pron · A2
Word & sentence stress.
Stress is the heartbeat of English. Hit the wrong syllable and a word can become hard to understand — or change meaning entirely. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
One strong syllable per word
Longer words have one beat that’s louder, longer, and clearer. The rest relax (often to a schwa).
TEAcher · comPUter · baNAna · imPORtant
When stress changes meaning
Some words are a noun or a verb depending on the stress:
REcord (noun) vs reCORD (verb) · PREsent (gift) vs preSENT (to give)
Sentence stress — the important words
In a sentence, we stress content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and rush over function words (articles, prepositions, auxiliaries).
She WANTS to BUY a new CAR.
Weak forms
Little words shrink: “to” becomes /tə/, “and” becomes /ən/, “of” becomes /əv/. This rhythm is what makes speech sound natural rather than robotic.
fish and chips · cup of tea