Thursday, April 19, 2007

How to Pronounce -ed in English

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

base verb
(v1)
past simple
(v2)
past participle
(v3)
workworkedworked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

  • I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:example base verb*:example
with -ed:
pronounce
the -ed:
extra syllable?
unvoiced/t/wantwanted/ Id/yes
voiced/d/endended
unvoiced/p/hopehoped/ t/no
/f/laughlaughed
/s/faxfaxed
/S/washwashed
/tS/watchwatched
/k/likeliked
voicedall other sounds,
for example...
playplayed/ d/
allowallowed
begbegged

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:

  • aged
  • blessed
  • crooked
  • dogged
  • learned
  • naked
  • ragged
  • wicked
  • wretched

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