Ona nie żyje.

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 :arrow_right: ś
  • zi :arrow_right: ź
  • ci :arrow_right: ć
  • ni :arrow_right: ń
  • dzi :arrow_right:

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 :arrow_right: :lips: ś - i - w’ - i - z - n - a
  • zima :arrow_right: :lips: ź - i - m - a
  • Cisna :arrow_right::lips: Ć - i - s - n - a
  • nikogo :arrow_right::lips: ń - i - k - o - g - o
  • dziwny :arrow_right: :lips: dź - i - w - n - y

2nd case

If a vowel follows, then it isn’t pronounced

  • siemię :arrow_right: :lips: ś - e -m - j - ę
  • ziarno :arrow_right: :lips: ź - a - r - n - o
  • ciemię :arrow_right::lips: ć - e - m - j - ę
  • niobian :arrow_right::lips: ń - o - b - j - a - n
  • dziatwa :arrow_right: :lips: 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 :lips: ń - e, the i softens the n and is removed. It’s the 2nd case.

References