Do you sometimes find English pronunciation difficult?
Would you like to improve your English speaking?
Hi, I'm Alister from Al's Action English.
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Today, we're going to think about the three different ways English speakers pronounce
the 'ed' sound for past tense verb endings.
Listen, can you hear the difference between these three words?
Missed, opened, decided.
Sound number 1 /t/ missed.
We use the /t/ sound to pronounce 'ed' endings in English verbs ending in these sounds.
/k/ ask /s/ dance
/ʃ/ push /ʧ/ search
/f/ laugh
To form the past tense 'ed' for these words we pronounce /t/
asked, pushed, danced, searched, laughed.
Here we do not need to add an extra syllable.
Listen and count with me.
Ask, asked, dance, danced, push, pushed, search, searched, laugh, laughed.
Listen and repeat with me.
I was so happy I had asked her as we laughed and danced all night.
Sound number two - we use the /d/ sound to pronounce 'ed' after English verbs ending
in these sounds
/r/ remember /l/ travel
/z/ sneeze /v/ love
/n/ explain /b/ rob
/g/ hug /ʤ/ challenge
To form the past tense 'ed' for these verbs we pronounce 'ed' as /d/.
remembered, loved, travelled, sneezed, hugged, robbed, challenged
Here we do not need to add an extra syllable with the 'ed' form.
Listen and count with me.
remember, remembered, love, loved, sneeze, sneezed, explain, explained, hug, hugged,
rob.
robbed, challenge, challenged
Listen and repeat with me.
As the grandparents hugged they remembered that they loved each other.
Challenge - how do we say these words on screen?
Practice saying out loud to yourself and we'll check the answers in a moment.
Sound number 3 - /id/ decided.
We use the /id/ sound to pronounce 'ed' after English verbs ending in these sounds.
/d/ need /t/ want
To form the past tense 'ed' for these words we need to pronounce 'ed' as /id/.
needed, wanted
However, here, unlike the previous two sounds we must add an extra syllable.
Listen and count with me.
need, needed, want, wanted
Now all three sounds together.
He pushed the door because he wanted to catch the person who had robbed him.
He pushed the door because he wanted to catch the person who robbed him.
Now this is the tricky problem.
Many English learners pronounce the extra syllable when it is unnecessary.
For example, they make these mistakes and say
ask-id push-id
lov-id hug-id
These are incorrect.
Here's the answer to our earlier challenge.
Listen carefully to the correct pronunciation.
Did you say the correct sound?
followed, died, annoyed, used
These verbs all end in vowels and the 'ed' sound in the past tense is pronounced as /d/
with no extra syllable.
Well done if you got it correct.
Daily Question
What words do you find the most difficult to pronounce in English?
Comment below and talk to each other.
To review
'ed' endings in the past tense only need to add an extra syllable when the verb ends in
a /t/ or /d/ sound.
I hope you're able to do it now.
Thank you for watching.
Leave your answers and any questions in the comment section.
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I'll post more videos and see you soon.