# Pronunciation



## MathiasSWE

Hey all,

Okay, so Finnish words are *always* pronounced with the stress on the first syllable. Then how on earth do I pronounce words like *aatteellisuus* and *kansantaloustiede*? It feels as if i have to push every double-letter to seperate them from their short counterparts and push every part of a compound word to be able to actually pronounce it. 

Help XD

Thanks!


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## Hakro

Hi Mathias,

In compound words like _kansan+talous+tiede_ there is a secondary stress on the first syllable of every following part. The secondary stresses are clearly weaker than the first one.

I'm sure you can pronounce the long vowels in words like _aatteellisuus_ also without stress. These _aa - ee - uu_ are pronounced in a quite similar way as in an invented Swedish word _alnäsbo_ that has the stress only on the first syllable (at least in Finland's Swedish); the Finnish long vowels are a bit longer than the Swedish ones.

I hope that this explanation helps you a little.


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## MathiasSWE

Thank you!

I can pronounce the long vowels easily, but in words like *aatteellisuus*, which is filled with both long vowels and double consonants, I'm not quite sure how to pronounce the word. I mean, I feel that I somehow have to put a weaker stress on ever syllable just to make it clear that there are long vowels and double consonants


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## berndf

Speakers of Germanic languages have a natural resistance against pronouncing long vowels in unstressed syllables. I have the same problem, e.g. when pronouncing Latin "status" (plural with a long "u" but stress remains on the first syllable as in the singular with a short "u"). Languages like Finnish prove that it is possible to dissociate vowel length and stress. Just our (speakers of Germanic languages) brains seem to be wired this way.


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