Pronunciation Tip: How to pronounce "-ED"

All English teachers as well as all English learners know that there are certain words that are particularly tricky to pronounce when learning the language. One of these recurring problems is the pronunciation of the syllable «-ed» at the end of regular past forms and/or adjectives. As I already wrote in this post,

when we read or say «amazed», should we pronounce it /əˈmeɪzt/, /əˈmeɪzd/ or /əˈmeɪzɪd/?

This is something that all English learners find difficult to know and usually struggle with. However, there is a very simple rule to know how to pronounce «-ed». For this reason, although you already had a written version of this explanation here, I thought it would be useful to bring that explanation to life with a useful YouTube video, so you can actually hear the pronunciation properly. So hit play and enjoy the explanation!

If you still have any questions, please ask them below or email me here. Also, as I specified in the video, here’s the diagram for you guys to download (right click –> save image). I hope it’s useful for you or your students. 🙂

Let’s see some examples:

– The last sound in the verb start is /t/, so started ends in/ɪd/. More cases include: expect, respect, end, etc.

– The verb surprise ends with the sound /z/, so surprised is pronounced ending in /d/, because /z/ is a voiced sound. More cases include: amuse,  prepare, close, open, etc.

– Finally, in a verb like box, the last sound is /s/, which is voiceless. Therefore, boxed ends in /t/. More cases include: book, shock, look, touch, etc.

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