diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 952fdce..bd1228b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@
 
 - Stop speech queues and cancel active system TTS when the bridge disconnects or the node exits. Thanks @SebTardif! (#7)
 - Forward only final speech transcripts to quick actions, voice events, and agent requests. Thanks @SebTardif! (#12)
+- Treat leading dashes in spoken text as words instead of espeak options. Thanks @SebTardif! (#11)
 - Cancel bridge dialing, pairing, and hello waits on SIGINT/SIGTERM. Thanks @SebTardif! (#6)
 - Interrupt bridge reconnect backoff promptly on SIGINT/SIGTERM. Thanks @SebTardif! (#5)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b299199..508dc8a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 go build -o /tmp/clawgo-linux-arm64 ./cmd/clawgo
 | `-chat-subscribe` | Enable chat stream+TTS (default `true`). |
 | `-tts-engine` | `system`, `piper`, `elevenlabs`, or `none` (system = `espeak-ng`). |
 | `-tts-system-voice` | espeak voice id (default `en-us`). |
+| `-tts-system-command` | espeak-compatible executable; receives voice/rate options, `--`, then the utterance. |
 | `-tts-system-rate` | Speech rate (wpm). |
 | `-mdns-service` | Bonjour service type (default `_clawdbot-node._tcp`). |
 | `-stdin` | Read transcripts from stdin (pipe/FIFO). |
@@ -74,6 +75,8 @@ With `-stt-engine brabble`, only final utterances are routed or sent to the brid
 SIGINT and SIGTERM interrupt reconnect backoff immediately, including when the bridge is unavailable.
 They also cancel bridge dialing and pairing/hello waits in `run` and `pair`, closing the connection before exit.
 
+Spoken text is passed after `--` so leading dashes are treated as words. Custom `-tts-system-command` wrappers must preserve the option separator when forwarding arguments to espeak-ng.
+
 ## systemd example
 
 Minimal steps:
diff --git a/cmd/clawgo/main.go b/cmd/clawgo/main.go
index 2b536d9..2bf293f 100644
--- a/cmd/clawgo/main.go
+++ b/cmd/clawgo/main.go
@@ -1030,7 +1030,7 @@ func (s *systemTTSEngine) Speak(ctx context.Context, text string) error {
 	if s.rate > 0 {
 		args = append(args, "-s", strconv.Itoa(s.rate))
 	}
-	args = append(args, trimmed)
+	args = append(args, "--", trimmed)
 	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, s.command, args...)
 	cmd.WaitDelay = 2 * time.Second
 	cmd.Stdout = io.Discard
diff --git a/cmd/clawgo/tts_queue_test.go b/cmd/clawgo/tts_queue_test.go
index 71cebaf..928e970 100644
--- a/cmd/clawgo/tts_queue_test.go
+++ b/cmd/clawgo/tts_queue_test.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func TestTTSQueueStopCancelsActiveSpeech(t *testing.T) {
 	q.Speak("first")
 	deadline := time.Now().Add(5 * time.Second)
 	for {
-		if _, err := os.Stat(started); err == nil {
+		if marker, err := os.ReadFile(started); err == nil && strings.TrimSpace(string(marker)) == "started" {
 			break
 		}
 		if time.Now().After(deadline) {
diff --git a/cmd/clawgo/tts_speak_args_test.go b/cmd/clawgo/tts_speak_args_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cbd2f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/clawgo/tts_speak_args_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestSystemTTSEngineSpeakSeparatesUtteranceFromFlags(t *testing.T) {
+	rec, out := buildArgRecorder(t)
+
+	cases := []struct {
+		name  string
+		voice string
+		rate  int
+		text  string
+	}{
+		{name: "wav-write-flag", voice: "en-us", rate: 180, text: "-w/tmp/x"},
+		{name: "short-unknown", voice: "en-us", rate: 180, text: "-foo"},
+		{name: "markdown-list", voice: "en-us", rate: 180, text: "- item"},
+		{name: "plain", voice: "en-us", rate: 180, text: "hello"},
+		{name: "no-voice-rate", text: "-fpath"},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if err := os.Remove(out); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+				t.Fatalf("remove args file: %v", err)
+			}
+			engine := &systemTTSEngine{command: rec, voice: tc.voice, rate: tc.rate}
+			if err := engine.Speak(context.Background(), tc.text); err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("speak: %v", err)
+			}
+			raw, err := os.ReadFile(out)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("read recorded args: %v", err)
+			}
+			var args []string
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &args); err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("decode recorded args %q: %v", raw, err)
+			}
+			t.Logf("argv=%q", args)
+
+			want := make([]string, 0, 6)
+			if tc.voice != "" {
+				want = append(want, "-v", tc.voice)
+			}
+			if tc.rate > 0 {
+				want = append(want, "-s", strconv.Itoa(tc.rate))
+			}
+			want = append(want, "--", tc.text)
+			if len(args) != len(want) {
+				t.Fatalf("argv=%q want=%q", args, want)
+			}
+			for i := range want {
+				if args[i] != want[i] {
+					t.Fatalf("argv=%q want=%q", args, want)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func buildArgRecorder(t *testing.T) (bin, out string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	out = filepath.Join(dir, "args.json")
+	src := filepath.Join(dir, "rec.go")
+	srcText := `package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(os.Args[1:])
+	if err != nil {
+		os.Exit(2)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(` + strconv.Quote(out) + `, raw, 0644); err != nil {
+		os.Exit(3)
+	}
+}
+`
+	if err := os.WriteFile(src, []byte(srcText), 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write recorder: %v", err)
+	}
+	bin = filepath.Join(dir, "rec")
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		bin += ".exe"
+	}
+	cmd := exec.Command("go", "build", "-o", bin, src)
+	cmd.Dir = dir
+	if output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("build recorder: %v\n%s", err, output)
+	}
+	return bin, out
+}