Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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My best advice is to try to hear that language like music. Repeat the language exactly how it’s said and get really good at observing. Consider recording yourself and comparing it to the native speaker’s example and see how similar or different it sounds. Don’t worry too much about all the rules, because there are many.

Nouns and Adjectives
Stress is often on the first syllable of 2 syllable words

Present
Produce
Table
Happy
Hungry

Verbs
Stress is often on the last syllable of 2 syllable words

Present
Produce
Import
Converse


Nouns ending in ~tion and ~sion
Stress is on the syllable before this suffix

Television
Intermission
Globalisation

Compound nouns
Stress on the first word

Bedroom
Water tank
Haircut
Motorbike


Words that end in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy
Stress the third-from-last syllable of:
(examples: deMOCracy, unCERtainty, geOGraphy, radiOLogy)


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