Learn English Pronunciation: Syllable Stress

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Syllable Stress: Prefixes

With prefixes, the rule is simple: usually you will not stress a prefix. Americans only stress the prefix if its meaning is especially important. For instance, in the word "dehydrated," we will speak "de" clearly because in this word, the idea of not being hydrated is important. The 2nd syllable is stressed, but "de" is almost stressed too. However, most of the time, prefixes are not stressed at all. Very often, the stress falls on the next syllable.

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Examples

Word	Syllable Stress Pronunciation
allow	u-LOU
arrive	u-RĪV
apply	u-PLĪ
abuse	u-BYOOZ
commit	ku-MIT
exclude	ex-KLOOD
obtain	ub-TĀN
participate	par-TI-su-pāt
present	pre-ZENT
propose	pru-PŌZ
introduce	in-tru-DOOS

If a Word is Both a Noun and a Verb

In this case, often you stress the first syllable on the noun and the second syllable on the verb. This rule has many exceptions, though. For instance, the word "market" is both a noun and a verb and the syllable is the same for this word in both cases.

Noun	Verb
suspect	suspect
transport	transport
object	object
product	produce
progress	progress
conduct	conduct
record	record

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