Help:IPA/Polish

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Polish language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

All voiced obstruents /b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʐ, ʑ, dʐ, dʑ/ are devoiced (so /d/ becomes [t], etc.) at the ends of words and in clusters ending in any unvoiced obstruents /p, t, k, f, s, x, ʂ, ɕ, tʂ, tɕ/. Voiceless obstruents are voiced (/x/ becoming [ɣ], etc.) in clusters ending in any voiced obstruent except /v, ʐ/, which are then themselves devoiced.

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

Consonants
IPA	Polish	Example	English approximation
b	b	bardzo	bike
ɕ	ś, s(i)^[1]	Jaś	she
d	d	dawno	door
dz^[2]	dz	dzban	beds
dʑ^[2]	dź, dz(i)^[1]	dziadek	jeep^[3]
dʐ ^[2]	dż	Dżakarta	jug^[3]
f	f	foka	feist
ɡ	g	grać	girl
ɡʲ	g(i)^[1]	Gienek	argue
ɣ	ch, h	niechby	roughly like go but without completely blocking air flow on the g
j	j, i^[1]	jak	yes
j̃^[4]	ń	koń	voice
k	k	krowa	scam
kʲ	k(i)^[1]	kierowca	skew
l	l	lampa	lion
m	m^[5]	morze	mile
n	n^[5]	nad	Nile
ɲ	ń, n(i)^[5]^[1]	nie	canyon
ŋ^[6]	n^[5]	bank	bank
p	p	policja	spike
r	r	różowy	rolled r like Italian Roma
s	s	smak	sign
ʂ	sz	szybko	shore^[3]
t	t	tak	stow
tɕ^[2]	ć, c(i)^[1]	cierpki	cheer^[3]
ts^[2]	c	całkiem	cats
tʂ^[2]	cz	czy	child^[3]
v	w	wartość	vile
w^[7]	ł	ładny	way
x	ch, h	chleb	(Scottish) loch
xʲ	ch(i), h(i)^[1]	hiacynt	huge
z	z	zebra	zebra
ʑ	ź, z(i)^[1]	ziarno	vision, azure^[3]
ʐ	ż, rz	rzadko	vision, azure^[3]

Vowels
IPA	Polish	Example	English approximation
a	a	tam	father
ɛ	e	krem	bet
ɛ̃	ę^[5]	kęs	French vin
i	i^[1]	piwo	eat
ɨ	y	my	roses
ɔ	o	rok	rock
ɔ̃	ą^[5]	wąs	French son
u	u, ó	duży	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.

Notes[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j The letter ⟨i⟩, when it is followed by a vowel, represents a pronunciation like a ⟨j⟩ 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 (⟨s⟩, ⟨z⟩, ⟨c⟩, ⟨dz⟩, ⟨n⟩) so się, cios and niania are pronounced as if they were spelt ⟨śę⟩, ⟨ćos⟩, ⟨ńańa⟩. A following ⟨i⟩ 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⟩.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The affricates /ts, dz, tɕ, dʑ, tʂ, dʐ/) may be written more precisely with ligature ties: /t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/, but they are omitted in transcriptions as they do not display correctly in all browsers. Nonetheless, Polish contrasts affricates with stop–fricative clusters: for example, czysta [ˈt͡ʂɨsta] (help·info) "clean" versus trzysta [ˈtʂɨsta] "three hundred".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Polish makes contrasts between retroflex and alveolo-palatal consonants, both of which sound 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 ⟨ee⟩ sound to them.
^ Allophone of /ɲ/ in coda position or before fricatives.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The letters ⟨ą⟩ and ⟨ę⟩ represent the nasal vowels /ɔ̃, ɛ̃/ except when they are followed by a stop or affricate, when 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).
^ Allophone of /n/ before a velar /ɡ, k, x/.
^ The traditional pronunciation [ɫ] is still found in a minority of speakers.

External links[edit]

Polish Pronunciation Audio and Grammar Charts

[soften-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j The letter ⟨i⟩, when it is followed by a vowel, represents a pronunciation like a ⟨j⟩ 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 (⟨s⟩, ⟨z⟩, ⟨c⟩, ⟨dz⟩, ⟨n⟩) so się, cios and niania are pronounced as if they were spelt ⟨śę⟩, ⟨ćos⟩, ⟨ńańa⟩. A following ⟨i⟩ 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⟩.

[affricate-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The affricates /ts, dz, tɕ, dʑ, tʂ, dʐ/) may be written more precisely with ligature ties: /t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/, but they are omitted in transcriptions as they do not display correctly in all browsers. Nonetheless, Polish contrasts affricates with stop–fricative clusters: for example, czysta [ˈt͡ʂɨsta] (help·info) "clean" versus trzysta [ˈtʂɨsta] "three hundred".

[postalveolar-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Polish makes contrasts between retroflex and alveolo-palatal consonants, both of which sound 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 ⟨ee⟩ sound to them.

[4] Allophone of /ɲ/ in coda position or before fricatives.

[nasalvowel-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The letters ⟨ą⟩ and ⟨ę⟩ represent the nasal vowels /ɔ̃, ɛ̃/ except when they are followed by a stop or affricate, when 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).

[6] Allophone of /n/ before a velar /ɡ, k, x/.

[7] The traditional pronunciation [ɫ] is still found in a minority of speakers.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

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Help:IPA/Polish

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