# Adding a pause
<a name="break-tag"></a>

*<break>*

This tag is supported by generative, long-form, neural, and standard TTS formats.

To add a pause to your text, use the <break> tag. You can set a pause based on strength (equivalent to the pause after a comma, a sentence, or a paragraph), or you can set it to a specific length of time in seconds or milliseconds. If you don't specify an attribute to determine the pause length, Amazon Polly uses the default, which is `<break strength="medium"/>`, which adds a pause the length of a pause after a comma.

`strength` attribute values:
+ `none`: No pause. Use `none` to remove a normally occurring pause, such as after a period.
+ `x-weak`: Has the same strength as `none`, no pause.
+ `weak`: Sets a pause of the same duration as the pause after a comma.
+ `medium`: Has the same strength as `weak`.
+ `strong`: Sets a pause of the same duration as the pause after a sentence. 
+ `x-strong`: Sets a pause of the same duration as the pause after a paragraph. 

`time` attribute values:
+ `[number]s`: The duration of the pause, in seconds. The maximum duration is `10s`.
+ `[number]ms`: The duration of the pause, in milliseconds. The maximum duration is `10000ms`.

For example:

```
<speak>
     Mary had a little lamb <break time="3s"/>Whose fleece was white as snow.
</speak>
```



If you don't use an attribute with the `break` tag, the result varies depending on text:
+ If there is no other punctuation next to the `break` tag, it creates a `<break strength="medium"/>` (comma-length pause).
+ If the tag is next to a comma, it upgrades the tag to a `<break strength="strong"/>` (sentence-length pause).
+ If the tag is next to a period, it upgrades the tag to `<break strength="x-strong"/>` (paragraph-length pause).