Syllable Stress 1

Fortunately, the English language doesn’t use accents. But there are many words in the English language that when pronounced a certain way have a different meaning. This often happens with certain two-syllable words. Often by stressing one of the two syllables, the word is either a noun or a verb. For instance…

desert 

DEsert (emphasis on the first syllable) is a noun meaning an arid place.

Di-SERT (emphasis on the second syllable) is a verb meaning to abandon.

Here are some more examples of these words (with the Spanish phonetics in the noun/verb columns):

NOUN meaning VERB meaning 1 address A-dres dirección a-DRES dirigir 2 contract CON-tract contrato con-TRACT contraer 3 discount DIS-kaunt discuento dis-KAUNT discartar 4 excuse EKS-kius excusa eks-KIUS perdonar 5 object OB-dchekt objeto ob-DCHEKT oponerse 6 polish PO-lisch polaco pa-LISH sacar brillo 7 present PRE-sent regalo pri-TSENT presentar 8 recall RI-kal retirada ri-KAL recordar 9 record RE-kord archivo ri-KORD grabar 10 subject SAB-dchekt tema sab-DCHEKT someter

Try to pronounce each word, first stressing the first syllable as a noun and then the second one as a verb. Now listen to the recording below. 






Can you see the difference a little emphasis here or there can make?!