stress

A syllable is a part of a word with one vowel sound: wa-ter has two syllables, ba-na-na has three. In every word with more than one syllable, one syllable is stressed. You say it louder, longer and a little higher. Here the stressed syllable is in capital letters.

The dictionary shows stress with a small mark ˈ before the stressed syllable: /ˈtiːtʃə/ for teacher.

Where the stress goes

Many two-syllable nouns and adjectives have the stress on the first syllable: MOR-ning, WA-ter, HAP-py. Many two-syllable verbs have it on the second: be-GIN, for-GET, de-CIDE.

Words that end in -tion have the stress just before it: STA-tion, in-for-MA-tion. In longer words the stress can move when the word changes: PHO-to-graph, pho-TO-gra-pher.

Weak forms

In a sentence, the words that carry the meaning are stressed: nouns, main verbs, adjectives. Small words like a, an, the, to, of, and, for, at and can usually aren't. They get a short, soft "uh" sound, called schwa (/ə/ in the dictionary).

• a: a cup of tea sounds like "uh CUP uv TEA"
• to: I want to go sounds like "I WANT tuh GO"
• of: a lot of people sounds like "uh LOT uv PEO-ple"
• and: fish and chips sounds like "FISH n CHIPS"
• can: I can swim sounds like "I kn SWIM"

The sounds like "thuh" before a consonant sound and like "thee" before a vowel sound: the book, the apple.

Strong forms

A small word is strong when it's alone, at the end of a sentence, or when you stress it on purpose.

Can't is always strong: I CAN'T swim.

Common mistakes

Stress on the wrong syllable can make a word hard to understand.

• × HO-tel → ho-TEL
• × com-FOR-ta-ble → COM-for-ta-ble (often said "KUMF-tuh-bl")
• × ba-na-NA → ba-NA-na

Giving every word the same strength – "I. WANT. TO. GO." – sounds slow and heavy. Say the small words quickly.