Rule: -Ed Verbs - How to Pronounce Past Tense

 Learning how to pronounce past tense -ed verbs is not so difficult once you know the rules and have had a little practice.

To begin, it is important to first understand that there are 3 ways that we pronounce -ed ending verbs: 1) with a ‘t’ sound, 2) with a ‘d’ sound, and 3) with an ‘id’ sound.

I have given the rules below along with lists of common ‘t’, ‘d’, and ‘id’ sounding verbs for your convenience.

 

Rule: -ed verbs with ‘t’ sound

Pronounce the -ed of past tense verbs as a ‘t’ sound when the last sound of a verb ends with:     – p – k – s – ch – sh – f – x – h (voiceless sounds).  For example, the past tense of the verb stop, is stopped.  The ‘d’ in stopped is voiceless or unvoiced.  The sound after the ‘p’ in stopped is a ‘t’ sound = stop(t).

Rule: -ed verbs with ‘d’ sound

Pronounce past tense -ed verbs with a ‘d’ sound when the last sound of the verb ends with voiced sounds: – l – v – n – m – r – b – v – g – w – y – z – and vowel sounds (diphthongs).  For example, the past tense of the verb allow, is allowed.  The sound after the ‘w’ in allowed is a ‘d’ sound = allow(d).

Rule: -ed verbs with ‘id’ sound

Pronounce past tense -ed verbs with an ‘id’ sound when the last part of the verb ends with ‘t’ or ‘d’.  For example, the past tense of the verb paint, is painted.  The sound after the ‘t’ in painted is an ‘id’ sound = paint(id).

I know that this can be a little tricky at first, but with some practice, I know you’ll get it.