Let’s practice the difference between pronunciations of the
past simple.
Read these words out loud:
- Cleaned
- Stopped
- Tasted
Did you notice that they all have an -ed ending but are pronounced differently?
There are three ways we pronounce the -ed at the end of a verb:
First with -d sound
When the last sound before -ed is voiced (which means you will feel your vocal cords vibrate), the -ed sound is /d/.
Examples:
Verb Past Tense Pronunciation
play played play-/d/
show showed show-/d/
close closed close-/d/
open opened open-/d/
enjoy enjoyed enjoy-/d/
love loved love-/d/
try tried try-/d/
rain rained rain-/d/
learn learned learn-/d/
clean cleaned clean-/d/
Next with -t sound
When the last sound before -ed is voiceless (which means you won’t feel your vocal cords vibrate), the -ed sound is /t/.
Examples:
Verb Past Tense Pronunciation
work worked work-/t/
cook cooked cook-/t/
walk walked walk-/t/
kiss kissed kiss-/t/
like liked like-/t/
stop stopped stop-/t/
look looked look-/t/
drop dropped drop-/t/
help helped help-/t/
Finally with -id sound
When the final consonant before -ed is /t/ or /d/ the -ed sound is /id/. This adds a syllable to the word.
Examples:
Verb Past Tense Pronunciation
wait waited wait-/id/
want wanted want-/id/
need needed need-/id/
decide decided decide-/id/
hate hated hate-/id/
taste tasted taste-/id/
end ended end-/id/
Practice pronouncing these words and creating sentences with a tutor today!
Higher Level Language 