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How to Pronounce 'ed' at the end of a verb


Understanding the Significance of Voiced Consonants vs. Voiceless Consonants in the pronunciation of "ED".

A voiced consonant (or sound) means that it uses the vocal cords and they produce a vibration or humming sound in the throat when they are said. Put your finger on your throat and then pronounce the letter L. You will notice a slight vibration in your neck / throat. That is because it is a voiced sound.

A voiceless sound (sometimes called an unvoiced sound) is when there is no vibration in your throat and the sound comes from the mouth area. Pronounce the letter P. You will notice how it comes from your mouth (in fact near your lips at the front of your mouth). The P sound doesn't come from your throat.

Try this with the other letters and you will "feel" the difference between a voiced and a voiceless consonant (or sound).

Now we know the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds we can look at the following rules for the correct pronunciation of ED in English:

It can be difficult to know how to pronounce 'ed' in English because it's pronounced in three different ways. It depends on the letter before:

The three ways are:

  • 1: 'id' (like in painted 'paint-id')
  • 2: 'd' (like in 'played')
  • 3: 't' (like in 'hoped')

The most important thing to remember is this:

1. The /id/ sound

If the verb has a 'd' or a 't' sound before 'ed' you need to pronounce 'id'. If it doesn't, don't pronounce an extra syllable.

Be careful! It's the sound, not the letter: 'decided' is pronounced 'decide-id' even though 'decide' ends in 'e', because we don't say the 'e', so the last sound is 'd'.

So for example:

  • wanted (want-id)
  • ended (end-id)
  • decided (decide-id)
  • admitted (admit-id)
  • suggested (suggest-id)
  • recommended (recommend-id)
  • hated (hate-id)
  • intended (intend-id)
  • started (start-id)
For the other two sounds, it doesn't matter so much. Just make sure you don't say '-id'! For example, 'stopped' is pronounced 'stopt' and never 'stop-id'.

2. The /t/ sound

If the word before 'ed' ends in the sounds 'p', 'f', 's', 'ch', 'sh', 'k', then 'ed' is pronounced 't': So:

  • 'p' stopped
  • 'f' laughed
  • 's' promised
  • 'ch' watched
  • 'sh' finished
  • 'k' walked

3. The /d/ sound

For all other words, 'ed' is pronounced 'd':

  • allowed
  • cried
  • enjoyed
  • cleaned
  • imagined

An easy way to remember how to pronounce ED words

The most important thing to remember is that there are two main divisions:

  1. The words that end in T or D
    - the ED is pronounced as a syllable /id/
  2. and the REST of the words
    - you can pronounce the ED as /t/ and people will understand.

In time you will learn when to pronounce the ED as /t/ or /d/.

I hope that this article helps, good luck and good teaching.

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