Colleges pronunciation
Colleges has 3 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "kah". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Colleges syllables
Colleges has 3 syllables: KAH-lih-jihz.
- KAHkɑ
- lihlɪ
- jihzdʒɪz
KOL-ij-iz, three syllables, stress on the first. The plural adds a full "iz" syllable because "college" already ends in a "j" sound.
The -s ending adds a syllable, pronounced iz, because the base word ends in a hissing sound.
Sounds to watch
The l sound
Touch the tongue tip to the ridge behind your top teeth. At the end of a syllable the l is darker and the back of the tongue rises.
Short i versus ee
The short i (as in sit) is shorter and more relaxed than ee. Many learners stretch it into ee, which changes the word.
The ch and j sounds
Ch and j start with a full stop of the air (t or d) and release into sh or zh. Without the stop they collapse into sh and zh, and "cheap" becomes "sheep".
Colleges in a sentence
- Three colleges in the city share one library.
- She applied to five colleges and heard back from two.
Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.
What Speakeroo listens for
These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.
- Final -s ending unclearUse the correct /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/ ending and keep it audible.
- Stress placed on the wrong syllableMake the correct syllable longer, clearer and more prominent.
- Final consonant devoicedKeep the vocal folds vibrating through voiced endings such as /b/, /d/, /g/ and /z/.
- /ɪ/ and /iː/ confusedMake /iː/ higher, tenser and usually longer than /ɪ/.
- Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.
Questions
How do you pronounce colleges?
Colleges is pronounced /ˈkɑ.lɪ.dʒɪz/, or KAH-lih-jihz in plain letters. It has 3 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "kah".
How many syllables are in colleges?
3: KAH-lih-jihz. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use colleges in a sentence?
Three colleges in the city share one library. She applied to five colleges and heard back from two.
How is the ending of colleges pronounced?
The -s ending adds a syllable, pronounced iz, because the base word ends in a hissing sound.
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