---
title: "speak(_:)"
framework: avfaudio
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: "avfaudio/avspeechsynthesizer/speak(_:)"
---

# speak(_:)

Adds the utterance you specify to the speech synthesizer’s queue.

## Declaration

```swift
func speak(_ utterance: AVSpeechUtterance)
```

## Parameters

- `utterance`: An doc://com.apple.avfaudio/documentation/AVFAudio/AVSpeechUtterance instance that contains text to speak.

## Discussion

Discussion warning: Attempting to enqueue the same utterance more than once throws an exception.

## See Also

### Controlling speech

- [continueSpeaking()](avfaudio/avspeechsynthesizer/continuespeaking().md)
- [pauseSpeaking(at:)](avfaudio/avspeechsynthesizer/pausespeaking(at:).md)
- [stopSpeaking(at:)](avfaudio/avspeechsynthesizer/stopspeaking(at:).md)
- [AVSpeechBoundary](avfaudio/avspeechboundary.md)