The Polish Alphabet

The Polish alphabet has 32 letters: 23 from the basic Latin alphabet (no q, v or x) plus 9 with marks: ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż. Spelling is regular: once you know the letters, you can read any word. Tap any letter to hear its name in Polish.

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All 32 letters

Tap any letter to hear its name in Polish.

a say “ah” a as in “father”
a z ogonkiem say “AH z oh-GON-kyem” a nasal o, like “on” in French “bon”; before b or p it sounds “om” (ząb)
be say “beh” b as in “bed”
ce say “tseh” ts as in “cats”
cie say “chyeh” a soft ch, with the middle of the tongue raised: softer than cz (like “ch” in “cheese”, said lightly)
de say “deh” d as in “dog”
e say “eh” e as in “bed” (always open, never “ee”)
e z ogonkiem say “EH z oh-GON-kyem” a nasal e, like “in” in French “vin”; at the end of a word usually a plain e
ef f as in “fun”
gie say “gyeh” g as in “go”
ha say “hah” ch as in Scottish “loch”
i say “ee” ee as in “see”
jot say “yot” y as in “yes”
ka say “kah” k as in “skip” (no puff of air)
el l as in “let”
Ł ł eł say “ew” w as in “water”
em m as in “man”
en n as in “no”
eń say “eny” ny as in “canyon”
o say “oh” a short, pure o (no “oh-oo” glide)
o z kreską say “OH s KRES-kom” oo as in “food”
pe say “peh” p as in “spin” (no puff of air)
er say “ehr” rolled r, as in Spanish “perro”
es s as in “sun”
eś say “esh (soft)” a soft sh, with the middle of the tongue raised: softer than sz (close to “sh” in “sheep”)
te say “teh” t as in “stop” (no puff of air)
u say “oo” oo as in “food”
wu say “voo” v as in “van”
igrek say “EE-grek” a “dark” i, said further back, like the i in “bit”
zet z as in “zoo”
ziet say “zhyet (soft)” a soft zh, with the middle of the tongue raised: softer than ż
żet say “zhet” s as in “pleasure”, but harder

7 letters that sound different for English speakers

Always ts, as in “cats”, never k or s: cukier = “TSOO-kyer” cukier · sugar
Sounds like English y: jabłko = “YAHP-ko” jabłko · apple
Sounds like English v: woda = “VO-dah” woda · water
Sounds like English w, not l: łyżka = “WISH-kah” łyżka · spoon
Same sound as u (“oo”), not o: córka = “TSOOR-kah” córka · daughter
A vowel: a dark i, never the y of “yes”: syn = “sin” syn · son
Nasal e, like French “vin”: ręka = “REN-kah” ręka · hand

Letter pairs: cz, sz, rz, ch, dz and soft consonants

Letters	Examples	Sound
cz		ch as in “church”, tongue pulled back (hard)
sz		sh as in “shop”, tongue pulled back (hard)
rz · ż		rz and ż sound the same: zh, like the s in “pleasure”, said harder
ch · h		both = ch as in Scottish “loch”
dz · dź · dż		dz as in “kids”; dź = a soft j (softer than dż); dż = j as in “jam”
ą · ę		nasal vowels: ą = nasal o, ę = nasal e; before k or g they sound like “on” / “en” (ręka = “REN-kah”)
ó · u		the same sound, “oo”: only the spelling differs
ci · si · zi · ni		before i, c s z n are soft, like ć ś ź ń; the i before another vowel is not said separately (ciasto = “CHAH-sto”)

A word for every letter

Each letter below has its name and a real word from the Flashcardly course (starting with the letter where one exists), with a picture and native audio.