August 8, 2025 • 10 mins
Sentence stress. It’s not the kind of stress, that keeps you up at night. And in fact, it’s not anything bad at all. It’s an essential part of English!
And when I say sentence stress, I’m not talking about being stressed out about learning grammar. I’m talking about how we say certain words louder, longer, or more clearly — and how that changes the feeling, and sometimes even the meaning, of what we’re saying.
Use m free AI English Tutor HERE
Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/transcript
Visit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/
And when I say sentence stress, I’m not talking about being stressed out about learning grammar. I’m talking about how we say certain words louder, longer, or more clearly — and how that changes the feeling, and sometimes even the meaning, of what we’re saying.
Use m free AI English Tutor HERE
Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/transcript
Visit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sentence stress. It's not the kind of stress that keeps
you up at night, and in fact, it's not anything
bad at all. It's an essential part of English. So
let's dive right in.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
This is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight fifty five, Speaking
Naturally sentence stress and emphasis. Hello and welcome, Thanks for
(00:55):
tuning in. Today we're going to look at another part
of speaking naturally in English, something native speakers do all
the time, but many learners never get taught in class,
and that is sentence stress. And when I say sentence stress,
(01:19):
I'm not talking about being stressed out about learning grammar.
I'm talking about how we say certain words louder, longer,
or more clearly, and how that changes the feeling and
sometimes even the meaning of what we're saying. Okay, let's
(01:44):
jump in first. What is sentence stress anyway? Well, in English,
we don't stress every word the same that would sound robotic. Instead,
we naturally stress the important words, the words that carry meaning.
So what kinds of words get stressed? Well, in most cases,
(02:10):
it's the verbs and nouns because they carry the meaning.
Think of the verb as the action and the noun
as the thing doing or receiving the action. Like in
the sentence I bought a computer at the store, the
action is bought and the things involved are computer and store.
(02:35):
So these are the words that get stressed. The little
words like I uh at are not as important for
the meaning, so they stay unstressed. We don't say I
bought a computer at the store with all the words stress.
(02:56):
We say I bought a computer at the store, bought
computer store. The keywords are bought, computer and store, and
those are the keywords that make up the thought groups.
I talked about those in episode eight fifty three, so
(03:20):
if you missed it, I'd suggest you check that out.
I bought a computer at the store. So why does
all of this matter? Because stress gives rhythm to English,
and when you understand sentence stress, you'll sound more natural,
(03:43):
understand native speakers more easily, and you can even change
the meaning of a sentence by shifting the stress. Let
me show you how. Let's try this sentence. I don't
think she's the prettiest girl here. It's eight words, and
(04:04):
it has eight different meanings depending on which word you stress.
Here we go. I don't think she's the prettiest girl here,
not me. Maybe someone else thinks that, but I don't.
I don't think she's the prettiest girl here. I don't
(04:26):
think so. I disagree with that idea. I don't think
she's the prettiest girl here. I don't think so. I'm
not sure. Maybe she is, or maybe she's not. I
don't think she's the prettiest girl here, not her. Maybe
someone else is prettier. I don't think she's the prettiest
(04:51):
girl here. I mean she's not the prettiest. Maybe she's
one of the prettiest, but not the prettiest girl girl here.
I don't think she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe she's
the smartest or the most talented, but not the prettiest.
(05:13):
I don't think she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe someone else,
not necessarily a girl stands out more. And finally, I
don't think she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe she's the
prettiest somewhere else, but certainly not here in this place.
(05:35):
So you see how that works. It's the same sentence
eight totally different feelings and meanings just by shifting the
stress from one word to the next. So how can
you practice this? Here are a few ideas. First of all,
(05:56):
record yourself reading a sentence and emphasize different words. Try
it with this sentence, she told me to call him yesterday.
Emphasize she then me. Then call then yesterday and hear
the difference. She told me to call him yesterday. She
(06:20):
told me to call him yesterday. She told me to
call him yesterday. She told me to call him yesterday.
See you hear the difference there. The next thing you
can do is shadowing. Shadow native speakers repeat after them
and match the rhythm and the stress. Don't just repeat
(06:43):
the words, repeat the music, repeat the rhythm, repeat the stress,
and read with intention. Read with intention. Choose one sentence
and decide what's the most important word in this sentence.
Stress that one and de emphasize the rest. Okay, and
(07:05):
here's a mini challenge for you. Try this sentence, we
can meet after lunch if you want. Now say in
a few different ways, emphasize we we can meet after
lunch if you want. Maybe it's not them, it's us.
Emphasize meet. We can meet after lunch if you want,
(07:27):
not call, not message meet, emphasize after lunch. We can
meet after lunch if you want, not before lunch, not
after breakfast. Right, emphasize if you want maybe it's optional. Right,
we can meet after lunch if you want. Okay. So
(07:50):
each version changes the feel of the sentence, and that's
exactly what native speakers do without thinking. Okay, let's reach.
English has sentence stress. We stress content words like verbs
and nouns. Changing the stress can actually change the meaning
(08:11):
to sound more natural. Practice rhythm, not speed, shadowing, and
repetition help build this skill. So remember, fluency isn't about
speaking faster, It's about sounding natural, and sentence stress is
a huge part of that. If you try this out,
(08:33):
let me know how it goes. Come find me on
Instagram at Happy English and Why, or leave a comment
here on the blog. Thanks for hanging out with me
today and until next time, keep practicing, keep stressing the
right words, and keep it cool. And if you really
want to get more practice using your English, well, you
(08:57):
should join my podcast Learner's Study Group. There you can
make new international friends. Join us for live group lessons
every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus
you get access to the PDF, transcript and audio download
for every Happy English podcast in the past and in
(09:20):
the future. And on top of that, each episode has
exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking
and writing checked by me. To learn more, just visit
Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight fifty five. Remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
(09:43):
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy
Speak English,
Sentence stress. It's not the kind of stress that keeps
you up at night, and in fact, it's not anything
bad at all. It's an essential part of English. So
let's dive right in.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
This is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight fifty five, Speaking
Naturally sentence stress and emphasis. Hello and welcome, Thanks for
(00:55):
tuning in. Today we're going to look at another part
of speaking naturally in English, something native speakers do all
the time, but many learners never get taught in class,
and that is sentence stress. And when I say sentence stress,
(01:19):
I'm not talking about being stressed out about learning grammar.
I'm talking about how we say certain words louder, longer,
or more clearly, and how that changes the feeling and
sometimes even the meaning of what we're saying. Okay, let's
(01:44):
jump in first. What is sentence stress anyway? Well, in English,
we don't stress every word the same that would sound robotic. Instead,
we naturally stress the important words, the words that carry meaning.
So what kinds of words get stressed? Well, in most cases,
(02:10):
it's the verbs and nouns because they carry the meaning.
Think of the verb as the action and the noun
as the thing doing or receiving the action. Like in
the sentence I bought a computer at the store, the
action is bought and the things involved are computer and store.
(02:35):
So these are the words that get stressed. The little
words like I uh at are not as important for
the meaning, so they stay unstressed. We don't say I
bought a computer at the store with all the words stress.
(02:56):
We say I bought a computer at the store, bought
computer store. The keywords are bought, computer and store, and
those are the keywords that make up the thought groups.
I talked about those in episode eight fifty three, so
(03:20):
if you missed it, I'd suggest you check that out.
I bought a computer at the store. So why does
all of this matter? Because stress gives rhythm to English,
and when you understand sentence stress, you'll sound more natural,
(03:43):
understand native speakers more easily, and you can even change
the meaning of a sentence by shifting the stress. Let
me show you how. Let's try this sentence. I don't
think she's the prettiest girl here. It's eight words, and
(04:04):
it has eight different meanings depending on which word you stress.
Here we go. I don't think she's the prettiest girl here,
not me. Maybe someone else thinks that, but I don't.
I don't think she's the prettiest girl here. I don't
(04:26):
think so. I disagree with that idea. I don't think
she's the prettiest girl here. I don't think so. I'm
not sure. Maybe she is, or maybe she's not. I
don't think she's the prettiest girl here, not her. Maybe
someone else is prettier. I don't think she's the prettiest
(04:51):
girl here. I mean she's not the prettiest. Maybe she's
one of the prettiest, but not the prettiest girl girl here.
I don't think she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe she's
the smartest or the most talented, but not the prettiest.
(05:13):
I don't think she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe someone else,
not necessarily a girl stands out more. And finally, I
don't think she's the prettiest girl here. Maybe she's the
prettiest somewhere else, but certainly not here in this place.
(05:35):
So you see how that works. It's the same sentence
eight totally different feelings and meanings just by shifting the
stress from one word to the next. So how can
you practice this? Here are a few ideas. First of all,
(05:56):
record yourself reading a sentence and emphasize different words. Try
it with this sentence, she told me to call him yesterday.
Emphasize she then me. Then call then yesterday and hear
the difference. She told me to call him yesterday. She
(06:20):
told me to call him yesterday. She told me to
call him yesterday. She told me to call him yesterday.
See you hear the difference there. The next thing you
can do is shadowing. Shadow native speakers repeat after them
and match the rhythm and the stress. Don't just repeat
(06:43):
the words, repeat the music, repeat the rhythm, repeat the stress,
and read with intention. Read with intention. Choose one sentence
and decide what's the most important word in this sentence.
Stress that one and de emphasize the rest. Okay, and
(07:05):
here's a mini challenge for you. Try this sentence, we
can meet after lunch if you want. Now say in
a few different ways, emphasize we we can meet after
lunch if you want. Maybe it's not them, it's us.
Emphasize meet. We can meet after lunch if you want,
(07:27):
not call, not message meet, emphasize after lunch. We can
meet after lunch if you want, not before lunch, not
after breakfast. Right, emphasize if you want maybe it's optional. Right,
we can meet after lunch if you want. Okay. So
(07:50):
each version changes the feel of the sentence, and that's
exactly what native speakers do without thinking. Okay, let's reach.
English has sentence stress. We stress content words like verbs
and nouns. Changing the stress can actually change the meaning
(08:11):
to sound more natural. Practice rhythm, not speed, shadowing, and
repetition help build this skill. So remember, fluency isn't about
speaking faster, It's about sounding natural, and sentence stress is
a huge part of that. If you try this out,
(08:33):
let me know how it goes. Come find me on
Instagram at Happy English and Why, or leave a comment
here on the blog. Thanks for hanging out with me
today and until next time, keep practicing, keep stressing the
right words, and keep it cool. And if you really
want to get more practice using your English, well, you
(08:57):
should join my podcast Learner's Study Group. There you can
make new international friends. Join us for live group lessons
every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus
you get access to the PDF, transcript and audio download
for every Happy English podcast in the past and in
(09:20):
the future. And on top of that, each episode has
exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking
and writing checked by me. To learn more, just visit
Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight fifty five. Remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
(09:43):
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy
Speak English,
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