A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation · about 7 minutes
The Polish alphabet
letters and their names
Thirty-two letters, nine of them with marks — and each one always sounds the same.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need20
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- miećto have
- imięfirst name
- małysmall, little
- walizkasuitcase
- zupasoup
- synson
- chciećto want
- herbatatea
- pisaćto write
- nazwiskosurname
- zimawinter
- winowine
- piwobeer
- chłopakboy, young man; boyfriend
- łóżkobed
- stółtable
- chlebbread
- kieliszek(wine) glass
- żółtyyellow
- domhouse; home
Understand
RememberA mark above or below a letter makes a new letter.
- Signal words
- ą
- ę
- ł
- ó
- ś
- ż
- cz
- sz
- rz
The form
The letters and their names
Each tile shows a letter and its name in Polish, with a guide to how it is said underneath. Each group heading says what its letters have in common.
nasal vowels: vowels with a hook
- ąnasal o (as in French “bon”)/ɔ̃/
- ęnasal e/ɛ̃/
ó: sounds like u
- óo z kreskąoo (called “o with a stroke”)/ɔ z ˈkrɛskɔ̃/
ł: like English w
- łełew (e followed by English w)/ɛw/
accent: soft sounds
- ćciech, soft/t͡ɕɛ/
- ńeńeny (as in “canyon”)/ɛɲ/
- śeśesh, soft/ɛɕ/
- źzietzh, soft/ʑɛt/
dot: like s in “pleasure”
- żżetzhet (s in “pleasure”)/ʐɛt/
familiar letters, different sound
- ccetseh/t͡sɛ/
- hhakhah (ch in “loch”)/xa/
- jjotyot/jɔt/
- wwuvoo/vu/
- yigrekee-grek/ˈiɡrɛk/
- zzet/zɛt/
The other letters
- aah/a/
- bbebeh/bɛ/
- ddedeh/dɛ/
- eeh (open, as in “bed”)/ɛ/
- fef/ɛf/
- ggiegyeh/ɡʲɛ/
- iee/i/
- kkakah/ka/
- lel/ɛl/
- mem/ɛm/
- nen/ɛn/
- oo (short, as in “hot”)/ɔ/
- ppepeh/pɛ/
- rerer (rolled)/ɛr/
- ses/ɛs/
- tteteh/tɛ/
- uoo/u/
| two letters, one sound | ch, cz, sz, rz, dz, dź, dż |
| only in foreign words | q, v, x |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
A letter with a mark is a letter of its own with a sound of its own.
Mam na imię Łukasz.My name is Łukasz.
w sounds like English v, ł like English w.
Mam małą walizkę.I have a small suitcase.
c sounds like ts in “cats”, z like z in “zoo”.
Co to za zupa?What kind of soup is this?
y is a vowel, a dark i.
To jest syn Marka.This is Marek’s son.
h and ch sound the same, like ch in “loch”.
Chcę herbatę.I would like tea.
Example sentences
Jak się pisze twoje nazwisko?How do you spell your surname?
Żaneta pisze się przez ż.Żaneta is written with ż.
W Polsce jest zima.It is winter in Poland.
6 more example sentences
To jest wino, nie piwo.This is wine, not beer.
Mój chłopak ma na imię Jacek.My boyfriend’s name is Jacek.
Dziękuję za kawę.Thank you for the coffee.
To jest łóżko, a to jest szafa.This is a bed, and this is a wardrobe.
Hotel jest blisko.The hotel is close by.
Ewa ma żółty rower.Ewa has a yellow bike.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Keyboards without Polish letters invite you to drop the marks. That is not a cosmetic slip: without its stroke Łukasz becomes a name with a quite different sound, and łaska (grace) becomes laska (a stick). A word without its marks is a misspelt word — or another word.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself9 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
Well done
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Next on the path: 2 · Hissing sounds: sz, cz, rz, ż and ś, ć, źBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The Polish alphabet has 32 letters. Nine of them carry a mark: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż. These are not decorations but letters of their own with sounds of their own: laskais a walking stickłaskais grace q, v and x appear only in foreign words and names.
Every letter always sounds the same, and all vowels are short and pure. English speakers tend to let a vowel glide — “no” becomes “noh-oo”, “day” becomes “deh-ee”. Polish does not: o is the short o of British “hot”, held steady, and e the e of “bed”. u is like the oo of “book”. y is a vowel, a dark i somewhat like the i in “bit” but further back: syn, my.
Several familiar letters sound different. w is an English v: woda is “voda”. ł is an English w: mała sounds like “mawa”. c is ts as in “cats”, even at the start of a word: co. j is an English y: ja is “ya”. h and ch both sound like the ch in Scottish “loch”. z and s are as in English, and s is always a hissing s, never a z as in “rose”.
Several letters together make one sound: ch, cz, sz, rz, dz, dź, dż. When you spell a word, you say what it is written with: przez ż(with ż)przez rz(with rz)przez ó(with ó)
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Familiar letters, false friends
Four letters trick an English eye. w is a v and ł is a w. c is never a k or an s, always ts. And j is a y: jajko (egg) sounds like “yay-ko”. Read Wałęsa with these four in mind and it comes out as “va-WEN-sa”.
Nie lubię sportu.I don’t like sport.
Worth knowing
Spelling on the phone
Spell with the Polish names of the letters and name the marked ones explicitly: przez ł, przez ó, przez rz. y is called igrek and w is wu — give the English names and you will get an i and a double u written back.
Kowalczyk: ka, o, wu, a, el, ce, zet, igrek, ka.Kowalczyk: K, O, W, A, L, C, Z, Y, K.
The verbs on this page, in every form: być · mieć · chcieć · pisać