Yes/no question intonation
You may let your pitch rise across the sentence but then dip or fall slightly right at the very end, following a common Spanish rise-fall pattern for yes/no questions.
What you probably do
You may let your pitch rise across the sentence but then dip or fall slightly right at the very end, following a common Spanish rise-fall pattern for yes/no questions.
How natives do it
Americans keep the pitch climbing continuously through the last stressed syllable of the question and hold it high at the very end, without any closing fall back down.
Why it matters
A falling tail can make your question sound like it's turning into a statement, which sometimes causes listeners to miss that you were actually asking something and to wait for you to continue instead of answering.
How the mouth differs
Spanish yes/no questions often rise across the sentence and then fall slightly at the very end (or rise steadily in some varieties), while General American English typically rises continuously through the final stressed syllable and stays high, without the closing fall Spanish tends to add.
Listen for the pattern
Adding a small final fall, as Spanish intonation habits suggest, can make an English yes/no question sound like it's turning into a statement partway through, occasionally leaving listeners unsure whether a real question was being asked.
Try these sentences
- Are you coming to the party?pitch rises steadily and keeps climbing through 'PARty', ending noticeably high
- Did you finish the report?pitch stays relatively level until it rises sharply on the final stressed syllable 'rePORT'
Reader ratings and feedback are coming soon.
Sources (2)
- Wells, J.C. (1982). Accents of English.
- Hualde, J.I. (2005). The Sounds of Spanish. Cambridge University Press.