Past tense pronunciation

**Past tense pronunciation** refers to the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past or past participle form - that is, verb forms which end in "ed". There are three possible sounds which correspond to the written "ed": /d/, /t/ and /ɪd/.

## Voiced and unvoiced

**IPA consonants**

Before we begin we must consider “voiced” and “unvoiced” sounds.

### Voiced sounds

#### Description

First let’s identify some “voiced” sounds. Put your fingers on your throat and say the words *open, call, seem* and *agree*. You should feel some vibration in your throat at the end of these words.

#### Enumeration

Voiced sounds can be described or memorized. For some people memorization is easier than description or deduction.

The voiced sounds in English are all vowels and /b/, /d/, /ð/, /dʒ/, /g/, /j/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /r/, /v/, /w/, /z/ and /ʒ/.

### Unvoiced

#### Description

Now some “unvoiced” sounds. Say *push, help, like* and *reduce*. You should feel no vibration in your throat at the end of these words.

#### Enumeration

Voiceless sounds can be described or memorized. For some people memorization is easier than description or deduction.

The voiceless sounds in English are /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/, /t/, /tʃ/ and /θ/.

### Voiced pronunciation of "-ed"

For all verbs that end with voiced sounds and the “ed” is pronounced /d/ (except for the voiced consonant /d/).

So now say the same words and just add the /d/ sound: *opened, called, seemed* and *agreed*.

### Voiceless pronunciation of "-ed"

For all verbs that end with unvoiced consonants and the “ed” is pronounced /t/ (except for the voiceless consonant /t/).

These consonants are /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/ and /θ/.

Say the following: *pushed, helped, liked* and *reduced*. A /t/ sound is added at the end of these verbs.

## Regular verbs ending with /t/ and /d/

When a verb already ends with the letter “t” or “d”, it is impossible to add another “d” or “t”.

Consequently when a word ends with either a “d” or a “t” we have to pronounce the full “ed” sound as a separate syllable: /-dɪd/ or /-tɪd/. This is also true of regular verbs ending in "te" or "de" - don't forget that the final "e" of most words in English is not pronounced.

Examples: wan**ted**, lif**ted**, nee**ded**, compu**ted**, estima**ted**, and investiga**ted**.

## Practice

I opened the door, invited her in and asked her what she wanted. She walked in as if she owned the place and, when she replied, she indicated that she wanted to talk about buying my island.

I was very surprised and stated that my island was not for sale and that I had not planned to sell it. She persisted and insisted that I had responded without thinking and offered me 2,000,000 pounds.

I became annoyed and ordered her out. I demanded that she depart my island and I informed her that she wasn’t expected back.

### Examples of regular verbs with the /t/ sound

* /ft/: golfed, proofed, sniffed, stuffed
* /kt/: cooked, hooked, lacked, licked, liked, looked, networked, picked, talked, walked, worked
* /pt/: developed, helped, hopped, hoped, stopped
* /st/: addressed, forced, increased, passed, produced, reduced
* /ʃt/: brushed, crashed, distinguished, extinguished, finished, pushed, wished
* /tʃt/: reached, touched, watched

The past tense of "ask" is pronounced either /æskt,*AmE* ɑːskt*BrE*/ or /æst,*AmE*, ɑːst*BrE*/.

The past tense of "jump" is pronounced either /dʒʌmpt/ or /dʒʌmt/.

### Examples of regular verbs with the /d/ sound

* vowel+/d/: agreed, allowed, applied, argued, denied, renewed, played, showed, stayed, tried
* /dʒd/: changed, charged, managed
* /gd/: cataloged,*AmE* catalogued, dragged, drugged
* /ld/: called, pulled, traveled,*AmE* travelled*BrE*
* /nd/: cleaned, earned, explained, gained, opened, owned, phoned, turned, warned
* /ŋd/: belonged
* /rd/ (in non-rhotic accents these verb end in a vowel sound + /d/): appeared, cared, offered, ordered, shared
* /vd/: approved, believed, improved, lived, moved, received, resolved
* /zd/: organised,*BrE* organized

### Examples of regular verbs with the /ɪd/ sound

* Finishing in "t" or "te": act, activate, adapt, compete, create, defeat, estimate, exist, infect, invite, lift, list, pollute, promote, reject, repeat, respect, result, shift, suggest, support, start, test, unite, want

* Finishing in "d" or "de": add, blend, decide, defend, demand, divide, end, extend, include, invade, need, pretend, provide, succeed

## Homophones

aloud - allowed; band - banned; board - bored; bold - bowled; build - billed; duct - ducked; find - fined; guest - guessed; least - leased; mind - mined; mist - missed; ode - owed; pact - packed; past - passed; paste - paced; road - rowed; side - sighed; sword - soared; tide - tied; toad - towed; tract - tracked; wade - weighed; world - whirled;

## Not past tenses

The following words are not past tenses (or not always are past tenses) and therefore the pronunciation rules for past tense do not necessarily apply.

* aged /ˈeɪdʒɪd/ *adj.* very old; *noun* very old people *(adj.* of the age of *and the past tense of the verb* age *are pronounced* /eɪdʒd/)
* beloved /bɪˈlʌvɪd/ *(also* /bɪˈlʌvd/)
* blessed /ˈblesɪd/ *adj.* holy *(past tense of* bless *is* /blest/)
* crooked /ˈkrʊkɪd/
* learned /ˈlɜːrnɪd/ *(past tense of* learn *is* /lɜːrnd/, *also* learnt /lɜːrnt/)
* legged /ˈleɡɪd/ *(as in* long-legged)
* naked /ˈneɪkɪd/
* rugged /ˈrʌɡɪd/
* sacred /ˈseɪkrɪd/
* wicked /ˈwɪkɪd/
* wretched /ˈretʃɪd/

### Adverbs

These adverbs look like a past tense and the suffix *-ly*; however their pronunciation ends in /-ɪdliː/.

* allegedly /əˈledʒɪdliː/
* fixedly /ˈfɪksɪdliː/
* markedly /ˈmɑːrkɪdliː/
* supposedly /səˈpəʊzɪdliː/

If the verb doesn't end in a stressed vowel, the past tense pronunciation is used:

* embarrassedly /ɪmˈbærəstliː/
* determinedly /dɪˈtɜːrmɪndliː/

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

Many Spanish speakers pronounce the "-ed" ending as a separate syllable, regardless of the ending sound of the verb. Special effort must be made so that the students don't pronounce \*/ˈɑːskɪd/, \*/ˈpʊʃɪd/, \*/ɪkˈspleɪnɪd/ or \*/ˈrəʊɪd/ (for asked, pushed, explained and rowed).

## See also

* Past tense spelling
* Possible pronunciation difficulties
* Decoding exercises: "ie"

## References

1. ↑ Jack Windsor Lewis, English Spellings vis a vis Phonemes