How to Pronounce -ed Endings
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How to Pronounce -ed Endings


Pronouncing -ed endings in the past simple and past participle of regular verbs usually gives the students of English as a foreign language a hard time. 
However, it´s not that difficult. We must let common sense help us here. 

The first thing to take into account is that there are only 3 ways to pronounce this ending:
           -/t/ ;    -/d/ ;    -/?d/

/ed/ is not an option! :)

The ending -ed is pronounced /t/ in regular verbs whose last sound in the infinitive is unvoiced: /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /?//t?/, /?/. E.g.:
  -like ? liked: /la?kt/
  -stop stopped: /st?pt/
  -laugh laughed: /l??ft/      *Note that it´s the sound and not the spelling what counts.

For all other final sounds (including the vowel sounds) in the infinitive of regular verbs, the ending -ed is pronounced /d/. E.g.:
  -listen listened: /?l?snd
  -discover ? discovered: /d??sk?v?d
  -allow allowed: /??la?d

In fact, it´s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pronounce the sound /d/ after an unvoiced sound. If you try to pronounce "liked", for example, with a final /d/ sound, you´ll realize you cannot do it. It´s a sound /t/ what comes out, isn´t it?


Anyway, the difference in the pronunciation between the /t/ and the /d/ endings is insignificant. Therefore, if you can get the /?d/ sound right, you can count yourself lucky. That´s good enough!
So, the key question is, when do we pronounce /?d/?
Well, it´s quite straightforward and this is when common sense plays its role: when the last sound of the verb in the infinitive is /t/ or /d/, adding a /t/ or a /d/ sound wouldn´t make any difference, that´s why we need to add the syllable /?d/ to really distinguish the infinitive from the past simple and past participle. E.g.:
   -want wanted: /?w?nt?d/    
   -end   ? ended:   /?end?d/
   -hate  ? hated:    /?he?t?d/   *Remember: It´s the sound and not the spelling what matters!

As you can see, these one syllable words turn disyllabic.
  -permit permitted: /p??m?t?d
  -recommend recommended: /?rek??mend?d

Also, these two and three-syllable words add one more syllable when pronouncing the -ed ending. Indeed, when it comes to regular verbs with a /t/ or a /d/ as a final sound in the infinitive, adding one syllable to pronounce the past simple is the key to getting it right.
Now then, after this explanation, perhaps you´d like to test yourself by doing the following exercises:

Pronouncing -ed endings





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