English language

The stress in the word

To speak a language very well, it’s important to place the stress
correctly in its place in order to avoid misunderstandings.
Practically, there are few rules to know which syllable may be stressed. 
In most cases, we have to learn by practicing, step by step.
The words with one syllable are not stressed. But actually, nouns, verbs, 
adjectives, adverbs with one syllable are stressed in the sentence. Whereas, 
articles, pronouns, prepositions,conjunctions and auxiliaries are not stressed.
In a word with more than one syllable, one syllable has a strong stress. 
The other syllables have weaker stress or no stress.

 Here are the rules:

 Most words have strong stress on the first syllable.
In a word with more than one syllable, a syllable has a 
strong stress, the other syllables have weaker stress or no stress.
Unstressed syllables very often have the sound [e].

Some words have the stress in the middle:
Examples:
Ame’rica, tomo’rrow, conse’rvation , con’fusion
                       
 Words ending in "ian", "ion", "ic" , "ics", "ical", or "ically":
have the stress on the syllable just before these endings 
(stressed on the penultimate syllable = second from the end)
Examples:
Chri’stian, physi’cian, sta’tion, sess’ion, condi’tion, Idioma’tic, 
Mathema’tics, chem’ical, typ’ically, ...

 Words ending in "ty", "cy", "phy", "gy,  "al", "ally" or "ate":
have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable  (third syllable  
from the end or before the last one in this word)
Examples:
Vari’ety, Abi’lity, Vari’ety, demo’cracy, geo’graphy, bi’ology, 
interna’tional, typ’ically, App’reciate, …

For compound words, the stress is on the first part for 
nouns and on the second part for verbs and adjectives:
Examples:
Butter’fly , foresee’, troublesome’ , …

 Words ending on "able" are pronounced [e:] bl
Examples:
Syllable, comfortable, 

 Words ending in "ative" are pronounced [e:] tiv
Examples:
Comparative, superlative, 

 Words ending in "tional" have the stress on the syllable 
just before this ending.
Examples:
Condi’tional, interna’tional

 Words ending in "ate" are stressed on the third 
syllable before the last one in this word.
Examples:
App’reciate, appropriate, ...

 
 Even nouns and verbs with two syllables  have  the same spelling, 
the stress doesn’t occur in the same syllable. 

For nouns and adjectives: the first syllable is stressed,
Examples:
Si’ster, bro’ther, fa’ther, wa’ter, li’sten, se’ven, be’tter, an’swer, 
Sa’turday, brea’kfast, 


beau’tiful, hea’vy, stin’gy, sea’my 

For verbs: the last (second) syllable is stressed.
Examples:

Base
   Noun  
 verb
Record 
 Re’cord   
 Reco’rd



Others:
Be’gin, de’cide, for’get, re’peat, pro’nounce, under’stand, …
con'duct,  Ad'dict, Pro'test, Pro'gress, Per'mit, Inc'rease, con'flict, 
de'sert, con'tract



More about the stress in a two-syllable noun 
and a verb with the same spelling:

The [syllable’] is stressed.

Base
Noun
verb
Record 
 Re’cord   
 Reco’rd
Conduct 
Con’duct
   Condu’ct
Addict  
Ad’dict 
  Ad’dict
Protest
 Pro’test 
  Prote’st
Progress
Pro’gress
Progre’ss 
       
Permit 
  Pe’rmit  
   Permi’t
Increase
  In’crease  
 Increa’se
Conflict 
 Con’flict  
 Confli’ct
Desert  
 De’sert   
  Dese’rt
Contract 
Con’tract 
 Contra’ct   
     
Object 
 O’bject  
  Obje’ct
Subject
 Sub’ject  
Subje’ct
Convict
 Con’vict  
 Convi’ct   
       
Defect 
De’fect  
  Defe’ct
Insult  
I’nsult 
 Insu’lt
Present 
 Pre’sent  
  Prese’nt
Produce
 Pro’duce  
  Produ’ce
Rebel  
Re’bel 
 Rebe’l
Project 
 Pro’ject   
 Proje’ct
Suspect 
S’uspect   
 Suspe’ct


Desert: accent on first syllable: noun: A dry or empty region.
Desert: accent on last syllable: verb: to leave.
Dessert: accent on last syllable: noun: something sweet at 
the end of a meal.