Pronouncing Past Tense Words in English

There are 3 ways of pronouncing the past tense words in English.

• If the letters ‘-ed’ are added to a word ending with a vowel sound or a voiced consonant sound, the ‘-ed’ is pronounced as /d/.

Example:

Pour – Poured	/p/ - /pd/
Ban - Banned	/bn/ - /bnd/

 

• If the letters ‘–ed’ are added at the end of a voiceless consonant sound, the suffix ‘-ed’ is pronounced as /t/. 

Example:

Pick – Picked	/pIk/ - /pIkt/
Kiss - Kissed	/kIs/ - /kIst/

 

• If the letters ‘-ed’ are added to a word that ends with a /d/ or /t/ sound, the suffix ‘-ed’ is pronounced as /Id/. 

Example:

Add - Added	/d/ - /dId/
Shade - Shaded	/eId/ - /eIdId/
Start - Started	/stt/ - /sttId/