Unlike English, Polish letters almost always make the same sound. The tricky part is a small set of accented letters and letter-pairs. Learn these and you can pronounce street names, menus, and people's names.
The one stress rule
Put the stress on the second-to-last syllable, almost every time.
| Letter | Sounds like | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| w | v as in van | woda (water) | VOH-dah |
| ł | w as in wet | ładny (nice) | WAHD-nih |
| j | y as in yes | jajko (egg) | YAHY-koh |
| c | ts as in cats | co (what) | tsoh |
| ch / h | h as in hat | chleb (bread) | hlep |
| ó | oo as in boot | góra (mountain) | GOO-rah |
| ą | on (nasal) | mąż (husband) | monsh |
| ę | en (nasal) | ręka (hand) | REN-kah |
| Letters | Sounds like | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| sz | sh as in ship | szkoła (school) | SHKOH-wah |
| cz | ch as in church | czas (time) | chahs |
| rz / ż | zh as in vision | rzeka (river) | ZHEH-kah |
| ś / si | soft sh | środa (Wednesday) | SHROH-dah |
| ć / ci | soft ch | cześć (hi) | cheshch |
| dz | ds as in beds | dzwon (bell) | dzvon |
Watch out: 'ch' and 'h' sound identical, and 'ó' and 'u' sound identical. Which spelling a word uses is just memorized; you will pick it up over time.
Tip: The letter that scares everyone, 'ł', is simply an English 'w'. So the surname 'Wałęsa' is 'vah-WEN-sah'.