The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Polish language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-pl}}, {{IPAc-pl}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Polish phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Polish.

Consonants[1]
IPA Polish Example English approximation
b b Nfurmazions sun chësta uscbardzo bike
ɕ ś, s(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscJaś she
d d Nfurmazions sun chësta uscdawno door
d͡z[3] dz Nfurmazions sun chësta uscdzban beds
d͡ʑ[3] dź, dz(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscdziadek jeep[4]
d͡ʐ[3] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscakarta jug[4]
f f Nfurmazions sun chësta uscfoka feist
ɡ g Nfurmazions sun chësta uscgrać girl
ɡʲ g(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscGiewont argue
ɣ ch, h niechby Spanish amigo
j j, i[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscjak yes
[5] ń Nfurmazions sun chësta uscGdańsk point
k k Nfurmazions sun chësta usckrowa scam
k(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta usckierowca skew
l l Nfurmazions sun chësta usclampa lion
m m[6] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscmorze mile
n n[6] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscnad Nile
ɲ ń, n(i)[6][2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscnie canyon
ŋ[7] n[6] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscmango doing
p p Nfurmazions sun chësta uscpolicja spike
r r Nfurmazions sun chësta uscróżowy American English atom
s s Nfurmazions sun chësta uscsmak sign
ʂ sz Nfurmazions sun chësta uscszybko shore[4]
t t Nfurmazions sun chësta usctak stow
t͡ɕ[3] ć, c(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta usccierpki cheer[4]
t͡s[3] c Nfurmazions sun chësta usccałkiem cats
t͡ʂ[3] cz Nfurmazions sun chësta uscczy child[4]
v w Nfurmazions sun chësta uscwartość vile
w ł Nfurmazions sun chësta uscładny way
x ch, h Nfurmazions sun chësta uscchleb Scottish loch
ch(i), h(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uschiacynt huge
z z Nfurmazions sun chësta usczebra zebra
ʑ ź, z(i)[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscziarno vision, azure[4]
ʐ ż, rz Nfurmazions sun chësta uscrzadko
Vowels
IPA Polish Example English approximation
a a Nfurmazions sun chësta usctam father
ɛ e Nfurmazions sun chësta usckrem bet
ɛ̃ ę[6] Nfurmazions sun chësta usckęs French vin
i i[2] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscpiwo eat
ɨ y Nfurmazions sun chësta uscmy mill
ɔ o Nfurmazions sun chësta uscrok off
ɔ̃ ą[6] Nfurmazions sun chësta uscwąż croissant
u u, ó Nfurmazions sun chësta uscduży boot
Other symbols used for Polish
IPA Explanation
ˈ Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), usually the penultimate syllable of a word.
ˌ Secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable).
. Syllable break.

See also

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Explanatory notes

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  1. All voiced obstruents /b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʐ, ʑ, d͡ʐ, d͡ʑ/ are devoiced to [p, t, k, f, s, ʂ, ɕ, t͡ʂ, t͡ɕ] respectively at the ends of words and in clusters ending in any unvoiced obstruents. Voiceless obstruents are voiced (/x/ becoming Template:IPAblink, etc.) in clusters ending in any voiced obstruent except /v/ and /ʐ/ (when spelled with rz), which are then themselves devoiced.
  2. 2,00 2,01 2,02 2,03 2,04 2,05 2,06 2,07 2,08 2,09 The letter Template:Angbr, when it is followed by a vowel, represents a pronunciation like a Template:Angbr or a "soft" pronunciation of the preceding consonant (so pies is pronounced as if it were spelt *pjes). It has the same effect as an acute accent on alveolar consonants (Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr) so się, cios and niania are pronounced as if they were spelt *śę, *ćos, *ńańa. A following Template:Angbr also softens consonants when it is itself pronounced as a vowel: zima, ci and dzisiaj are pronounced as if they were spelled *źima, *ći, *dźiśaj.
  3. 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5 Polish contrasts affricates /t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/ with stop–fricative clusters: for example, czysta Template:Audio-IPA "clean" versus trzysta Template:Audio-IPA "three hundred".
  4. 4,0 4,1 4,2 4,3 4,4 4,5 Polish makes a distinction between retroflex and alveolo-palatal consonants, both of which sound roughly like the English postalveolars /ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/. The retroflex sounds are pronounced "hard", with the tip of the tongue approaching the alveolar ridge and the blade of the tongue somewhat lowered, and the alveolo-palatal sounds are "soft", realized with the middle of the tongue raised, adding a bit of an Template:Angbr sound to them.
  5. Allophone of /ɲ/ before fricatives.
  6. 6,0 6,1 6,2 6,3 6,4 6,5 The letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr represent the nasal vowels /ɔ̃, ɛ̃/ except when they are followed by a stop or affricate, in which case they represent oral vowels /ɔ, ɛ/ followed by a nasal consonant homorganic with the following stop or affricate: kąt [ˈkɔnt], gęba [ˈɡɛmba], ręka [ˈrɛŋka], piszący [piˈʂɔnt͡sɨ], pieniądze [pjɛˈɲɔnd͡zɛ], pięć [ˈpjɛɲt͡ɕ], jęczy [ˈjɛnt͡ʂɨ] (as if spelled *kont, *gemba, *renka, *piszoncy, *pieńondze, *pieńć, *jenczy).
  7. Allophone of /n/ before a velar /ɡ, k, x/ in some cases.

Further reading

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  • Jassem, Wiktor (2003). "Polish" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 33 (1): 103–107. doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191.
  • Sadowska, Iwona (2012). Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar. Oxford; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-47541-9.
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