Pronounciation of "ed"

Question

In spoken enlish, how should we handle the "ed" sound of verbs in past tense? I usually discover that native speaker seldom speak  out the  "ed", making the verbs like present tense.  For example, "I accompanied her when she failed her tests"  .

Dave Phillips · Accepted Answer

ed has 3 sounds /Id/,/d/ and /t/.

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:		*example base verb:**	example with -ed:	pronounce the -ed:	extra syllable?
unvoiced	/t/	want	/English/-ed_wanted.wav	/ /English/-ed_id.wav/	yes
voiced	/d/	end	ended	/ /English/-ed_id.wav/	yes
unvoiced	/p/	hope	/English/-ed_hoped.wav	/ /English/-ed_t.wav/	no
	/f/	laugh	laughed
	/s/	fax	faxed
	/S/	wash	washed
	/tS/	watch	watched
	/k/	like	liked
voiced	all other sounds, for example...	play	/English/-ed_played.wav	/ /English/-ed_d.wav/
		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 /Id/:

aged
blessed
crooked

dogged
learned
naked

ragged
wicked
wretched

So we say:

an aged man /Id/
a blessed nuisance /Id/
a dogged persistance /Id/
a learned professor - the professor, who was truly learned /Id/
a wretched beggar - the beggar was wretched /Id/

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/

Therefore your example failed is the /d/ sound.

CalifJim · Answer

alvinloI usually discover that native speaker seldom speak out the "ed", making the verbs like present tense.

What you are describing is that you are not hearing the /d/ or /t/ sound that is added to the present tense forms in most cases. The "ed" is being pronounced as an added /d/ or /t/, but you are failing to hear it for some reason. Don't expect to hear an added syllable. It's just a /d/ or /t/ added to the end of the last syllable of the verb. In most cases, you shouldn't even attempt to pronounce the "e" in the "ed" ending. Pretend it's not even there. Pretend it's just a "d" or a "t" - not "ed".

You miss him and You missed him are different in sound. The past is like the present with /t/ added.

It's like miss& mist.

fail her tests and failed her tests are different in sound. The past is like the present with /d/ added.

It's like fail& faild.

If the verb ends in one of the unvoiced sounds (e.g., p, k, f, s, sh, ch), add the sound /t/.

Otherwise, add /d/. But note the exceptions mentioned at the end of this post.

__________________

In some cases, it may be particularly difficult for you to hear or pronounce the difference:

I hope to do that and I hoped to do that are different in sound, but not very different. It's like hoap & hoapt, but the next sound is the "t" in the word "to", so the /t/ at the end of "hoped" is hard to hear. It may just sound to you as if the "p" is clipped short.

__________________

The only time you add an extra syllable (pronounce the "e" in "ed") is when the verb ends in /d/ or /t/. In these cases pronounce the "ed" ending as "id" in "did".

wait has one syllable; waited has two.

evade has two syllables; evaded has three.

CJ

Pronounciation of "ed"

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