ED SOUNDS ( ENGLISH WRITING )

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/