Help:IPA/Polish

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Polish on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Polish in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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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]	dż	Dżakarta^ⓘ	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
j̃^[5]	ń	Gdańsk^ⓘ	point
k	k	krowa^ⓘ	scam
kʲ	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
xʲ	ch(i), h(i)^[2]	hiacynt^ⓘ	huge
z	z	zebra^ⓘ	raisin
ʑ	ź, z(i)^[2]	ziarno^ⓘ	vision, azure^[4]
ʐ	ż, rz	rzadko^ⓘ	vision, azure^[4]

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.

^ 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.
^ ^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 Polish contrasts affricates /t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/ with stop–fricative clusters: for example, czysta [ˈt͡ʂɨsta] "clean" versus trzysta [ˈtʂɨsta] "three hundred".
^ ^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.
^ Allophone of /ɲ/ 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, 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).
^ Allophone of /n/ before a velar /ɡ, k, x/ in some cases.

[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.

[soften-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.

[affricate-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".

[postalveolar-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.

[nasalvowel-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.

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