How to Pronounce -ed
The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:
work, worked, worked
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:
- /ɪd/
- /t/
- /d/
| If the base verb ends in one of these sounds | example base verb* | example with -ed | pronounce the -ed as | extra syllable? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /t/ | want | wanted | /ɪd/ | yes | |
| /d/ | end | ended | |||
| unvoiced | /p/ | hope | hoped | /t/ | no |
| /f/ | laugh | laughed | |||
| /s/ | fax | faxed | |||
| /ʃ/ | wash | washed | |||
| /ʧ/ | watch | watched | |||
| /k/ | like | liked | |||
| voiced | all other sounds, eg | play | played | /d/ | |
| allow | allowed | ||||
| beg | begged | ||||
*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 /ɪd/:
- aged
- dogged
- ragged
- blessed
- learned
- wicked
- crooked
- naked
- wretched
So we say:
- an aged man /ɪd/
- a blessed nuisance /ɪd/
- a dogged persistence /ɪd/
- a learned professor - the professor, who was truly learned /ɪd/
- a wretched beggar - the beggar was wretched /ɪd/
But when used as real verbs (past simple and past participle), the normal rules apply and we say:
- he aged quickly /d/
- he blessed me /t/
- they dogged him /d/
- he has learned well /d/ or /t/