English Translation
She is dead.
She does not live.
English Translation
She is dead.
She is dead.Are the “i” and “e” in “Nie” pronounced more like “nyeh” with a kind of ghostly “y” sound before the “e”? Or is the voice supposed to be pronouncing them separately? A bit deeper in the Polish cards for this one, but if anyone sees this, maybe they can chime in.
No.
Neither.
Palatalization
For some consonants, an i following them mutates them into their softer counterpart:
- si
ś - zi ź
- ci ć
- ni ń
- dzi dź
An i is pronounced or not depending on whether a consonant or a vowel follows.
1st case
If a consonant follows, then it is pronounced
- siwizna
ś - i - w’ - i - z - n - a - zima ź - i - m - a
- Cisna Ć - i - s - n - a
- nikogo ń - i - k - o - g - o
- dziwny dź - i - w - n - y
2nd case
If a vowel follows, then it isn’t pronounced
- siemię ś - e -m - j - ę
- ziarno ź - a - r - n - o
- ciemię ć - e - m - j - ę
- niobian ń - o - b - j - a - n
- dziatwa dź - a - t - w - a
Summary
And following most other consonants except for k, g, and j, an i mutates into the ghosty j you already mentioned (see the Wiktionary reference I linked).
So to answer your question, nie is pronounced as ń - e, the i softens the n and is removed. It’s the 2nd case.
References
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Your explanation really clarified the pronunciation distinction for me, thanks! Polish has a beautiful phonology full of exploration, especially with all the sibilant clustering.
To check my comprehension, Szczecin, for example, follows case 1 because the “n” proceeds the “ci”, resulting in “ci’s” transformation to “ć”.
I.e. Szczecin Szczećn
I will follow up with new questions once there is something that comes along with pronunciation nuance. Likely regarding the “Ł”. Thanks again!
Correct.
Correct.
Not quite. It’s Szczećin. Not only c is transformed into ć, but also you have to pronounce the i. That’s the difference between cases 1 and 2.
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