Voice · guidance updated 4 Oct 2026
ElevenLabs prompt guide
Eleven v4 (eleven_v4; eleven_v4_turbo for real time) is the current flagship, with better audio tags, cloning and 90+ languages than v3. It has no SSML and no Style or Speed sliders, only Stability and Similarity; use tags and punctuation for delivery.
How to prompt ElevenLabs
- Write only the words to be spoken, and steer delivery with inline [square-bracket] audio tags placed just before the words they affect.
- Use emotion and delivery tags such as [excited], [curious], [sarcastic], [whispers], [mischievously], [crying].
- Use non-verbal tags such as [laughs], [laughs harder], [starts laughing], [sighs], [exhales], [snorts], [gulps], [wheezing].
- Add sound-effect or accent tags where needed: [applause], [gunshot], [explosion], [strong British accent], [sings].
- Pace with punctuation: ellipses (…) for pauses and weight, CAPS for emphasis.
- Pick a voice whose natural style matches the tags you'll use; off-style tags work less reliably.
- Use tags only for things you can hear, not visual stage directions like [standing] or [grinning].
- For multi-speaker dialogue, put each speaker on their own line and assign them distinct voices.
- Don't change the script wording to fit tags in, and don't stack contradictory tags.
- For sound effects, describe the source, material, action and space concretely, with sequences joined by 'then'.
- Use audio terms for SFX: impact, whoosh, ambience, one-shot, loop, braam, glitch, drone; add BPM for musical loops.
The shape of a good prompt
TTS: [emotion/delivery tag] [Line one]… [non-verbal tag] [Line two with KEY word emphasized]. (Dialogue: Speaker A: [tag] line / Speaker B: [tag] line) SFX: [Sound source + material + action], [environment/space], [character: one-shot/loop/impact], [then: follow-up sound]
Avoid
- SSML <break> tags (not supported in v4)
- Visual or stage-direction tags ([pacing], [smiling])
- Narration like 'she said excitedly' (it gets spoken aloud)
- Contradictory tags on the same line
- Vague SFX prompts ('cool sound')
Example
Request an excited announcement that the cafe is reopening
[excited] Guess what? After three long months… we're BACK! [laughs] The doors open this Saturday at eight. [whispers] And the first coffee… is on us. [cheerfully] See you there!
