How to Pronounce ‘ed’ at the end of a verb

It’s difficult to know how to pronounce ‘ed’ in English, because it’s pronounced in three different ways. It depends on the letter before.

The three ways are:
1: ‘id’ (like in painted ‘paint-id’)
2: ‘t’ (like in ‘hoped’)
3: ‘d’ (like in ‘played’)

1: ‘id’
The most important thing to remember is this:
If the verb has a ‘d’ or a ‘t’ sound before ‘ed’ you need to pronounce ‘id’. If it doesn’t, don’t pronounce an extra syllable.
Be careful! It’s the sound, not the letter: ‘decided’ is pronounced ‘decid-id’ even though it ends in ‘e’, because we don’t say the ‘e’, so the last sound is ‘d’.

So for example: ATTENZIONE!!! LA PRONUNCIA INDICATA TRA PARENTESI E’ QUELLA ITALIANA, NON RISPETTA I SIMBOLI FONETICI
wanted (uont-id)
ended (end-id)
decided (desid-id)
admitted (admit-id)
suggested (saggest-id)
recommended (recommend-id)
hated (heit-id)
intended (intend-id)
started (start-id)

2: ‘t’
If the word before ‘ed’ ends in the sounds ‘p’, ‘f’, ‘s’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘k’, then ‘ed’ is pronounced ‘t’.
So: ATTENZIONE!!! LA PRONUNCIA INDICATA TRA PARENTESI E’ QUELLA ITALIANA, NON RISPETTA I SIMBOLI FONETICI
‘p’ stopped (stop-t)
‘f’ laughed (laf-t)
‘s’ promised (promis-t)
‘ch’ watched (uoch-t)
‘sh’ finished (finisch-t)
‘k’ walked (uook-t)

3: ‘d’
For all other words, ‘ed’ is pronounced ‘d’: ATTENZIONE!!! LA PRONUNCIA INDICATA TRA PARENTESI E’ QUELLA ITALIANA, NON RISPETTA I SIMBOLI FONETICI
allowed (allou-d)
cried (crai-d)
enjoyed (engioi-d)
cleaned (clin-d)
imagined (imegin-d)

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About the Author

Roberto

Roberto Bocchetti e' insegnante di inglese a Milano, certificato Cambridge (Diplomi CAE-Certificate in Advanced English e TKT-Teaching Knowledge Test). Roberto organizza corsi individuali di inglese, ripetizioni, preparazione agli esami di Cambridge, corsi di Business English e preparazione a colloqui di lavoro in inglese. Ha collaborato, inoltre, come docente presso l'Istituto di Formazione IFOA di Milano. Per contattare Roberto: Tel. 339 86 86 633 dal Lunedi' al Venerdi' dalle 11 alle 21. Sede delle lezioni: Via Ronchi 35 - 20134 Milano.