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Alphabet & Pronunciation

Diacritics, digraphs and stress

Latin letters with Polish diacritics

ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż add distinctive sounds.

📊 Special letters
Letter Sound Example
ł like English 'w' łatwo
ż / rz 'zh' żaba
sz 'sh' szkoła
cz 'ch' czas
ą nasal 'on' mają
💬 Examples
dzień dobry
JEN DOB-ri
good day / hello
📝 ń = soft 'ny'; ż/rz = 'zh'
dziękuję
jen-KOO-yeh
thank you
📝 dzi = soft 'j'; ę = nasal 'e'
Digraphs spell single sounds

sz, cz, rz, ch, dz each make one sound.

💬 Examples
szkoła
SHKO-wah
school
📝 sz = 'sh'
czas
chahs
time
📝 cz = 'ch'
Stress falls on the second-to-last syllable

Almost always.

💬 Examples
kawa
KA-va
coffee
📝 Stress on 'KA' (penultimate)
studentka
stoo-DENT-ka
(female) student
📝 Stress on 'DENT'