A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation · about 7 minutes
Soft sounds: ni, si, ci and ń, ś, ć
two spellings for the same sound
A soft sound is written with an accent or with an i — the next letter decides which.
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 need9
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- końhorse
- wiedziećto know (a fact)
- siostrasister
- ciociaaunt, auntie
- mieszkaćto live (somewhere)
- miastotown, city
- gośćguest
- lubićto like
- jesieńautumn
Understand
RememberAn accent at the end and before a consonant, an i before a vowel.
- Signal words
- ń
- ś
- ć
- ź
- ni
- si
- ci
- zi
The form
How it is written and said
Each row gives the rule first, then examples in Polish that show it.
| at the end and before a consonant: with an accent | koń, coś, być, późno |
| before a vowel: with i | nie, siostra, ciocia, ziemia |
| before i: just the i | nic, zima, ci |
| one word, two spellings | koń — konia, gość — goście |
| i before a vowel: no syllable of its own (nie: one, Kasia: two) | nie, Kasia |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
At the end of a word and before a consonant you write the accent.
To jest koń Piotra.This is Piotr’s horse.
Before a vowel you write i instead of the accent.
Nie mam konia.I don’t have a horse.
An i before a vowel is not a sound of its own.
Nie wiem.I don’t know.
Before an i you write only the i, no accent.
Nic nie mam.I have nothing.
Example sentences
Moja siostra ma na imię Kasia.My sister’s name is Kasia.
Ciocia mieszka w mieście.My aunt lives in town.
To jest mój gość.This is my guest.
6 more example sentences
Goście już są.The guests are already here.
Lubię jesień.I like autumn.
Dzień dobry, pani Basiu!Good morning, Basia!
Mam dzieci i psa.I have children and a dog.
Zimą jest zimno.It is cold in winter.
Gdzie jest kuchnia?Where is the kitchen?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Once you have learnt the soft sound as ś, it is tempting to write the accent everywhere — before a vowel too. There the i takes over: siostra, not “śostra”. And the other way round: an English eye reads nie as “knee” or as two syllables, “ni-eh”. Both are wrong: it is one short syllable, roughly “nyeh”.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself8 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
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Next on the path: 4 · The nasal vowels ą and ęBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Polish has five soft consonants: ś, ź, ć, dź and ń. ń sounds like the ny in “canyon” or the ni in “onion”; the others you know from the topic on hissing sounds. What is new here is only the spelling, because each of these sounds has two.
At the end of a word and before a consonant you write the accent: koń(horse)coś(something)być(to be)późno(late) Before a vowel you write an i instead: nie, siostra, ciocia, ziemia. That i is not a vowel of its own; it only means “soft”. nie has one syllable, not two — it sounds roughly like “nyeh”, never like English “knee”.
So the spelling changes inside the same word as soon as an ending is added: koń but konia; gość but goście. The sound stays the same — only the place for the accent is gone. If the next letter is an i itself, only the i is written: nic, zima, ci.
Worth knowing1
Worth knowing
ie is not “ee”
In English “ie” is usually a long ee, as in “field”. In Polish it is two things: a softened consonant and a short e. niebo(sky) starts like “nyeh”miejsce(place) like “myey” The same goes after b, p, m, w and f: biały, pies, miasto — a tiny y-glide after the consonant.
Mój pies jest biały.My dog is white.
The verbs on this page, in every form: być · mieć · mieszkać · lubić · wiedzieć