American Accent Training: English Words with the -IAL Suffix

In this lesson you’ll learn a quick tip that will help you with lots of English words: how to pronounce the suffix or word ending -ial.

This one can be tricky because there are two different pronunciations and you need to know when to use which one. We’ll also talk about how this word ending impacts the stress of English words and practice several -ial words in sentences together.

Key Takeaways:

1) This suffix is pronounced 2 different ways:  with 2 syllables, /i/ + /l/ (eel), or with just one as /l/ (Dark L).

2) If the sound before the suffix is /ʃ/ (SH) the suffix will be pronounced as one syllable /l/ (Dark L).

3) With this suffix, the primary word stress falls on the syllable right before the suffix.

Practice words and sentences used in this lesson:

Beneficial

This is really beneficial.

Serial (series)

He’s a serial offender.

Potential

The property has a lot of potential.

Social

It’s all over social media.

Official

Now it’s official.

Managerial

I’m looking for a managerial position.

Initial

What are your initial impressions?

Millennial

Everyone has an opinion about millennials.

Special

It’s really special to me.

Financial

She’s a financial advisor.

Memorial

There’s going to be a memorial next month.

Colonial

It’s a gorgeous, colonial style home.

Essential

This is really essential.

Artificial

It’s full of artificial flavors.

Testimonial

Several people shared very positive testimonials.

Remedial

He’ll need to complete a few remedial classes.

Presidential

The next presidential election should be very interesting.

Substantial

There was a substantial difference before and after.

Commercial

That commercial makes me cry.

Influential

She’s a very influential person.

Material

What type of material is this?

Editorial

She wrote an editorial for the magazine.