You can say every sound in a word correctly and still not be understood, because the stress is in the wrong place. Americans recognize words mostly by their stress pattern. Learners often put the stress where it falls in a similar word in their own language, or they give every syllable equal weight. In this episode: • One word family, three patterns • Endings that move the stress • Noun or verb? listen to the stress • Compound nouns: stress the first part • Tricky home words • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: photograph (FOH-duh-graf) — a picture taken with a camera photography (fuh-TAH-gruh-fee) — the art or hobby of taking pictures photographic (foh-duh-GRAF-ik) — about photos, as in a photographic memory photographer (fuh-TAH-gruh-fer) — the person who takes pictures a REcord — a written or saved file (noun); to reCORD — to save sound or video (verb) a PREsent — a gift (noun); to preSENT — to show or give formally (verb) an OBject — a thing (noun); to obJECT — to say you disagree (verb) a PERmit — an official paper (noun); to perMIT — to allow (formal verb) an INcrease — a rise (noun); to inCREASE — to go up (verb) a REfund — money back (noun); to reFUND — to give money back (verb) an UPdate — new information (noun); to upDATE — to make current (verb) a GREENhouse — a glass building for plants a green HOUSE — a house painted green a HOT dog — a sausage in a bun a hot DOG — a dog that feels too hot a HIGH chair — a baby's tall seat for meals a high CHAIR — any tall chair hotel (hoh-TEL) — stress at the end shampoo (sham-POO) — stress at the end Season 2 · Real American English: the complete spoken course for learners worldwide — accent, everyday grammar, prepositions, articles, phrasal verbs, idioms, slang and real conversations at home. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.