We use an ‘ed’ at the end of words in English a lot. We use ‘ed’ to form regular verbs in the Past Simple, for example. It’s worth the effort to learn how to pronounce it correctly!
We pronounce the ‘ed’ at the end of words in three different ways, depending on the sound that comes before them.
1.) If there is a T or a D before the ‘ed’, we pronounce it ‘id’:
started – star tid (Notice how the T or D goes with the ‘id’ sound.)
planted – plan tid
needed – nee did
ended – en did
Listen to the examples:
2.) If there is one of the following soft sounds before the ‘ed’, we pronounce it ‘t’, as in ‘tiger’.
stopped – VERB + t
walked
watched
washed
coughed
missed
pushed
Listen to the examples:
3.) All the rest of the time, the ‘ed’ is pronounced ‘d’, as in ‘dog’.
loved – VERB + d
used
played
carried
learned
Listen to the examples:
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