Polish alphabet and pronunciation

POLJSKA ABECEDA IN IZOVORJAVA

There are 32 letters in the Polish

alphabet: 9 vowels and 23 consonants.

a as the 'u' in 'cut'

ą highly nasalised vowel a cross between the

'awn' in 'lawn' and the 'ong' in 'long'

e 'e' in 'ten'

ę also highly nasalised like the 'eng' in

'engage'(where the 'ng' is on sound not 'n'

followed by 'g') pronouced as e when world-

final

i as in 'police' but shorter

o as in 'not'

ó the same as Polish u

u as in 'put'

y as the in 'i' in 'bit'

c as the 'ts' in 'its'

ch as the 'ch' in Scottish loch

cz as the 'ch' in 'church'

ć similar to c but pronounced with the

tongue a little further with the tongze a little

back on the roof of the mouth pronounced as

'tsi' before vowels

dz as the 'ds' in 'adds up'

g as in 'get'

h the same as ch

j as the 'y' in 'yet'

ł as the 'w' in 'wine'

ń as the 'ni' in 'onion' written as 'ni' before

vowels

r always trilled

rz as the 's' in 'pleasure'

s as in 'set'

sz as the 'sh' sin 'show'

ś simmilar to s but not as strident written as

'si' before vowels

w 'v' in 'van'

Ź the same as rz

Ż the same as rz

Szcz the most obtuse-looking consonant

cluster pronounced as the 'shch' in 'fresh

cheese'