The objective of this paper was to determine the stresses in the soil through 5 different examples in geotechnics. Accent is placed on effective stresses, which are transmitted exclusively by the soil skeleton. In the example of a layered soil with an applied load at surface level, the values of the effective stress increase with depth. Excavation in the soil unfavorable affects the soil. The obtained reduced values of effective stress indicate the weakening of the soil. By placing strip footing in the excavation, the total, but also the effective stresses increase. Artesian pressure unfavorable affects the soil, in a way that increases the values of pore pressure, while decreasing the values of effective stresses. The appearance of water in the soil is most often an undesirable situation for construction work and its movement is significantly affected. The downward movement of water has a positive effect on the increased values of the effective stress, while the reverse situation is not favorable, because the particles "push" in the opposite direction from gravity and thus lose the strength of the contact. By pumping groundwater from the soil in artesian conditions, a balance is achieved - by reducing additional pore pressures and automatically increasing the effective stresses.