Pronunciation – The '-ed' ending on past regular verbs

The –ed ending is added to regular verbs in the simple past and the past participle. It can be difficult to pronounce correctly, even at advanced level. Luckily, there are some guidelines to help you pronounce this correctly.

There are three different ways to pronounce the –ed ending:

1. /t/ after voiceless sounds (you can identify a voiceless sound by putting your hand on your head or your throat and checking for vibration. If there’s no vibration, it’s a voiceless sound). Examples of voiceless sounds are:
/p/ play - /s/ say - /th/ three - /ch/ chips - /h/ hello - /sh/ wash

Here are some verbs that end with the /t/ sound after a voiceless sound:
helped / boxed / asked / impressed / pushed / laughed

2. /d/ after a voiced sound (voiced sounds can be identified by feeling vibration when you place your hand on your head or your throat). Here are some examples:
/j/ July - /d/ dad - /g/ give - /b/ baby - /th/ these - /n/ nine

Here are some verbs that end with the /d/ sound after a voiced sound:
poured / explained / tried / robbed / required / stayed

3. /Id/ after the sounds /d/ and /t/:
added / wanted / needed / ended / confided / inflated / acted

  Listen and repeat the 3 groups