The Polish alphabet is based on the Latin writing system with the addition of diacritics such as kreska, graphically similar to an acute accent (ć, ń, ó, ś, ź) , dot kropka (ż), "tail" - ogonek (ą, ę) and the devil (ł) . It should be noted that the Polish and Czech alphabets are the two main forms of writing systems based on the Latin alphabet and developed for the Slavic languages. Slovak, Slovenian and Croatian languages use a writing system based on the Czech alphabet. The writing of the Kashubian language is based on the Polish writing system, and the writing of Serbian combines the latter two.
Polish alphabet represented by 32 letters: 9 vowels and 23 consonants.
There are no letters in the Polish alphabet q(ku), v(faw) and x(x), which sometimes still appear in the names of companies, trademarks, as well as in some words of foreign origin. These letters are rarely used in writing. They are not necessary due to the peculiarities of Polish pronunciation. In borrowings they are most often replaced by letters and letter combinations kw, w, ks/gz accordingly (for example: kwarc- quartz, veranda- veranda, extra- extra). Letters y And w They are pronounced differently in different positions.
The written language of the Polish language also includes seven digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dź, dż, rz, sz.
Despite the fact that the orthography of the Polish language is mostly based on the phonetic-morphological principle, some sounds in writing can have more than one form:
- [x]- either h, or ch;
- [and]- either ż , or rz(Although rż stands for group );
- [y]- either u, or ó ;
- softly pronounced or ć, dź, ń, ś, ź, or ci, dzi, ni, si, zi(ć, ń and others before a consonant or at the end of a word, while ci, ni and others are used before vowels a, ą, e, ę, o, u; letters c, dz, n, s, z- exclusively before i).
Sometimes a combination of consonants rz are used to convey " rz"along with sound [and].
The pronunciation of double consonants in Polish differs from the pronunciation of single consonants. It should be noted that lengthening of the sound should not occur, as in Finnish and Italian, however, this is acceptable in informal communication. According to the rules, the speaker must articulate and pronounce each of the two sounds separately, that is, instead of lengthening, the consonant is repeated. For example, the word panna(young girl) should not be read in the same way as pana (master, master - genitive case), but should be pronounced like this: pan-na. This applies not only to the original Polish words(such as panna or oddech), but also borrowing (lasso, attyka). In Polish, double consonants can appear at the beginning of a word, for example: czczenie(worship), dżdżownica(earthworm), ssak(mammal), wwóz(import, import), zstąpić(go down) and zza(because of, thanks), but never appear at the end of words of Slavic origin.
Learning Polish is quite easy. The Russian-Polish phrasebook will help you without any problems if you find yourself in Poland. But before you start using full-fledged phrases, try to learn the following rules regarding vowels and consonants of the Polish alphabet, as well as the specifics of stress in words. The learning process will be facilitated by the fact that the pronunciation of letters in Polish is often identical to Russian.
Pronunciation Polish letters often the same as Russian. The vowel letters listed below, which are in the Polish alphabet, are pronounced like this:
- [A] – substressed [A];
- [O] – substressed [O];
- [U] – U (in addition, this letter is depicted as double: [U]-);
- [E] – shock [E].
- [E] in Russian transcription has the following Polish analogues:
- - ie (at the beginning and middle of a word). In this case, the vowel [i] is pronounced like [i] in Russian.
- [Y] – [Y].
Remember that [i] is written in transcription after letters such as [ш], [ш], [ж].
[A] and [E] are nasal vowels inherent in the Polish language. They are written in transcription in the same way as they are pronounced before such types of letters as:
- [e"], [o"] – before such as capital letters k, z, s’, s, g, f, z’, ch, w;
- [en], [he] - d, t, dz, c, dz’, сz;
- [em], [ohm] - b, p;
- [en], [on] - dz, s.’
In pronunciation, [A] fluctuates between [ON] and [OU]. Please note that [H] is not pronounced the same as the English ending [-ing].
It is read as [EN] after soft consonants, and as [OH] after hard ones. These variations retain the nasal character of word endings.
[E] in sound fluctuates between [EN] and [EU]. The same rules apply for this letter as for the letter [A]. How is [E] this letter pronounced in colloquial speech.
Consonants
The letters “B”, “P”, “D”, “T”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “M”, “N” are characterized by the same reading as for the letters . But with one nuance in the form of the letter [G]. It is pronounced as [G], and is not softened.
- [S], [Z], [S], which are located before a, e, o’ u y, are equivalent in pronunciation to Ts, Z, S in the Russian alphabet.
- [H] is equal to , and is read as [X].
- sounds similar to the letters [U] and [B].
- [L] – [L]
- [Z], – [zh]
- – [SH]
- – [C]
- [J] – [Y]
- , – [H]
Polish rich in combinations of consonants such as . They are designated in transcription as [Ш]. In the pronunciation of such combinations, dividing them into separate sounds is excluded. They are pronounced smoothly and firmly.
Russian-Polish phrasebooks will help you better navigate pronunciation. They are good for beginners.
Polish alphabet
Accent
In a language like Polish, there is a concept of reduction in the rules of stress. Reduction is a change in sounds in syllables. Reduction is typical for vowel unstressed sounds.
The rules of accents themselves are easy to learn. In Polish, the stress always falls on a specific syllable – the penultimate one. And if a word should be read with stress on another syllable, then in Polish it will always be indicated by stress.
But there is room for exceptions. They tend to be quite blurry. The difficulty is that they are constantly changing.
In pictures for children
Very good method One that is suitable for children is learning Polish in pictures. This will not only allow you to better assimilate information and facilitate the memorization process. Learning the Polish alphabet in pictures significantly delays the moment when children's interest in learning the language begins to fade.
Learning with pictures also develops associative thinking. By associating a letter or phrase of the Polish alphabet with a specific image, the child remembers them faster.
Almost always [Ш] is pronounced as [Ш].
Polish cities
In Poland there are cities such as:
- Szczecin;
- Krakow;
- Gdansk;
- Warsaw;
- Poznan;
- Wroclaw;
- Lodz.
These cities included in the list above have a population of more than four hundred thousand people. Cities from these seven are not only the most populated, but also the most attractive.
These are the cities with the most developed infrastructure. Tourists and students most often come to such cities. In addition to them, these cities are often visited by businessmen of various levels.
Cities in Poland have crossed the mark of nine hundred and thirteen.
Polish surnames in alphabetical order
Surnames with endings –skiy became the most numerous. Surnames with this ending used to mean belonging to the area in which its owners were born. Since ancient times, such surnames were exclusively among the nobility. In the 15th and 16th centuries, surnames with this ending spread among ordinary people.
Last name ending in –skiy Although quite common in Poland, such surnames can be worn by people who are not related to Poles. Surnames derived from crafts or other occupations have become a kind of indicator of their prevalence and popularity in the old days.
The list includes surnames most common in Poland:
- Vishnevs(y)ky
- Wozniak
- Voitsekhovsky
- Wujcik
- Dombrovsky
- Kozlovsky
- Zeli(e)sky
- Kamin(s)ski(s)
- Kaczmarek
- Kvya(i)tkovsky
- Kowalski(s)
- Kowalczyk
- Krawczyk
- Lewandowski
- Mazur
- Novak
- Shimansky
- Yankovsky
How to read the inscriptions?
The following rule applies to verbs in Polish: there is no ending after letters such as [T]. Besides this, there is one more universal rule: in almost all cases the ending [-s] is read as [-uv]. For example, "Krakow" would be pronounced "Krakow".
The Polish language has a lot in common with Russian. Both the rules of phonetics and grammar are quite similar. Russian-Polish transcription easily perceived. In addition, Russian-Polish phrase books are sold in many stores. Russian-Polish phrasebooks or tutorials will make your trip to Poland much easier.
Lesson 1 - Alphabet
Note. When writing, we replace special Polish characters with combinations Latin letter and a bar or comma. And in transcription, wherever in Polish text there should be a comma - put a semicolon.
So we write:
- A, - C" - E, - L" - N" - O" - S"
The letters z and zhet are written the same way: , - Z".
Pronunciation
We present here only the basic rules that are designed to help those who do not know Polish start speaking. In fact Polish pronunciation It is much more difficult, and without hearing live speech, learning to correctly pronounce hissing and nasal sounds is impossible.
Vowels
The vowel “A” is always pronounced like the Russian semi-darkened A
The vowel “O” is always pronounced like the Russian stressed O.
The vowel “U” has a double letter image: “U” - “O’” and is pronounced like the Russian U.
The vowel “E” is pronounced like the Russian stressed E. The Russian e used in transcription corresponds to the Polish language:
at the beginning of a word - "ie". in the middle of a word - "ie". The vowel “I” is pronounced like the Russian I.
The vowel “I” at the beginning of a word does not change, unlike the Russian language, its quality, i.e. not pronounced as Y after words ending in hard consonants; in the middle of a word softens the previous consonant.
The vowel “Y” is always pronounced like the Russian Y. , in transcription after w, w, w we write I.
Nasal vowels: "A," "E,".
Polish has nasal vowels. These sounds do not exist in Russian. The vowels “A,” “E,” (nasal) in transcription are designated according to pronunciation, namely: (nasal)
o", e" before g, k, ch, w, f, z, s, z’, s’
he, en - before d, t, dz, c, dz’, сz
om, em - before b, p
on, en - before dz, s’.
The vowel “A” sounds like the middle between “OU” and “ON” (“YOU” and “YON”) (while H is not pronounced, as in English -ing endings). After soft consonants it is read as “YON” (with a nasal “N”), after hard consonants it is read as “ON” (with a nasal “N”. It retains its nasal character at the end of words.
The vowel “E” sounds like the middle between “EU” and “EN” (“EU” and “EN”) (the rules are the same as for A). In colloquial speech, “E” at the end of words is pronounced as pure E.
Consonants
The consonants “V”, “P”, “D”, “T”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “M”, “N” are pronounced simply like Russian B, P, D , T, G, K, V, F, M, N.
The consonant “G” is always pronounced (also at the end of the genitive case of adjectives and pronouns) as G (for example, dobrego [dobrego], and is not softened, as in Russian [dobrevo].
The consonants “S”, “Z”, “S” before the vowels a a, e e, o o’ u y and before consonants are pronounced as Russian Ts, Z, S.
The consonant “N” = “SN”, which has a double written image, is always pronounced like the Russian X.
The consonant “L’” (L with an apostrophe) sounds like a cross between B and U (very similar to the pronunciation of the English W). Does not combine with vowel I.
The consonant “L” corresponds to the Russian Ль and is not combined with the vowel Y. (The pure sound L does not occur in the Polish language - either В-У or Ль.)
The consonant “Z’” (Z with a dot), “RZ” (zh), which has a double written image, corresponds to the Russian Zh. This sound does not combine with I.
The consonant “SZ” is pronounced like the Russian Ш and is not combined with the vowel I.
The consonant “DZ” (ДЗ) is a voiced correspondence to the consonant “C” and is pronounced together.
The consonant “СZ” (Ч) differs from the Russian CH in that this sound is always hard and is not combined with I. Therefore, in the transcription, CH should be read approximately like the CH in the Russian word “better”, and not as in the words “often, man” ", etc. (For the Russian language it is quite difficult to imagine how “Ch” can be hard. ;-))
The consonant “DZ’” (Z with a dot), in the transcription DZh, is a voiced correspondence to the consonant “CZ”, it is pronounced together and is not combined with I.
In the Polish language, there is often a combination of the consonant “SZ” - with the consonant “CZ” - “SZCZ” in the transcription Ш. They do not merge into one sound and are pronounced firmly (for example, Deszcz - [deschch]). The combination “Z’DZ’” (both Zs with a dot) is the voiced counterpart of the combination “SZCZ”. The sound “J” corresponds to the Russian J.
In transcription we write I after the vowels, and at the beginning of the word, as in Russian, e, ё, yu, ya. In the transcription of words such as, for example, racja, kolizja, komisja,
“cja” is denoted as tsya [ratsya]
„zja" - zya [kolizya]
"sja" - sya [komisya].
Softness of consonants
The consonants “B”, “P”, “G”, “K”, “W”, “F”, “CH”, “M”, just like in Russian, can be soft and hard. These consonants can only be soft before vowels. They cannot be soft at the end of a word or syllable:
Before the vowels A, O, E, U (O’), the softness of the consonants is indicated by the letter “I”, which in this case is only a sign of the softness of the consonant. These letter combinations are transcribed as: E, E, Yu, I
The consonant “N’” (N with an apostrophe) is pronounced like the Russian Нь (dzien’ [dzhen]).
The consonant “S’” (S with an apostrophe), in the transcription ш, is softer (as much as possible) than the Russian Ш, almost as approximately as the first SN in the word “happiness”. The consonant “Z” (Z with an apostrophe) (Зь) is the voiced correspondence of the consonant “S’”.
The consonant “С’” (C with an apostrophe) (Чь) is pronounced a little softer than the Russian ТЧь
(pisac [pisach]).
This consonant is pronounced approximately the same way as the Russian consonant CH in the words “often, person”, etc.
The consonant “DZ’” (Z with an apostrophe) is a voiced correspondence to the consonant “C’” and is pronounced together. In the Polish language there is a combination of consonants “S’” and “C’” - “S’C’”. In this combination, both consonants are pronounced clearly and do not merge. (In fact, this is the easiest combination to pronounce: ШЧ (czes'c' - [cheschch]).) The softness of consonants at the end of words and before consonants is indicated in Polish by N', S', Z', C', DZ ', in transcription we write n, sch, zh, ch, dj, and before vowels to soften in Polish we write i (ia, ie, io, iu), in transcription i, e, e, yu.
At the end of words, voiced words are pronounced dull.
Accent
This is the only thing you will never have problems with - in Polish the stress is always on the penultimate syllable. (Exceptions are complex reflexive verbs, which are almost absent in our phrasebook).
August 30, 2017Polish language, learning Polish
It's never too late to learn Polish. There are many options for learning Polish for beginners. Polish language courses for beginners exist in many cities of Ukraine and offer training both individually and in groups.
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