Polski alfabet / The Polish Alphabet

The Polish alphabet consists of few letters which may be unfamiliar to foreigners e.g. Ą, Ć, Ę, Ł, Ń, Ó, Ś, Ż, Ź.

POLISH LETTER	POLISH WORD
A	Adam	Similar to  the English a (e.g. architect)
Ą	mądry	Nasalized o (e.g. donkey)
B	Bar, grzyb	Similar to the English b (e.g. baby); but if b is in the word-final position it is pronounced as p (e.g. grzyb – grzyp)
C	cud	Similar to English tz (e.g. quartz)
Ć	być	Soft c
D	dwa	Similar to the English d (e.g. day); but if d is in the word-final position it is pronounced as t (e.g. nad – nat)
E	Edyta	Similar to the English e (e.g. egg)
Ę	kęs	Nasalized e, but if it is in the word-final position it is pronounced as e
F	flet	Similar to the English f
G	garnek	Similar to the English g, but in the word-final position pronounced as k (e.g. blog – blok)
H	hak	Similar to the English h
I	Irlandia	Similar to the English sound in sweet, but when i follows the consonant it becomes soft
J	Japonia	Pronounced like the English y (e.g. yell)
K	krowa	Similar to the English k (e.g. kit)
L	lew	Similar to the English l (e.g. long)
Ł	łuk	Similar to the English w (e.g. weekend)
M	mama	Similar to the English m (e.g. mother)
N	nos	Similar to the English n (e.g. nose)
Ń	słoń	Soft n
O	okno	Similar to the English o (e.g. open)
Ó	mróz	Pronounced like the Polish u, similar to the sound in cool)
P	pies	Similar to the English p (e.g. pen)
R	rower	Pronounced with the vibration, strong at the beginning of the word
S	serce	Similar to the English s (e.g. sweet)
Ś	ślimak	Soft s
T	torba	Similar to the English t (e.g. tea)
U	uwaga	Similar to the English short vowel u (e.g. put)
W	wiek	Similar to the English v (e.g. velvet), in the word-final position pronounced as f (e.g. staw – staf)
Y	budynek	Similar to the English short vowel i (e.g. sit)
Z	zebra	Similar to the English z (e.g. zoo), in the word-final position pronounced as s (e.g. mróz)
Ż	życie	Like in an English word treasure
Ź	źle	Soft z
ch	Chiny	Like letter h
cz	czysty	Like in a word change
dż	dżem	Similar to the English j (e.g. jam)
rz	rzeka	Like in a word treasure
sz	szkoła	Like in an English word shine