Stakeholder derived content: audio
In the 3rd year simple sentences become more complex as children show early signs of understanding adult grammar. They begin to use tenses other than the present tense for example "I kicked it". The sentences they produce become more complex. By the age of 3, most children learn new words quickly and can follow two-part instructions, such as 'wash your face and comb your hair'.
They start to use plurals and form short complete sentences. And most of the time their speech can be understood by others outside of their family. In particular why? and what? and who? become popular questions. An important feature of questions is that they enable children to learn new things.
Select the image to hear a 3 year old speaking and the button below to find out more.
- typical speech at 3 years
- knows chief parts of body and should be able to indicate these if not by name
- handles 3 word sentences easily
- has a vocabulary of 900-1000 words
- understands most simple questions dealing with his environment and activities
- should be able to state her sex, name, age
- by 3 ½ years a child’s speech should be mainly intelligible, even to strangers, if not refer for assessment