writing of Serbian combines the latter two.

The Polish alphabet consists of 32 letters: 9 vowels and 23 consonants.

The written language of the Polish language also includes seven digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dź, dż, rz, sz.

Despite the fact that the orthography of the Polish language is mostly based on the phonetic-morphological principle, some sounds in writing can have more than one form:

[x]- either h, or ch;
[and]- either ż , or rz(Although rż stands for group );
[y]- either u, or ó ;
softly pronounced or ć, dź, ń, ś, ź, or ci, dzi, ni, si, zi(ć, ń and others before a consonant or at the end of a word, while ci, ni and others are used before vowels a, ą, e, ę, o, u; letters c, dz, n, s, z- exclusively before i).

Sometimes a combination of consonants rz are used to convey " rz"along with sound [and].

The pronunciation of double consonants in Polish differs from the pronunciation of single consonants. It should be noted that lengthening of the sound should not occur, as in Finnish and Italian, but this is acceptable in informal communication. According to the rules, the speaker must articulate and pronounce each of the two sounds separately, that is, instead of lengthening, the consonant is repeated. For example, the word panna(young girl) should not be read the same way as pana (master, master - genitive case), but should be pronounced like this: pan-na. This applies not only to native Polish words (such as panna or oddech), but also borrowing (lasso, attyka). In Polish, double consonants can appear at the beginning of a word, for example: czczenie(worship), dżdżownica(earthworm), ssak(mammal), wwóz(import, import), zstąpić(go down) and zza(because of, thanks), but never appear at the end of words of Slavic origin.

The basis of the Polish alphabet is considered to be the Latin writing system, which includes such diacritics as: “ kreska" (ć, ń, ó, ś, ź), dot above the letters " kropka" (ż), lower “tail” “ ogonek" (ą, ę), crossbar (ł) . Polish alphabet together with the Czech alphabet are varieties of Slavic writing. In turn, the foundations of the Slovene, Croatian and Slovak languages are based on the Czech alphabet, and the Kashubian languages are based on the Polish alphabet.

The Polish alphabet has 32 letters, of which 9 are vowels and 23 are consonants, as well as 7 diagraphs: ch, cz, dz, dź, dż, rz, sz.

When we learning letters of the Polish alphabet, an important point is to draw attention to the absence of letters in its composition q(ku), v(faw) and x(x), while in colloquial language and various names they are periodically encountered. If we write lowercase or uppercase letters in words borrowed from other languages, then we convey them in combinations, for example kw, ks, w, gs. A number of sounds when written have several specific forms: [x] written as h or ch, [and] How ż or rz, [y] How u or ó. The Polish language has vowels that are pronounced nasally: Ę, ę pronounced [en], Ą, ą pronounced [He]. Regarding stress, in all words it is set on the penultimate syllable.

Conveniently learn the Polish alphabet online , using our website, as well as audio and video materials, because The important point is to learn the correct pronunciation. Learning Polish will be an interesting process because it has the same roots as Russian. The Polish language program is well absorbed by children of preschool and primary school age. Study methods have been specially developed alphabet for children online at home and taking the first steps in reading. An excellent example is our website(s), which presents colorfully designed letters for children, aimed at increasing interest in learning the Polish alphabet.

Learn the Polish alphabet online. Polish alphabet for children. Learning the letters of the Polish language.

A a [a]
Ą ą [he]
B b [be]
C c [ce]
Ć ć [che]
D d [de]
E e [e]
Ę ę [en]
F f [eff]
G g [ge]
H h [ha]
I i [and]
J j [iot]
K k [ka]
L l [ale]
Ł ł [el]
M m [um]
N n [en]
Ń ń [en]
O o [o]
Ó ó [about short]
P p [pe]
Q q [ku]
R r [er]
S s [es]
Ś ś [ash]
T t [te]
U u [y]
V v [halyard]
W w [wu]
X x [x]
Y y [igrek]
Z z [zet]
Ź ź [zet]
Ż ż [zhet]

The pronunciation of Polish letters is often the same as Russian. The vowel letters listed below, which are in the Polish alphabet, are pronounced like this:

[A] – substressed [A];
[O] – substressed [O];
[U] – U (in addition, this letter is depicted as double: [U]-);
[E] – shock [E].
[E] in Russian transcription has the following Polish analogues:
– ie (at the beginning and middle of a word). In this case, the vowel [i] is pronounced like [i] in Russian.
[Y] – [Y].

Remember that [i] is written in transcription after letters such as [ш], [ш], [ж].

[A] and [E] are nasal vowels inherent in the Polish language. They are written in transcription in the same way as they are pronounced before such types of letters as:

[e”], [o”] – before such as capital letters k, z, s’, s, g, f, z’, ch, w;
[en], [on] – d, t, dz, c, dz’, сz;
[em], [ohm] – b, p;
[en], [on] – dz, s.’

In pronunciation, [A] fluctuates between [ON] and [OU]. Please note that [H] is not pronounced the same as the English ending [-ing].

It is read as [EN] after soft consonants, and as [OH] after hard ones. These variations retain the nasal character of word endings.

[E] in sound fluctuates between [EN] and [EU]. The same rules apply for this letter as for the letter [A]. How [E] this letter is pronounced in colloquial speech.

Consonants

The letters “B”, “P”, “D”, “T”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “M”, “N” are characterized by the same reading as for the letters Russian alphabet. But with one nuance in the form of the letter [G]. It is pronounced as [G], and is not softened.

[С], [Z], [S], which are located before a, e, o’ u y – in pronunciation they are equivalent to Ts, Z, S in the Russian alphabet.
[H] is equal to , and is read as [X].
sounds similar to the letters [U] and [B].
[L] – [L]
[Z], – [zh]
– [SH]
– [C]
[J] – [Y]
, – [H]

The Polish language is rich in combinations of consonants such as . They are designated in transcription as [Ш]. In the pronunciation of such combinations, dividing them into separate sounds is excluded. They are pronounced smoothly and firmly.

Russian-Polish phrasebooks will help you better navigate pronunciation. They are good for beginners.

Polish alphabet

Accent

In a language like Polish, there is a concept of reduction in the rules of stress. Reduction is a change in sounds in syllables. Reduction is typical for vowel unstressed sounds.

But there is room for exceptions. They tend to be quite blurry. The difficulty is that they are constantly changing.

In pictures for children

Learning with pictures also develops associative thinking. By associating a letter or phrase of the Polish alphabet with a specific image, the child remembers them faster.

Almost always [Ш] is pronounced as [Ш].

Polish cities

In Poland there are cities such as:

Szczecin;
Krakow;
Gdansk;
Warsaw;
Poznan;
Wroclaw;
Lodz.

These cities included in the list above have a population of more than four hundred thousand people. Cities from these seven are not only the most populated, but also the most attractive.

Polish surnames in alphabetical order

The list includes surnames most common in Poland:

Vishnevs(y)ky
Wozniak
Wojciechowski
Wujcik
Dombrovsky
Kozlovsky
Zeli(e)sky
Kamin(s)ski(s)
Kaczmarek
Kvya(i)tkovsky
Kowalski(s)
Kowalczyk
Krawczyk
Lewandowski
Mazur
Novak
Shimanskiy
Yankovsky

How to read the inscriptions?

The following rule applies to verbs in Polish: there is no ending after letters such as [T]. Besides this, there is one more universal rule: in almost all cases the ending [-s] is read as [-uv]. For example, "Krakow" would be pronounced "Krakow".

Lesson 1 – Alphabet