Can I write Polish without the special letters?

In quick informal messages Poles sometimes skip them, but it can change the meaning, for example pięć (five) and piec (oven). In forms, letters and your CV, always use the full Polish letters.

Do I have to roll my r in Polish?

No. A single quick tap of the tongue tip, like the “tt” in American butter, is enough. What matters is not using the English r, which Poles may hear as a different sound.

How long does it take to learn to read Polish?

Reading aloud comes quickly, often within the first lessons, because the rules are regular. Producing the sounds naturally, especially sz and ś, takes longer and improves with practice.

Polish alphabet and pronunciation for English speakers – with sound guide

The Polish alphabet at a glance

Polish uses 32 letters: the familiar Latin ones without q, v and x, plus nine letters with diacritics. A letter with a mark comes straight after its plain version in alphabetical order.

A Ą B C Ć D E Ę F G H I J K L Ł M N Ń O Ó P R S Ś T U W Y Z Ź Ż

Once you know the rules, you can read any Polish word aloud. This guide is part of our knowledge centre. Hints in square brackets use English spelling, with the stressed syllable in capitals – they are approximations, not exact phonetics.

Letters that look English but sound different

About a dozen ordinary-looking letters are read differently from English, and these cause most early mistakes. The table pairs each one with the closest English sound.

Familiar letters with a different sound
Letter	Closest English sound	Polish examples
a	short “a” in father, never the “a” in cake	mama, tak [tahk]
c	“ts” in cats – never k or s	cena [TSEH-nah], noc [nots]
h	like ch in Scottish loch, but softer	herbata [hehr-BAH-tah]
j	“y” in yes	jajko [YAI-ko], już
o	“o” in British lot, without gliding into “oo”	dom, kot
r	a quick tap or roll of the tongue tip, like Scottish r	rower [ROH-vehr]
w	“v” in van	woda [VOH-dah], Warszawa
y	“i” in bit, said further back in the mouth	my, syn, ryba

The nine letters with marks

Each Polish letter with a diacritic stands for one specific sound, and the mark is not decoration – it changes the word. Pięć means “five”, while piec means “oven”.

Polish letters with diacritics
Letter	How to say it	Polish examples
ą	nasal “on”, as in French bon	są (they are), mąż (husband)
ę	nasal “en”, as in French vin; at the end of a word usually plain e	gęś (goose), proszę [PROH-sheh]
ć	soft “ch” in cheese, tongue flat against the palate	być (to be), ćma (moth)
ł	“w” in water	mały [MAH-wih], Łódź [wooch]
ń	“ny” in canyon	koń (horse), dzień (day)
ó	exactly like Polish u – “oo” in book	góra (mountain), Kraków [KRAH-koof]
ś	soft “sh”, like sh in sheep said with a smile	środa (Wednesday), coś
ź	soft version of the “s” in measure	źle (badly), późno (late)
ż	“s” in measure, a little harder	żaba (frog), może (maybe)

Digraphs: two letters, one sound

A Polish digraph is a fixed pair of letters read as a single sound, so never split it: szkoła (school) starts with “sh”, not with “s” and “h”.

Polish digraphs
Digraph	Closest English sound	Polish examples
ch	same as h – the loch sound	chleb [hlep] (bread)
cz	hard “ch” in chalk	czas (time), czy [chih]
sz	hard “sh” in shop	szafa (wardrobe), kasza
rz	same as ż; after p, t, k it sounds like sz	rzeka (river); przepraszam [psheh-PRAH-shahm]
dz	“ds” in kids	dzwon (bell)
dż	hard “j” in jungle	dżem (jam)
dź	soft “j” in jeep	dźwig (crane), dziękuję [jen-KOO-yeh]

Tip: the famous szcz is simply sz + cz, like “fresh cheese” said quickly: Szczecin [SHCHEH-cheen], szczęście [SHCHEN-shcheh] (happiness).

Three kinds of “sh”: the main challenge

English has one “sh” and one “ch”, while Polish has a hard and a soft version of each, and mixing them up changes meaning. Hard sounds (sz, cz, ż, dż) are made with the tongue tip raised and lips slightly rounded. Soft sounds (ś, ć, ź, dź) are made with the middle of the tongue pressed towards the palate and lips spread, as if smiling.

proszę (please) – prosię (piglet)
czy (question word, “whether”) – ci (to you)
kasza (groats) – Kasia (a girl’s name)

The soft sounds have two spellings. Before a vowel Polish writes an “i” that is not pronounced separately: siostra [SHOS-trah], ciocia [CHO-chah], dziadek. Before a consonant or at the end of a word it uses the mark: śmiech, gość, łabędź.

Nasal vowels ą and ę

Ą and ę are nasal vowels, but they sound fully nasal only before s, sz, z, ż, ś, ź, ch, w and f. Elsewhere they split into a vowel plus m or n, depending on the next consonant:

before p, b: ząb [zomp] (tooth), dęby [DEM-bih] (oaks);
before t, d, c, cz, k, g: mądry [MON-drih] (wise), ręka [REN-kah] (hand);
before ć, dź: pięć [pyench] (five), będzie [BEN-jeh] (will be);
before l, ł: plain o, e – wziął [vzhyow] (he took), zaczęła [zah-CHEH-wah] (she started).

At the end of a word, ą keeps a light nasal sound (idą – they go), while ę is usually said as a plain e (idę [EE-deh] – I go).

Stress: always count from the end

In Polish the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable, so you never have to memorise it word by word. When an ending is added, the stress moves with it:

TE-le-fon is wrong; say te-LE-fon, then te-le-FO-nu;
war-SZA-wa, ko-LE-ga, do-KU-ment.

Exceptions are few: past tense forms with -śmy and -ście (BY-li-śmy – we were) and conditional forms (ZRO-bił-bym – I would do it) take the stress one syllable earlier.

Consonant clusters and silent voicing

Polish allows long groups of consonants with no vowel between them, and the trick is to say every consonant clearly but quickly. Try the classic tongue-twister W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie (In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reeds) slowly, then faster.

Voiced consonants also lose their voice at the end of a word or next to a voiceless consonant. That is why chleb sounds like [hlep], Wrocław like [VROTS-wahf] and wtorek (Tuesday) like [FTOH-rek].

Typical mistakes of English speakers

Most mistakes come from reading Polish letters with English habits.

Common mistakes and how to fix them
Mistake	How to fix it
w read as English w: woda like “wo-da”	touch your lower lip with your upper teeth, as for v
j read as in jam: jak like “jack”	j is always “y”: jak [yahk]
unstressed vowels reduced to “uh”	keep every vowel full and clear: te-le-fon, not “tuh-LE-fn”
y and i sound the same: my (we) like mi (to me)	for y, pull the tongue back and relax the lips
ł read as l: łapa (paw) like lapa	round your lips as for w

How to practise Polish pronunciation

Pronunciation improves fastest with short daily practice out loud. Record yourself, compare with a native recording and practise pairs of words that differ by one sound, such as proszę – prosię or my – mi.

A teacher hears what you cannot, which is why our pronunciation and accent course focuses on the sounds that are hard for your first language. If you are starting from zero, look at the course for beginners, and if you wonder whether sounds are the hardest part of the language, read is Polish hard for English speakers.

Polish alphabet and pronunciation for English speakers