How to pronounce the words ending with '-ed' suffixes

How to pronounce the words end with '-ed' suffixes

Most of you might be very much aware of the Tenses in English. The verbs mainly have 3 forms: present, past, and past participle. We often call them V1, V2, V3.

The verbs can be again classified into two: regular verbs and irregular verbs.

The past simple and past participle of all regular verbs end in '-ed'

For example:

Base Verb (V1): print

Past Simple (V2): printed

Past Participle(V3): printed

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed

For example, I like painted furniture.

We pronounce -ed in 3 ways:  /id/     /t/     /d/


Look at the table below to understand the pronunciation of -ed:

If the base verb ends with one of these sounds

Example base verb

Example with –ed

Pronounce the -ed

Unvoiced

/t/

Want

Wanted

/id/

Voiced

 

/d/

 

End

 

Ended

/p/

Hope

Hoped

/f/

Laugh

Laughed

Unvoiced

/s/

Tax

Taxed

/t/

/S/

Wish

Wished

/tS/

Match

Matched

/k/

Like

Liked

Voiced

All other sounds

Play

Allow

Beg

 

Played

Allowed

Begged

/d/

(on mobile screens: slide the table from right-left/left-right)

Please 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 is /s/, 'like' ends in the letter 'e' but the sound is /k/.


Exceptions:

The following adjectives ending in -ed are always pronounced with /id/:

  • aged
  • blessed
  • crooked
  • dogged
  • learned
  • naked
  • ragged
  • wicked
  • wretched

You may also like: 70 most commonly used homophones in English.{alertInfo}
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