How to Set the Pause Between Sentences and Paragraphs

, 08-09-2026

Every sentence and every paragraph in your text gets a pause. Set both for the whole text in Settings — from 150 ms to 30 seconds — and override any single spot with a <break> tag.

How it works · SpeechGen inserts silence after every sentence (default 300 ms) and after every paragraph (default 400 ms). Open Settings under the text box, find Pause Control and change either value — the whole text follows. Need one gap to be different? Type <break time="…"/> right there. Converting again after a pause change is free thanks to Smart Cache.
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Full walkthrough — type two paragraphs (where the sentence and paragraph pauses fall) → Settings → Pause Control shows the defaults (300 ms / 400 ms) → Convert as is and listen → 1000 ms between sentences, 3 sec between paragraphs → Convert again (0 credits) and compare the two waveforms → one 200 ms <break> override → Convert and compare.
01

Type your text

Write or paste the text. Press Enter twice to leave a blank line — that is what makes a new paragraph. Here: two short paragraphs, two sentences each.

Two different pauses live in that text. A sentence pause falls after every period — two of them here:

Editor with both pauses between sentences marked after the periods

The paragraph pause falls where you leave a blank line:

Editor with the pause between paragraphs marked on the blank line

Convert once with the default pauses first — you will hear the difference after the next steps.

02

Open Settings

Click Settings under the text box, just above the Convert button.

The Settings button under the text box
03

Find Pause Control

The panel has three groups. The middle one, Pause Control, holds two dropdowns: ① Pause for paragraphs and ② Pause for sentences. The values shown are the current defaults — 400 ms and 300 ms.

Settings panel with the Pause Control group: pause for paragraphs and pause for sentences
04

Set the pause between sentences

Open the Pause for sentences dropdown and pick a value. The list runs from 150 ms to 30 seconds; here we choose 1000 ms — a full second after every sentence.

Pause for sentences dropdown open with 1000 ms highlighted
05

Set the pause between paragraphs

Do the same in Pause for paragraphs — here 3 sec. Both values now show in the panel: ① 3 sec between paragraphs, ② 1000 ms between sentences. They apply to the whole text and stay until you change them.

Pause Control with 3 sec for paragraphs and 1000 ms for sentences

The paragraph pause is added on top of the sentence pause after the last sentence of a paragraph, so keep it equal to or longer than the sentence value.

06

Convert — and iterate for free

Click Convert to Speech. Every gap in the result now follows the new values.

Convert to Speech button

Changing only the pauses does not re-synthesize the voice: ① the re-render is charged 0 credits, ② Smart Cache reused 100% of the audio. Try several values until the pacing feels right — it costs nothing.

Result card showing 0 credits and Smart Cache 100%

Defaults and the range

Both dropdowns share the same list of values. 1 second = 1000 ms; values under a second are listed in milliseconds, longer ones in seconds.

300ms — default pause between sentences
400ms — default pause between paragraphs
22steps — from 150 ms up to 30 seconds

Steps: 150 · 200 · 250 · 300 · 350 · 400 · 450 · 500 · 600 · 700 · 800 · 900 · 1000 ms · 1.3 · 1.5 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 10 · 20 · 30 sec. The same two values are available through the API as pause_sentence and pause_paragraph (in milliseconds).

Hear the same text with two settings

press play on each
Defaultssentences 300 ms · paragraphs 400 ms · 6.4 s
Longer pausessentences 1000 ms · paragraphs 3 sec · 10.4 s

Override one spot with <break>

The global values apply everywhere. For a single gap that has to be different, put the SSML break tag right there — at the end of a sentence, at the start of the next one, or between them. At that spot the tag wins over the global setting.

<break time="200ms"/>
  • time="200ms" — the length of this one pause, in milliseconds (200ms) or seconds (1s, 2.5s). Minimum 150 ms.

In the walkthrough the global sentence pause is 1000 ms, but the two sentences of the first paragraph should run closer together. Typing <break time="200ms"/> right after the first one shortens just that gap.

A break tag typed between two sentences in the editor

Three places to put the tag

global pause 1 sec · break 200 ms
At the end of a sentenceOne<break time="200ms"/>. Two. Three
At the start of a sentenceOne. <break time="200ms"/>Two. Three
Between sentencesOne. <break time="200ms"/> Two. Three
All three sound the same: the gap between One and Two is 200 ms, while Two and Three keep the global 1 second. Set a long pause globally and shorten single spots — or keep a short global pause and stretch the moments that need air.

Pauses between paragraphs

A paragraph is anything separated by one or more line breaks. To change one paragraph gap only, put the break at the end of that paragraph — or on a line of its own: a line that holds just the tag counts as a paragraph too.

Three paragraphs, three ways

global paragraph pause 1 sec
Global value onlyevery paragraph gap = 1 sec
Break at the end of the first paragraph…two sentences.<break time="5s"/> → 5 s, then 1 s
Break on its own line<break time="7s"/> as a separate paragraph → 7 s, then 1 s
In the second and third examples the pause between the first and second paragraph is set by the tag (5 s and 7 s); the gap between the second and third paragraph stays at the global 1 second.

Which values to use

Starting points that work for most voices — adjust by ear, every re-render is free.

Audiobooks & storytelling

Room to breathe between thoughts; scene changes get a clear gap.

sentences 700–1000 ms · paragraphs 1.5–2 sec
News, ads & explainers

Tight, energetic delivery — the defaults are made for this.

sentences 300 ms · paragraphs 400–600 ms
IVR & phone menus

Give callers time to register each option before the next one.

sentences 500–800 ms · paragraphs 1–1.5 sec
Meditation, sleep & learning

Long silences let each instruction settle; use <break> for the longest ones.

sentences 2–3 sec · paragraphs 5–10 sec

The finished audio

The walkthrough text with 1000 ms between sentences, 3 sec between paragraphs and one 200 ms override.

Museum announcement

Amber · 1000 ms / 3 sec + one 200 ms break · ~10 sec
Open this example in the editor
For developers — the same settings via the API 
POST https://speechgen.io/index.php?r=api/text

{
  "token": "…", "email": "…",
  "voice": "Amber",
  "text": "Welcome to the city museum. The guided tour begins in five minutes.\n\nPhotography is allowed in every hall.<break time=\"200ms\"/> Flash is not.",
  "pause_sentence": 1000,
  "pause_paragraph": 3000
}
Made with SpeechGen.io · Global pauses live in Settings → Pause Control; single exceptions go in the text as <break>. For the pause icon, the SSML picker and more on breaks, see Pauses & Breaks.
intonation
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