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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