English Words ending 'al'

You can take many English words that end 'al' and transfer them into Polish simply by adding 'ny' to the end of the English word but knowing how to pronounce the letters is crucial

Transfer

To transfer an English word that ends 'al' into Polish we add 'ny'.

  • Normal - Normalny
  • Legal - Legalny
  • Universal - Uniwersalny

Note in 'Uniwersalny' we use a 'w' instead of a 'v'. Polish does not have the letter 'v', 'w' makes this sound instead.

Thinking Brain

Listen to the Polish words in the section above again to hear the pronounciation. Polish letters always sound the same and Polish is written as it is spoken

  • o as in orbit
  • a as in apple
  • e as in elephant
  • u as in university

Now whenever you see these letters in a word you will know how to pronounce them.

Graduation Cap

Listen again to hear which part of the word is emphasized.

  • Normalny
  • Legalny
  • Uniwersalny

It's always the penultimate syllable. This is true of all Polish words with two or more syllables.

Think out the Polish

If we can get the Polish for English words ending 'al' by adding 'ny' to the end, how would you spell these words in Polish?

(Answers are case sensitive!)

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

Legal
q1|Legalny

Normal
q1|Normalny

Formal
q1|Formalny

Fatal
q1|Fatalny

Ideal
q1|Idealny

Minimal
q1|Minimalny

Match the English and Polish words

English words ending 'al' don't always transfer perfectly. Sometimes we need to change a letter here and there

Click/Tap to match the English and Polish pairs

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

Specjalny
Special
Virtual
Universal
Uniwersalny
Wirtualny

Word Emphasise

In Polish which syllable of the word normally gets emphasized when spoken?

Select the correct answer from the following: