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Past Tense (ed) &

Pronunciation

English Academy
CECYTEJ PLANTEL 17 EL ARENAL

July 2020
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We all know that regular verbs have the same ending in the past tense (-ed) and
sometimes it is a little bit complicated to make a difference, particularly in sounds;
but when someone is speaking English this person needs to speak clearly to be
understood.

Introduction
The students will know how to pronounce the past simple regular verbs end in (-ed)
and there are three different ways of pronouncing these two letters with these
sounds: /ɪd/, /t/ and /d/ according to (Celce-Murcia, M. Brinton, & M. Goodwin,
2007).
Moreover, students have a tendency to pronounce incorrect when they are still
learning regular verbs in English in the past simple, that is why in the next chart, it
is going to be shown the rules for these sounds as (J. Sabbadini, 2017) shows in
the following examples.

/ɪd/ sound, verbs that /t/ sound, verbs that end in /d/ sound, all other verb sound
end in the sounds t or the sounds p, k, f, s, sh, x, endings b, g, v, z, th, j, m, n, ng, l, r,
d. and ch. or vowel sound.
Wanted Helped Robbed
Needed Baked Dragged
Hated Coughed Shaved
Visited Missed Buzzed
Invited Washed Garaged
Landed Watched Breathed
Started Looked Raged
Laughed Blamed
Kissed Ruined
Danced Called
Fixed Ordered
Sniffed Played
Booked Followed
Reached Damaged
Picked Loved
Worked Used
Called
Cleaned
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Tried
Hugged
Received
Smiled
Travelled
Lived
Enjoyed
Moved
Arrived

Regular and irregular verbs

Do you remember that in simple present tense, it is necessary to conjugate the
verbs for pronouns: he, she and it?

Well, in simple past tense verbs are classified into regular and irregular.

Spelling of Regular verbs

We form the past simple of most regular verbs by adding -ed to the main verb.
wash – washed
kiss – kissed
play - played

For verbs ending in -e, we add –d.

love – loved
like - liked

For verbs ending in a consonant + y, we drop the –y and add –ied .

cry – cried
carry – carried

For verbs ending in a stressed vowel between two consonants, we double the last
consonant and add -ed.
stop – stopped
fit – fitted
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Spelling of Irregular verbs

For irregular verbs their spelling in the simple past tense is totally different, check
these examples:

think - thought
see - saw
write - wrote
say - said
draw - drew
do - did

As you could notice in this case their ending is different and there is no rule, for this
reason you need to learn them by heart. In this link you can find more examples:
irregular verbs.

Regular and irregular verbs in simple past forms

In the following chart pay attention to the structure of regular and irregular verbs in
the affirmative, negative and interrogative forms:
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It is important to notice that in negative and interrogative sentences the main verb
does not change. It must be in the simple form.

When we ask for specific information we use wh-question words at the beginning:

What did you wear for the party? I wore a beautiful red dress and high heels.
How did you know you were soul mates? I don’t know, but when I met him I just
felt it.
When did you have your first kiss? Oh, when I was 15 years old.
Where did you celebrate Christmas last year? I celebrated Christmas at my mom’s
home.
Why did you react like that? Because I was in love with her.

Another point of view:

The simple past tense is one of the most common tenses in English. Its form is the
same with all subjects. It is usually formed by adding -ED to the verb. This page
will explain the rules for forming the tense with regular verbs.

Forming the simple past tense

With most verbs, the simple past is created simply by adding -ED. However, with
some verbs, you need to add -D or change the ending a little. Here are the rules:
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Verb ending in... How to make the simple past Examples

live lived
e Add -D
date dated

try tried
Consonant +y Change y to i, then add -ED
cry cried

One vowel + one tap tapped

Double the consonant, then add -
consonant commit
ED
(but NOT w or y) committed

boil boiled
fill filled
anything else including w Add -ED
hand handed
show showed

In terms of pronunciation…
Simple Past Tense
The final –ed ending has three different pronunciations: /t/, /d/, and /ed/
Final – ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds. Voiceless sounds are made
by pushing air through your mouth; no sound comes from your throat.
Examples of voiceless sounds: “K”, “P”, “S”, “Ch”, “Sh”, “F”
•Look→looked→look/t/
•Clap →clapped→clap/t/
•Miss→missed→miss/t/
•Watch →watched→watch/t/
•Finish→finished→finish/t/
Final –ed is pronounced /d/ after voiced sounds. Voiced sounds come from your
throat. Touch your neck when you make a voiced sound, you can feel your voice
box vibrate.
Examples of voiced sounds: “L”, “V”, “N”, “B” and all vowel sounds.
•Smell→smelled→smell/d/
•Save →saved →save/d/
•Clean →cleaned →clean/d/
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•Rob →robbed→rob/d/
•Play→played →play/d/
Final –ed is pronounced /ed/ after “T”, and “D” sounds. The sound /ed/ adds a
whole syllable to a word.
Example: Looked  look/t/ = one syllable; Needed  need/ed/ = two syllables
•Decide→decided→decide/ed/
•Need →needed→need/ed/
•Want→wanted→want/ed/
•Invite→invited→invite/ed/
Pronunciation of –S, -ES
To make a noun plural, a final –s or –esis added to the noun, e.g. Friend →
Friends
•Noun + s: Friends are important
•Noun + es: I like my classes
A final –s or –es is added to a present tense verb when the subject is a singular
noun, e.g. my father works at a bank. (My father is a singular noun)
•Verb + s: Mary works at the bank
•Verb + es: John watches birds
Final –s is pronounced /s/ after voiceless sounds, as in “T”, “P”, and “K”
•Seat →seats→seat/s/
•Rope→ropes→rope/s/
•Back →backs→back/s/
Final –s is pronounced /z/ after voiced sounds, as in “D”, “B”, “G” and “EE”
•Seed →seeds→ seed/z/
•Robe→robes→robe/z/
•Bag →bags→bag/z/
•See→sees→see/z/
Final –s and –es are pronounced /ez/ after “SH,” “CH,” “S,” “Z,” and “GE,”, “DGE”.
The /ez/ ending adds a syllable.
•Dish→dishes→dish/ez/
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•Catch→catches→catch/ez/
•Kiss→kisses →kiss/ez/
•Mix→mixes→mix/ez/
•Prize→prizes→prize/ez/
•Edge→edges→edge/ez/
Spelling: Final –s / -es
•Most words (verbs & nouns), add a final –s, e.g. sing→sings; song →songs
•Final –es is added to words ending with –SH, -CH, -S, -Z, and –X.
•wash→washes•watch→watches
•class →classes
•buzz →buzzes
•box→boxes
For words ending in –y:
•if –y is preceded by vowel only –s is added,
•e.g. toy → toys; buy → buys
•If –y is preceded by a consonant, the –y is changed to –i and –esis added.
•e.g. baby → babies; cry →cries

REFERENCES

[1] Celce-Murcia, M., M. Brinton, D., & M. Goodwin, J. (2007). Teaching Pronunciation:
A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (Fifteenth ed.). New
York, USA: Cambridge University Press.

[2] DeCapua, A. (2016). Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native
and Non-Native Speakers (Second ed.). New York, USA: Springer.

[3] J. Sabbadini, M. (16 de Abril de 2017). Teaching English. Obtenido de Teaching

English. Available at: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/pronunciation-past-
simple-verbs
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[4] León Martínez, J. et al. (2017). Regular and irregular verbs. Coordinación de
Universidad Abierta y Educación a Distancia de la UNAM. CDMX, México. Available at:
https://avi.cuaed.unam.mx/repositorio/moodle/pluginfile.php/2232/mod_resource/content/1
5/contenido/index.html

[5] University of Victoria English Language Centre (2008). Simple Past: Regular Verbs.
Study centre. Available at:
https://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/pasted.htm

[6] Ryerson University. Pronunciation of final “-ed”. Student Learning Support, Toronto
ON, Canada. Available at:
https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/studentlearningsupport/resources/grammar-
handouts/Pronunciation_final-ed-es.pdf