POLISH BASIC INFORMATION

Monika Drobina

Alphabet
Polish uses Latin alphabet with the addition of the following letters , , , , , , , and . There are also seven additional 'double letters'
which are sounds written using two letters together. These are ch, cz, dz, d, d, rz, and sz. In Polish, the letters q, v and x are only used in
foreign words.

Vowels
A, a: A sounds like u in English. Think of words like fun or plus.
, : is a nasal vowel. It makes a /on/ or /om/ sound as in long. The sound is pronounced like om, except that the lips and tongue
are not completely closed to pronounce the m, leaving a nasal resonance instead.
E, e: E is always pronounced the same. It sounds like e in bed.
, : is a nasal vowel. It makes a /en/ or /em/ sound as in sense or gem. The sound is pronounced like em, except that the lips or
tongue is not completely closed to pronounce the m, leaving a nasal resonance instead. At the end of a word, the letter is normally
pronounced the same as e: naprawd "naprawde.
I, i: I is very similar to the English I, although it sounds a bit higher. Think of words needle or fit.
O, o: O sounds flatter than in English. Its pronounced like o in hot.

, and U, u: Its a /u/ sound, as in push.

As you can see the same sound is written in two different ways, it makes no difference in pronunciation, but its crucial in written Polish.
Y, y: Its only present in foreign words. It sounds like y in rhythm.
Many of the Polish double-sounds and letters are written differently, but pronounced the same.

Consonants
C, c: C is always pronounced like the English letter "s" with a "t" in front of it. So, the Polish word co (what) is pronounced like "tso".
Ch, ch: Ch sounds like h in hall.
Ci, ci and , : Ci and produce the same sound. The combination ci is used before a vowel. Its pronounced like ch in cheek.
Cz, cz: Cz is pronounced as ch in chalk.
D, d: D is pronounced like in English. It is used in double letter sounds.
Dz, dz: Dz is pronounced like ds in odds.
Dzi, dzi and D, d: The letters d and dzi- are pronounced the same. They are roughly pronounced as j in jeans. The combination dzi is
used before a vowel. The sound of d/dzi is pronounced with the mouth in the position of English "y", its different from that of d,
pronounced with the mouth in the position of English "r".
D, d: D sounds as j in jaw or jazz. Its a harder sound than dzi.
H, h: H is always pronounced in Polish. Its aspirated like ch in loch.

J, j: J is pronounced like the y in "yes."

L, l: L is pronounced just as it is in English.
, : its a letter that doesnt exist in English. The sound is similar to the w in wind or wet.
M, m & N, n: M and N are pronounced the same as in English.
Ni, ni and , : The letters and ni- are pronounced the same. The combination ni- is used before a vowel.
They sound much like the Spanish . Think of the n in canyon or onion.
R, r: R is one of the more difficult Polish consonants to pronounce. Its always rolled. Typically, it is pronounced by trilling the tip of the
tongue.
Rz, rz: Rz sounds as s in pleasure or treasure.
The letter-combination rz is pronounced the same as .
S, s: S is pronounced like in English.
Si, si and , : Si is pronounced as a soft /sh/ sound, like s in sheep. The letters and si are pronounced the same. The combination si
is used before a vowel.
T, t: T is pronounced like the English T.
W, w: W is pronounced a "v". Think of the word vat.
Z,z: Z sounds like the English Z.
Zi, zi and , : Zi is pronounced as a soft /zh/ sound, like z in azure. The letters and zi are pronounced the same. The combination
zi- is used before a vowel.
, : sounds as s in pleasure or treasure.

Gender
Most nouns in Polish have a specific gender. A noun can be either feminine, masculine or neuter.
You can often recognize the nouns gender by its ending. Masculine nouns often end by a consonant
St (stoow) table. Feminine nouns often end in - a szafa (schafa) closet. Neuter nouns end in -e or -o lato (lato) summer.

Pronouns
Pronouns are often omitted in Polish as the subject of the sentence is indicated by verbs ending.
Ja (ya) It means I.
Ty/Wy (ti/vi ) you. Ty is singular and is used familiarly.. Wy is plural and is used to address a group as the collective "you." In more formal
situations the titles Pan masculine and Pani feminine or Pastwo plural, are used.
On/Ona/Ono (on, ona, ono) On means "he", ona means "she", ono means it.
Oni/One (onee, one) It means "they". One is used for a group of females or children, animals, objects (or feminine objects) only! If there is
a mixture of men and women, Polish rules dictate that you must use oni to talk about the group!
My (mi) My means "we

Mj is used for masculine nouns. For feminine nouns, moja is used, moje is used for feminine plural nouns and moi is used for masculine
plural nouns. The pattern holds for second- and third-person possessive pronouns, as well.
Mj, moja, moje, moi (mooy, MO-ya, MO-ye, moi) My, mine
Twj, twoja, twoje, twoi (tfooy, TFO-ya, TFO-ye, TFO-ee)
Your, yours
Jego (masculine and neuter), jej (feminine) (YE-go, yey)
His, her/hers, its
The plural possessive nouns follow the pattern too. They also depend on gender.
Nasz (masculine), nasza (feminine), nasze (neuter or plural feminine), nasi (masculine plural), (nash, NA-sha, NA-she, NA-see)
Our, ours
Wasz, wasza, wasze, wasi (vash, VA-sha, VA-she, VA-shee)
your, yours
ich (eekh)
their, theirs
Ten, ta, to, te (plural feminine), ci (plural masculine) (ten, ta, to, te, chee)
this, that, these/those

Verbs
Polish verbs can be divided into four sets of regular verbs, the regular -,-esz, verbs, the regular -,-isz, verbs,-am, -asz verbs and the regular
-em, -esz verbs. The fifth group is irregular verbs. There are certain patterns that the endings of the regular verbs follow in Polish. Normally,
the personal pronouns are omitted.
Regular -,-esz verbs
For example, the verb "to write," pisa (pi-sach), is conjugated as such:
ja pisz, ty piszesz, on/ona/ono pisze, my piszemy, wy piszecie, oni/one pisz (ya PI-she, ti PI-shesh, on/ona/ono PI-she, mi pi-SHE-mi, vi piSHE-chye, onee/one PI-shom).
Regular -, -isz (-ysz) verbs
The second group of regular Polish verbs is the -isz verbs.
ja myl, ty mylisz, on/ona/ono myli, my mylimy, wy mylicie, oni/one myl
(ya MI-shlem, ti MI-shlish, on/ona/ono MI-shli, mi mi-SHLI-mi, vi mi-SHLI-chye, onee/one MI-shlom)
"I think, you (sing.) think, he/she/one thinks, we think, you (pl.) think, they think"
Regular -am, -asz verbs
The third group of regular Polish verbs are classified as the -am, -asz verbs. The verb czyta (CHI-tach) "to read" is a good representative of
this group:
ja czytam, ty czytasz, on/ona/ono czyta, my czytamy,
wy czytacie, oni/one czytaj (ya CHI-tam, ti CHI-tash, on/ona/ono chi-ta, mi chi-TA-mi, vi chi-TA-chye, onee/one chi-TA-yom)
Regular -em, -esz verbs

The fourth group of regular Polish verbs are classified as the -em, -esz verbs. The verb rozumie (ro-ZOO-myech) "to understand" is a good
representative of this group:
ja rozumiem, ty rozumiesz, on/ona/ono rozumie, my rozumiemy, wy rozumiecie, oni/one rozumiej
(ya ro-ZOO-myem, ti ro-ZOO-myesh, on/ona/ono ro-ZOO-mye, mi ro-zoo-MYE-mi, vi ro-zoo-MYE-chye, onee/one ro-zoo-MYE-yom).

Case system
Polish has seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative.
Here is an example of the adjective dobry (DO-bri) good in all gender, number, case forms:
Singular
Masculine

Plural

Feminine

Neuter

Masculine personal
dobrzy

Other genders

Nom.

dobry

dobra

dobre

Gen.

dobrego

dobrej

dobrego

dobrych

dobrej

dobremu

dobrym

Dat.
Acc.

dobremu
dobry

dobr

dobre

dobre

dobrych

dobre

Instr.

dobrym

dobr

dobrym

dobrymi

Loc.

dobrym

dobrej

dobrym

dobrymi

All of the adjectives in Polish follow this pattern. The vocative case hasnt got a wide function in Polish; therefore its not listed in the table
above.

Numbers in Polish
Like nearly all words in Polish, numbers have to be adapted to the grammatical gender and case of the respective noun.
The numbers from one to twenty-two in the nominative case in Polish:
jeden (YE-den)
dwa (dva)
trzy (tshi)
cztery (CHTE-ri)
pi (pyench)
sze (sheshch)
siedem (SHYE-dem)
osiem (O-shyem)
dziewi (JYE-vyench)
dziesi (JYE-shench)
jedenacie (ye-de-NASH-chye)
dwanacie (dva-NASH-chye)
trzynacie (tshi-NASH-chye)
czternacie (chter-NASH-chye)
pitnacie (pyent-NASH-chye) szesnacie (shes-NASH-chye)
siedemnacie (shye-dem-NASH-chye)
osiemnacie (o-shem-NASH-chye)
dziewitnacie (jye-vyet-NASH-chye)
dwadziecia (dva-JYESH-chya)
dwadziecia jeden (dva-JYESH-chya YE-den)
dwadziecia dwa (dva-JYESH-chya dva)
trzydzieci (tshi-JYESH-chee) thirty;
czterdzieci (chter-JYESH-chee) forty;

pidziesit (pyen-JYE-shont) fifty;

szedziesit (shesh-JYE-shont) sixty;
siedemdziesit (sye-dem- JYE-shont) seventy;
osiemdziesit (o-syem-JYE-shont) eighty;
dziewidziesit (jye-vyen-JYE-shont) ninety,
sto (sto) one hundred;
dwiecie (DVYESH-chye) two hundred