Regular verbs in the past tense end in the letters ‘ed’, but unfortunately for English learners, this ‘ed’ ending is pronounced different ways depending on the verb.
Here are the 3 common pronunciations:
Normally if the verb ends in a strong sound like ‘walk’, the past ‘ed’ sound is pronounced ‘t’. Repeat ‘walked’ (walk-t).
Normally if the verb ends in a soft sound like ‘call’, the past ‘ed’ sound is pronounced ‘d’. Repeat ‘called’ (call ‘d’).
Finally if the verb itself ends in a ‘t’ or a ‘d’, like ‘want’, the past ‘ed’ form sound is pronounced ‘id’. Repeat ‘wanted’ (want ‘id’).
So how do we pronounce clean in the past? Clean-d
Work in the past? Work-t
Add in the past? Add-id
Got it? And if you were wondering, the American name ‘ED’, short for Edward, has a pronunciation that rhymes with ‘red’.
