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}}, {{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 bardzo bike
ɕ ś, s(i)[2] Jaś she
d d dawno door
d͡z[3] dz dzban beds
d͡ʑ[3] dź, dz(i)[2] dziadek jeep[4]
d͡ʐ[3] akarta jug[4]
f f foka feist
ɡ g grać girl
ɡʲ g(i)[2] Giewont argue
ɣ ch, h niechby Spanish amigo
j j, i[2] jak yes
[5] ń Gdańsk point
k k krowa scam
k(i)[2] kierowca skew
l l lampa lion
m m[6] morze mile
n n[6] nad Nile
ɲ ń, n(i)[6][2] nie canyon
ŋ[7] n[6] mango doing
p p policja spike
r r różowy American English atom
s s smak sign
ʂ sz szybko shore[4]
t t tak stow
t͡ɕ[3] ć, c(i)[2] cierpki cheer[4]
t͡s[3] c całkiem cats
t͡ʂ[3] cz czy child[4]
v w wartość vile
w ł ładny way
x ch, h chleb Scottish loch
ch(i), h(i)[2] hiacynt huge
z z zebra raisin
ʑ ź, z(i)[2] ziarno vision, azure[4]
ʐ ż, rz rzadko
Vowels
IPA Polish Example English approximation
a a tam father
ɛ e krem bet
ɛ̃ ę[6] kęs French vin
i i[2] piwo eat
ɨ y my mill
ɔ o rok off
ɔ̃ ą[6] wąż croissant
u u, ó duży pool
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.

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 [ɣ], etc.) in clusters ending in any voiced obstruent except /v/ and /ʐ/ (when spelled with rz), which are then themselves devoiced.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Polish contrasts affricates /t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/ with stop–fricative clusters: for example, czysta [ˈt͡ʂɨsta] "clean" versus trzysta [ˈtʂɨsta] "three hundred".
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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 ⟨ee⟩ sound to them.
  5. ^ Allophone of /ɲ/ before fricatives.
  6. ^ 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, 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.

See also

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