Polish orthography is the system of writing thePolish language. The language is written using the Polish alphabet, which derives from theLatin alphabet, but includes some additional letters withdiacritics.^[1]: 6 The orthography is mostly phonetic, or rather phonemic—the written letters (or combinations of them) correspond in a consistent manner to the sounds, or rather thephonemes, of spoken Polish. For detailed information about the system of phonemes, seePolish phonology.

The diacritics used in the Polish alphabet are thekreska (graphically similar to theacute accent) in the lettersć, ń, ó, ś, ź; thekropka (overdot) in the letterż; the stroke in the letterł; and theogonek ("little tail") in the lettersą, ę. There are 32 letters^[1]: 4 (or 35 letters, if the foreign lettersq, v, x are included)^[2] in the Polish alphabet: 9vowels and 23 or 26consonants.

The lettersq (namedku),v (namedfau or rarelywe^[3]), andx (namediks) are used in some foreign words and commercial names. Inloanwordsq andv are often replaced bykw andw, respectively, andx byks orgz (as inkwarc "quartz",weranda "veranda",ekstra "extra",egzosfera, "exosphere").

When giving the spelling of words, certain letters may be said in more emphatic ways to distinguish them from other identically pronounced characters. For example, H may be referred to assamo h ("h alone") to distinguish it from CH (ce ha). The letter Ż may be called"żet(or zet) z kropką" ("Ż with a dot") to distinguish it from RZ (er zet). The letter U may be calledu otwarte ("open u", a reference to its graphical form) oru zwykłe ("regular u"), to distinguish it from Ó, which is sometimes calledó zamknięte ("closed ó"),ó kreskowane oró z kreską ("ó with a stroke accent"), alternativelyo kreskowane oro z kreską ("o with a stroke accent"). The letteró is a relic from hundreds of years ago when there was a length distinction in Polish similar to that inCzech, withá andé also being common at the time. Subsequently, the length distinction disappeared andá andé were abolished, butó came to be pronounced the same asu.

Note that Polish letters withdiacritics are treated as fully independent letters in alphabetical ordering (unlike in languages such asFrench,Spanish, andGerman). For example,być comes afterbycie. The diacritic letters also have their own sections in dictionaries (words beginning withć are not usually listed underc). However, there are no regular words that begin withą orń.

Polish additionally uses thedigraphsch,cz,dz,dź,dż,rz, andsz. Combinations of certain consonants with the letteri before a vowel can be considered digraphs:ci as a positional variant ofć,si as a positional variant ofś,zi as a positional variant ofź, andni as a positional variant ofń (but see a special remark onnibelow); and there is also onetrigraphdzi as a positional variant ofdź. These are not given any special treatment in alphabetical ordering. For example,ch is treated simply asc followed byh, and not as a single letter as inCzech orSlovak (e.g.Chojnice only has its first letter capitalised, and is sorted afterCanki and beforeCieszyn).

^1 Seebelow for rules regarding spelling of alveolo-palatal consonants.

^2 H may be glottal[ɦ] in a small number of dialects.

^3 Rarely,⟨rz⟩ is not a digraph and represents two separate sounds:

• in various forms of the verbzamarzać – "to freeze"
• in various forms of the verbmierzić – "to disgust"
• in the place nameMurzasichle
• in borrowings, for exampleerzac (from GermanErsatz),Tarzan

Voiced consonant letters frequently come to represent voiceless sounds (as shown in the above tables). This is due to theneutralization that occurs at the end of words and in certainconsonant clusters; for example, the⟨b⟩ inklub ("club") is pronounced like a⟨p⟩, and the⟨rz⟩ inprze- sounds like⟨sz⟩. Less frequently, voiceless consonant letters can represent voiced sounds; for example, the⟨k⟩ intakże ("also") is pronounced like a⟨g⟩. The conditions for this neutralization are described underVoicing and devoicing in the article on Polish phonology.

The spelling rule for thealveolo-palatal sounds/ɕ/,/ʑ/,/t͡ɕ/,/d͡ʑ/ and/ɲ/ is as follows: before the vowel⟨i⟩ the plain letters⟨s z c dz n⟩ are used; before other vowels the combinations⟨si zi ci dzi ni⟩ are used; when not followed by a vowel the diacritic forms⟨ś ź ć dź ń⟩ are used. For example, the⟨s⟩ insiwy ("grey-haired"), the⟨si⟩ insiarka ("sulphur") and the⟨ś⟩ inświęty ("holy") all represent the sound/ɕ/.

Special attention should be paid to⟨n⟩ before⟨i⟩ plus a vowel. In words of foreign origin the⟨i⟩ causes the palatalization of the preceding consonant⟨n⟩ to/ɲ/, and it is pronounced as/j/. This situation occurs when the corresponding genitive form ends in-nii, pronounced as/ɲji/, not with-ni, pronounced as/ɲi/ (which is a situation typical to the words of Polish origin). For examples, see the table in the next section.

According to one system, similar principles apply to thepalatalized consonants/kʲ/,/ɡʲ/ and/xʲ/, except that these can only occur before vowels. The spellings are thus⟨k g (c)h⟩ before⟨i⟩, and⟨ki gi (c)hi⟩ otherwise. For example, the⟨k⟩ inkim ("whom", instr.) and the⟨ki⟩ inkiedy both represent/kʲ/. In the system without the palatalized velars, they are analyzed as /k/, /ɡ/ and /x/ before /i/ and /kj/, /ɡj/ and /xj/ before other vowels.

Except in the cases mentioned in the previous paragraph, the letter⟨i⟩ if followed by another vowel in the same word usually represents/j/, but it also has the palatalizing effect on the previous consonant. For example,pies ("dog") is pronounced[pʲjɛs] (/pjɛs/). Some words with⟨n⟩ before⟨i⟩ plus a vowel also follow this pattern (see below).In facti is the usual spelling of/j/ between a preceding consonant and a following vowel. The letter⟨j⟩ normally appears in this position only after⟨c⟩,⟨s⟩ and⟨z⟩ if the palatalization effect described above has to be avoided (as inpresja "pressure",Azja "Asia",lekcja "lesson", and the common suffixes-cja "-tion",-zja "-sion":stacja "station",wizja "vision"). The letter⟨j⟩ after consonants is also used in concatenation of two words if the second word in the pair starts with⟨j⟩, e.g.wjazd "entrance" originates fromw +jazd(a). The pronunciation of the sequencewja (inwjazd) is the same as the pronunciation ofwia (inwiadro "bucket").

The ending-ii which appears in the inflected forms of some nouns of foreign origin, which have-ia in the nominative case (always after⟨g⟩,⟨k⟩,⟨l⟩, and⟨r⟩; sometimes after⟨m⟩,⟨n⟩, and other consonants), is pronounced as[ji], with the palatalization of the preceding consonant. For example,dalii (genitive ofdalia "dalia"),Bułgarii (genitive ofBułgaria "Bulgaria"),chemii (genitive ofchemia "chemistry"),religii (genitive ofreligia "religion"),amfibii (genitive ofamfibia "amphibia"). The common pronunciation is[i]. This is why children commonly misspell and write-i in the inflected forms asarmii,Danii or hypercorrectly writeziemii instead ofziemi (words of Polish origin do not have the ending-ii but simple-i, e.g.ziemi, genitive ofziemia).

In some rare cases, however, when the consonant is preceded by another consonant,-ii may be pronounced as[i], but the preceding consonant is still palatalized, for example,Anglii (genitive ofAnglia "England") is pronounced[anɡlʲi]. (The spellingAngli, very frequently met with on the Internet, is simply an error in orthography, caused by this pronunciation.)

A special situation applies to⟨n⟩: it has the full palatalization to[ɲ] before-ii which is pronounced as[ji] – and such a situation occurs only when the corresponding nominative form in-nia is pronounced as[ɲja], not as[ɲa].

For example (pay attention to the upper- and lower-case letters):

The ending-ji, is always pronounced as/ji/. It appears only afterc,s andz. Pronunciation of it as a simple/i/ is considered a pronunciation error. For example,presji (genitive ofpresja "pressure") is/prɛsji/;poezji (genitive ofpoezja "poetry") is/pɔɛzji/;racji (genitive ofracja "reason") is/rat͡sji/.

The letters⟨ą⟩ and⟨ę⟩, when followed by plosives and affricates, represent an oral vowel followed by a nasal consonant, rather than a nasal vowel. For example,⟨ą⟩ indąb ("oak") is pronounced/ɔm/, and⟨ę⟩ intęcza ("rainbow") is pronounced/ɛn/ (the nasalassimilates with the following consonant). When followed by⟨l⟩ or⟨ł⟩, and in the case of⟨ę⟩, also at the end of words by most speakers (in a situation where the speaker pronounces the vowel nasally, it is nasalized only lightly),^[4] these letters are pronounced as just/ɔ/ or/ɛ/.

Apart from the cases in the sections above, there are three sounds in Polish that can be spelt in two different ways, depending on the word. Those result from historical sound changes. The correct spelling can often be deduced from the spelling of other morphological forms of the word or cognates in Polish or in other Slavic languages.

• /x/ can be spelt either⟨h⟩ or⟨ch⟩.
  • ⟨h⟩ only occurs in loanwords; however, many of them have been nativized and are not perceived as loanwords.⟨h⟩ is used:
    • when cognate words have the letter⟨g⟩,⟨ż⟩ or⟨z⟩, e.g.:
      • wahadło – waga
      • druh – drużyna
      • błahy – błazen
    • when the same letter is used in the language from which the word was borrowed, e.g. the Latinized Greek prefixeshekto-, hetero-, homo-, hipo-, hiper-, hydro-, alsohonor, historia, herbata, etc.
  • ⟨ch⟩ is used:
    • in all native words, e.g.chyba, chrust, chrapać, chować, chcieć
    • when the same digraph is used in the language from which the word was borrowed, e.g.chór, echo, charakter, chronologia.
• /u/ can be spelt⟨u⟩ or⟨ó⟩; the spelling⟨ó⟩ indicates that the sound developed from thehistorical long/oː/.
  • ⟨u⟩ is used:
    • usually at the beginning of a word (except forósemka, ósmy, ów, ówczesny, ówdzie)
    • always at the end of a word
    • in the endings-uch, -ucha, -uchna, -uchny, -uga, -ula, -ulec, -ulek, -uleńka, -ulka, -ulo, -un, -unek, -uni, -unia, -unio, -ur, -us, -usi, -usieńki, -usia, -uszek, -uszka, -uszko, -uś, -utki
  • ⟨ó⟩ is used:
    • when cognate words or other morphological forms have the letter⟨o⟩,⟨e⟩ or⟨a⟩, e.g.:
      • mróz – mrozu
      • wiózł – wieźć
      • skrócić – skracać
    • in the endings-ów, -ówka, -ówna (except forzasuwka, skuwka, wsuwka)
• /ʐ/ can be spelt either⟨ż⟩ or⟨rz⟩; the spelling⟨rz⟩ indicates that the sound developed from/r̝/ (cf. Czech⟨ř⟩).
  • ⟨ż⟩ is used:
    • when cognate words or other morphological forms have the letter/digraph⟨g⟩,⟨dz⟩,⟨h⟩,⟨z⟩,⟨ź⟩,⟨s⟩, e.g.:
      • może – mogę
      • mosiężny – mosiądz
      • drużyna – druh
      • każe – kazać
      • wożę – woźnica
      • bliżej – blisko
    • in the particleże, e.g.skądże, tenże, także
    • after⟨l⟩,⟨ł⟩,⟨r⟩, e.g.:
      • lżej
      • łże
      • rżysko
    • in loanwords, especially from French, e.g.:
      • rewanż
      • żakiet
      • garaż
    • when cognates in other Slavic languages contain the sound/ʐ/ or/ʒ/, e.g.żuraw – Russianжуравль
  • ⟨rz⟩ is used:
    • when cognate words or other morphological forms have the letter⟨r⟩, e.g.morze – morski, karze – kara
    • usually after⟨p⟩,⟨b⟩,⟨t⟩,⟨d⟩,⟨k⟩,⟨g⟩,⟨ch⟩,⟨j⟩,⟨w⟩, e.g.:
      • przygoda
      • brzeg
      • trzy
      • drzewo
      • krzywy
      • grzywa
      • chrzest
      • ujrzeć
      • wrzeć
    • when cognates in other Slavic languages contain the sound/r/ or/r̝/, e.g.rzeka – Russianрека^[5]

The letter⟨u⟩ represents/w/ in the digraphs⟨au⟩ and⟨eu⟩ in loanwords, for exampleautor, Europa; but not in native words, likenauka, pronounced[naˈu.ka].

There are certain clusters where a written consonant would not normally be pronounced. For example, the⟨ł⟩ in the wordsmógł ("could") andjabłko ("apple") is omitted in ordinary speech.

Names are generally capitalized in Polish as in English. Polish does not capitalize the months and days of the week, nor adjectives and other forms derived from proper nouns (for example,angielski "English").

Titles such aspan ("Mr"),pani ("Mrs/Ms"),lekarz ("doctor"), etc. and their abbreviations are not capitalized, except in written polite address. Second-person pronouns are traditionally capitalized in formal writing (e.g. letters or official emails); so may be other words used to refer to someone directly in a formal setting, likeCzytelnik ("reader", in newspapers or books). Third-person pronouns are capitalized to show reverence, most often in a sacred context.

The following are capitalized:

• Given names and surnames
• Nicknames and pseudonyms
• Names given to animals and plants
• Names of gods and other mythological beings
• Names of fictional characters
• Personifications of concepts
• Names of religious and secular holidays
• Brand names
• Company names
• Names of institutions, organizations, departments, and governments.
• Names of prizes, honours, orders, and other awards.

The following are not capitalized:

• Common names of beings or things
• Names of days of the week, months, and seasons
• Items whose names are derived from a brand name
• Items whose names are derived from a proper noun
• Adjectives derived from proper nouns
• Names of rituals, customs, parties, and dances
• Names of historic events
• Names of time periods and eras.

The following are capitalized:

• Names of planets, moons, stars, constellations, and other celestial bodies
• Names of continents, oceans, seas, deserts, mountains, islands, etc.
• Names of countries, regions, towns, villages, kingdoms, etc.
• Names of compass points when they are an essential to the place's name e.g.Morze Północne (North Sea)
• Wschód andZachód when referring to the cultural East and West respectively.

Polish punctuation is similar to that of English. However, there are more rigid rules concerning use ofcommas—subordinate clauses are almost always marked off with a comma, while it is normally considered incorrect to use a comma before acoordinating conjunction with the meaning "and" (i,a ororaz).

Abbreviations (but notacronyms orinitialisms) are followed by a period when they end with a letter other than the one which ends the full word. For example,dr has no period when it stands fordoktor, but takes one when it stands for an inflected form such asdoktora andprof. has period because it comes fromprofesor (professor).

Apostrophes are used to mark the elision of the final sound of foreign words not pronounced before Polish inflectional endings, as inHarry'ego ([xaˈrɛɡɔ], genitive ofHarry[ˈxarɨ] – the final[ɨ] is elided in the genitive). However, it is often erroneously used to separate a loanword stem from any inflectional ending, for example,*John'a, which should beJohna (genitive ofJohn; no sound is elided).

Quotation marks are used in different ways: either „ordinary Polish quotes” or «French quotes» (without space) for first level, and ‚single Polish quotes’ or «French quotes» for second level, which gives three styles of nested quotes:

1. „Quote ‚inside’ quote”
2. „Quote «inside» quote”
3. «Quote ‚inside’ quote»

Some older prints have used „such Polish quotes“.

Poles adopted theLatin alphabet in the 12th century. However, that alphabet was ill-equipped to represent certain Polish sounds, such as thepalatal consonants andnasal vowels. Consequently, Polish spelling in theMiddle Ages was highly inconsistent, as different writers used different systems to represent these sounds, For example, in early documents the letterc could signify the sounds now writtenc, cz, k, while the letterz was used for the sounds now writtenz, ż, ś, ź. Writers soon began to experiment withdigraphs (combinations of letters), new letters (φ and ſ, no longer used), and eventuallydiacritics.

The Polish alphabet was one of two major forms of Latin-based orthography developed forSlavic languages, the other beingCzech orthography, characterized bycarons (hačeks), as in the letterč. The other major Slavic languages which are now written in Latin-based alphabets (Slovak,Slovene, andSerbo-Croatian) use systems similar to the Czech.Sorbian spelling is also closer to Czech, though it does include more Polish elements than the aforementioned languages. Polish-based orthographies are used forKashubian and usuallySilesian, both spoken in Poland.

The letterƶ is a historical allograph for ż.^{[citation needed]}

There are several different systems forencoding the Polish alphabet for computers. All letters of the Polish alphabet are included inUnicode, and thus Unicode-based encodings such asUTF-8 andUTF-16 can be used. The Polish alphabet is completely included in theBasic Multilingual Plane of Unicode.ISO 8859-2 (Latin-2),ISO 8859-13 (Latin-7),ISO 8859-16 (Latin-10) andWindows-1250 are popular 8-bit encodings that support the Polish alphabet.

The Polish letters which are not present in theEnglish alphabet use the followingHTML character entities^[6] andUnicode codepoints:^[7][8]

For other encodings, see the following table. Numbers in the table arehexadecimal.

A common test sentence containing all the Polish diacritic letters is the nonsensical "Zażółć gęślą jaźń".

• Polish Braille
• Polish manual alphabet

• Sadowska, Iwona (2012).Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar.Oxford;New York City:Routledge.ISBN 978-0-415-47541-9.

• Polish Pronunciation Audio and Grammar ChartsArchived 2012-06-29 at theWayback Machine
• Online editor for typing Polish characters

• Polish language
• Polish orthography
• Indo-European Latin-script orthographies

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