Word Stress
Every English word has one strong syllable. Where it falls, the rules that help, and words that change meaning when it moves.
සිංහලෙන් වචනයක හැම අක්ෂරයක්ම වගේ එක සමානව කියනවා. ඉංග්රීසියේ එක අක්ෂරයක් ශක්තිමත්ව, දිගට කියනවා, අනිත් ඒවා ලිහිල්ව. Dictionary එකේ ˈ ලකුණට පස්සේ තියෙන අක්ෂරය තමයි බර අක්ෂරය. බර වැරදුනොත් ශබ්ද හරි වුණත් අහන කෙනාට වචනය අඳුනගන්න අමාරුයි.
Native speakers recognise a word by its stress more than by its sounds. If you say hotel with the stress on HO, they may not catch it, even when every sound is right. If you get the stress right, small mistakes in the sounds hardly matter.
How to hear it
Clap on the strong syllable, or tap the table. ba-NA-na: one tap, on NA. Then say it with the weak syllables short and soft: /bə-ˈnɑː-nə/.
Rules that help
There are exceptions, but these work most of the time.
| Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives: stress the first | TEAcher, WINdow, HAPpy, MOdern |
| Most two-syllable verbs: stress the second | beGIN, deCIDE, reLAX, exPLAIN |
| Words ending -tion, -sion, -ic, -ical: stress the syllable before | inforMAtion, deCIsion, eCOnomic, poLItical |
| Words ending -ity, -graphy, -ology: stress two before | elecTRIcity, phoTOgraphy, biOlogy |
| Compound nouns: stress the first part | BUS stop, POST office, BIRTHday |
Names don't follow the rules. For a name, copy how its owner says it.
Same spelling, different stress
Some words are a noun with the stress on the first syllable and a verb with the stress on the second.
Noun or verb?
- REcord · reCORDnoun · verb
- PREsent · preSENTnoun · verb
- PROtest · proTESTnoun · verb
- EXport · exPORTnoun · verb
- Sri Lanka exPORTS tea. Tea is our main EXport.
Words we often stress wrong
Check these
- hotel /həʊˈtel/ho·TEL
- museum /mjuˈziːəm/mu·SE·um
- event /ɪˈvent/e·VENT
- development /dɪˈveləpmənt/de·VE·lop·ment
- calendar /ˈkælɪndə/CA·len·dar
- explain /ɪkˈspleɪn/ex·PLAIN
Quick check
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Where is the stress in hotel?
Where is the stress in photographer?
Please the meeting. (verb)
Where is the stress in information?
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