· 10 min read
Polish Pronunciation Guide: How to Say sz, cz, rz, ł, ą and ę
By Language Lab editorial team
A clear Polish pronunciation guide for English speakers: the alphabet, sz/cz/rz, the soft consonants, nasal vowels ą and ę, and where the stress falls.
Polish pronunciation is far more regular than it looks. Most "scary" spellings are just letter pairs for single sounds: sz is like English "sh", cz like "ch", rz and ż like the "s" in "measure", ch and h like a throaty "h", w like "v" and ł like English "w". The soft sounds ś, ć, ź and ń (also written si, ci, zi, ni before a vowel) are made with the tongue further forward. The vowels ą and ę are nasal. And stress almost always falls on the second-to-last syllable — once you know these rules, you can read nearly any Polish word aloud.
Why Polish pronunciation looks harder than it is
Written Polish packs a lot of consonants together: szczęście (happiness), przepraszam (sorry), chrząszcz (beetle). But Polish spelling is consistent. The same letters almost always make the same sounds, and many of those long clusters are really two or three single sounds written with two letters each. Przepraszam, for example, is p-rz-e-p-r-a-sz-a-m. If you learn the handful of letter combinations below, the wall of consonants turns into a set of familiar building blocks.
The letters that differ from English
| Spelling | Sounds roughly like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| w | English v | woda (water) |
| ł | English w | łóżko (bed) |
| j | English y in "yes" | jajko (egg) |
| c | ts in "cats" | cena (price) |
| ch / h | a breathy h, like Scottish "loch" | chleb (bread) |
| sz | sh | szkoła (school) |
| cz | ch in "church" | czas (time) |
| rz / ż | s in "measure" | rzeka (river), żaba (frog) |
| ó / u | oo in "food" | góra (mountain), ulica (street) |
| y | i in "bit", further back | ty (you) |
Two spellings for the same sound — rz and ż, ó and u, ch and h — exist for historical reasons. They matter for spelling, not for speaking: you pronounce them the same way.
The hard part: three families of "sh"-like sounds
English has one "sh" sound. Polish has three related sets, and telling them apart is the single biggest pronunciation task for learners:
- Hard: sz, cz, ż/rz, dż — tongue tip raised behind the upper teeth ridge, lips slightly rounded. Szary (grey), czarny (black).
- Soft: ś, ć, ź, dź — tongue flatter and further forward, touching behind the lower teeth, lips spread as if smiling. Before a vowel they're written si, ci, zi, dzi: siostra (sister), ciocia (aunt), zima (winter).
- Plain: s, c, z, dz — like English s, ts and z.
Minimal pairs show why it matters: kasza (groats) and Kasia (a girl's name), or czy (whether) and ci (to you). Practise them slowly in pairs, then in phrases. Recording yourself and comparing with a native speaker speeds this up more than anything else.
Nasal vowels: ą and ę
Polish has two nasal vowels. Ą is roughly an "o" with air through the nose, and ę an "e" with air through the nose. Their exact sound shifts with the next consonant: before b or p they sound like "om" and "em" (dąb, oak; zęby, teeth), before t, d or c like "on" and "en" (kąt, corner; ręka, hand, is closer to "renka"). At the end of a word, ę is often pronounced as a plain "e": idę (I'm going) usually sounds like "ide" in everyday speech.
Where the stress falls
Polish stress is wonderfully predictable: it falls on the second-to-last syllable of almost every word. War-SZA-wa, dzię-KU-ję (thank you), prze-PRA-szam (sorry). A few exceptions exist — some Greek and Latin loanwords such as matematyka (ma-te-MA-ty-ka), and some verb forms such as byliśmy (BY-liś-my, "we were") — but the penultimate rule will carry you through the vast majority of speech.
Consonant clusters and voicing
Two more habits make Polish sound natural. First, voiced consonants lose their voice at the end of a word: chleb sounds like "hlep" and róg (horn) like "ruk". Second, consonants next to each other tend to match in voicing: in wtorek (Tuesday) the w sounds like "f" because the t after it is voiceless. You don't need to memorise these as rules — you'll pick them up from listening — but knowing they exist explains why some words don't sound exactly as spelled.
Phrases to practise first
| Polish | Meaning | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Dzień dobry | Good morning / hello | dź and ń are soft |
| Dziękuję | Thank you | ę before k sounds like "en" |
| Przepraszam | Sorry / excuse me | prz, then sz |
| Poproszę | I'd like / please (when asking for something) | final ę often just "e" |
| Nie rozumiem | I don't understand | rz |
| Czy mówi pan/pani po angielsku? | Do you speak English? (to a man/woman) | cz, ó |
How to practise
Learn the sounds before you learn much vocabulary: a week of focused listening and repetition saves months of fixing habits later. Work in minimal pairs, say full phrases out loud rather than reading silently, and get feedback on your speech. Language Lab's Polish course uses a voice tutor that listens to you say real-life phrases — at the pharmacy, the registration office, the landlord's — so you practise pronunciation in the situations where you'll need it.
Frequently asked
How do you pronounce rz in Polish?
In most positions rz sounds like the "s" in "measure" — the same as ż. After p, t, k and ch it becomes voiceless and sounds like sz, as in przepraszam.
How do you pronounce ł?
Like the English "w" in "water". Łódź, the city, sounds roughly like "woodge".
Where is the stress in Polish words?
Almost always on the second-to-last syllable, for example War-SZA-wa and dzię-KU-ję.
What is the difference between sz and ś?
Both are "sh"-like, but sz is made with the tongue tip raised and lips slightly rounded, while ś is softer, with the tongue flatter and further forward and the lips spread.
Photo: Old Town Market Square, Warsaw, 2026 — Igor123121 / CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
