Polish alphabet and digraphs

Gorals still distinguish between ó and u

During this lesson you will learn the Polish alphabet and digraphs.

Most language courses begin with introducing simple phrases and common words. I believe that a much better approach is to first learn how to speak and read and then to expand vocabulary.

Polish alphabet (polskie abecadło) contains 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

To hear the alphabet please play the following video:

You have probably noticed that letters ł and ó have two different pronunciations. The traditional pronunciation of ł is still common in Eastern Poland and was widely used by all actors a few decades ago. The traditional ł, known also as 'noble ł' (ł szlacheckie) is now disappearing. However, using the more common pronunciation of ł (the same as English w in 'window') makes the learning of spelling much more difficult. This is because the letter u after a vowel is also pronounced as English w. Therefore, in the common pronunciation there is no difference between the sound of u in a word restauracja (restaurant) and that of ł in łyżka (spoon). For this reason I highly recommend the traditional pronunciation of ł which is widely used in many other Slavic languages, including Russian. If you have problems pronouncing ł think of it as an English 'dark l' which occurs at the end of words (e.g. ball, feel, etc.) and make sure that the tio of your tongue touches your front teeth.

Most Poles no longer distinguish the pronunciation of ó and u and pronounce both similar to u in put. The only people that still hear the difference between ó and u are Gorals from Southern Poland. The traditional ó is pronounced somewhere between o and u: it is the same sound as the French au. It is up to you whether you choose to distinguish between ó and u but please bear in mind that nowadays almost all Poles pronounce these letters exactly the same way. And if you do choose to distinguish between these sounds, you should stick to it to avoid confusion.

There are also seven digraphs (two consecutive letters which are pronounced as one sound). These are:

ch - does not exist in standard English. Sounds like ch in Bach

cz - the same as English ch  in check

dz - does not exist in English, sounds like a voiced English ts

dź - does not exist in English, this is a soft equivalent of Polish dz

dż - the same as English j in jungle

rz - the same as Polish ż, or si in English television

sz - the same as English sh in shire

To hear these digraphs please play the following video:

It is also important to understand that if the sounds ć, ń, ś, ź, dź are followed by a vowel they are written as ci, ni, si, zi and dzi respectively, e.g.:

Ciasto (cake)
Nie (no)

Siostra (sister)

Ziemia (Earth)
Dzień (day)

If ci, ni, si, zi, dzi are followed by a consonant they are pronounced as ći, ńi, śi, źi and dźi respectively, eg.:

Cis (yew)

Nic (nothing)

Siwy (grey)

Zima (winter)

Dziś (today)

That's it for this lesson! I know it may seem complicated at first but the fact is that Polish spelling is very logical and phonetic. It just has a few rules which - if you learn them early on - will make your learning adventure a true pleasure!