{"id":4354,"date":"2021-04-06T10:23:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T17:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/english-speaking\/?p=4354"},"modified":"2021-04-06T12:02:21","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T19:02:21","slug":"how-to-pronounce-words-that-end-in-inal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/english-speaking\/how-to-pronounce-words-that-end-in-inal\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Pronounce Words that End in -INAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are over 600 adjectives in the English language that end in <\/span>-inal. <\/span><\/i>What does this<\/span> suffix mean? The -inal<\/em> suffix after a root word means \u201crelating to.\u201d For example, medicinal<\/em> means “relating to medicine.” The tricky part is that some <\/span>-inal<\/span><\/i> words often get long (one of them is 23 letters long!) because they are latinate (of Latin origin). Long words are often the trickiest to pronounce, right?\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at a rule that will help you out next time you have to pronounce a word that ends in -inal<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rules on how to pronounce –inal<\/em> words:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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  1. Place the syllable stress on the syllable just before the <\/span>-inal<\/span><\/i> combination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. To pronounce these words naturally, you should also pronounce the \u201ci\u201d and \u201ca\u201d as schwas. Both vowels take on a schwa sound<\/a> because they\u2019re not stressed.\u00a0 For example, abdominal<\/em> sounds like \/ahb-DOM-uh-nuhl\/\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Examples to practice with:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

    Here is a list of some common words that end in -inal<\/em>. Practice saying them out loud, following the 2 guidelines above. Then, listen to the audio to compare your pronunciation to that of a native speaker.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n