How many of you have been thinking about the pronunciation
of the -ed ending in English,
as in the -ed ending that marks the past tense of English verbs,
like, “I traveled to Spain last year.
” If you haven't been thinking about it
lately, here's a reason why you should.
Sometimes native speakers don't pronounce it,
and most of them have no idea that they're doing this.
Listen to this.
I have imagined where I would be at the pub
in Indianapolis, where I watched the games with other Liverpool fans.
Did you hear it?
Watched the?
Or was it watch the?
I have imagined where I would be at the pub
in Indianapolis, where I watched the games with other Liverpool fans.
I heard watch the.
But based on the context of his conversation
and the other verbs that he used, he wasn't talking in the present tense.
The correct verb in this case was watched.
So what happened here?
It's strange.
It violates the rules of grammar.
But he did not make a mistake here.
It's completely okay to drop the -ed ending...sometimes.
Let's take a closer look together at the rules of the -ed ending
and when it can be dropped from the pronunciation.
Let's first
talk about the rules of the -ed ending,
because even my advanced students
still sometimes struggle with knowing which -ed ending to use
because there are three different pronunciations that are possible.
Here are the rules.
Rule number one.
If the last sound of a verb is voiceless,
like the /k/ consonant in the word look,
then the -ed ending makes a /t/ sound.
This rule is based on voicing.
A voiceless final consonant means
you'll have a voiceless -ed ending.
You don't add another syllable here, it's just another consonant
added to the end of the verb, and it creates a consonant cluster.
Looked.
The KT cluster.
Typed.
The PT cluster.
Kissed.
The KT cluster.
This rule is true for all voiceless
consonants, except for two consonants:
the /h/ consonant, because there are no words
in English that end with the /h/ consonant sound,and
the /t/ consonant.
That consonant has its own rule,
which you'll learn about in rule number three.
Here is rule number two.
If the last sound of a verb is voiced like the or dark L consonant
in the word travel, then the -ed
ending makes a /d/ sound.
This rule is again based on voicing.
A voiced final consonant
means you'll have a voiced -ed ending.
You also don't add another syllable
here, it's just another consonant
added to the end of the verb, and it can create a consonant cluster.
Traveled.
The LD cluster.
Bragged, bragged.
The GD cluster.Since
every vowel and diphthong of English are voiced,
this means rule number two also applies to verbs
that end in a vowel or diphthong.
Simply add the /d/ consonant to the end of the word.
Applied.
The /d/ consonant.
This rule is true for all vowels and diphthongs
that occur at the end of a verb and all voiced consonants
except for three: the /w/
consonant and the /j/ consonant,
since no words in English end with those sounds,
and the /d/ consonant,
which has its own pronunciation rule.
You'll learn that rule next.
Here's the last rule.
Rule number three.
If the last sound of a verb is /t/
or /d/, like the verbs vote and divide,
the -ed ending creates its own syllable,
the short IH vowel and the /d/ consonant.
This sounds like “id”.
Voted.
Divided.
It's important to know
that this “id” syllable is always is unstressed.
Voted.
Divided.
Since it's unstressed,
there are many words in which the /t/
or /d/ consonants turn into a flap
because you'll have a /t/ or /d/ consonant between two vowels,
and the second vowel in “id” is unstressed.
Voted divided.
Both the T and D in these words turn into the flap.
And this is very common in many words,
that fall under rule number three.
It's also important to know that in some words like wanted,
planted and counted, the /t/ consonant
might be dropped from the pronunciation.
And in fact, it's very common
to drop the /t/ consonant in a word like wanted.
I wanted to go.
I wanted to eat spaghetti.
Wanted.
I dropped the T from my pronunciation. Why?
This word follows the rules of what's
called the nasal flap,
sometimes called the vanishing T.
When N and T are next to each other, between vowels,
and the second vowel is unstressed,
the T can be dropped from the pronunciation.
Wanted,
planted,
counted.
This is optional.
You could always choose to pronounce wanted with the true T sound.
But in some words, it's very common for native
speakers to drop the T from the pronunciation.
So let's sum up what we've just learned.
There are three rules to pronouncing the -ed ending.
If a verb ends in a voiced consonant,
the -ed ending is pronounced like /d/.
If the verb ends in a voiceless
consonant, the -ed ending is pronounced like /t/.
And if the
verb ends in a /t/ or /d/ consonant,
the -ed ending creates its own syllable “id.”
It's common for the /t/ or /d/ to turn into a flap.
And it's also common to drop the /t/
from the pronunciation if it comes after N.
These rules are great to know as they will guide
you on how to pronounce the -ed ending most of the time.
However, when you start linking the -ed ending to other words,
like in phrases and sentences and in conversation,
the rules can change.
Let's briefly go back to the video I showed at the beginning.
The man said “watch the”
instead of “watched the.”
Listen again here.
I have imagined where I would be at the pub in Indianapolis,
where I watched the games with other Liverpool fans.
This was not a grammar error on his part.
There's an actual rule that describes what's happening here.
Not all native
speakers use this rule in this case
when it comes to the -ed ending, but you will hear them do it.
Here's why.
In past videos I've talked about
something called the Rule of Three.
And if this is new to you, I'll put the link below to the videos.
Watch these videos.
The Rule of Three will explain so many things
that you're hearing in the speech of native speakers,
but you're not sure if you're hearing it right.
The Rule of Three states
that when three or more consonants are next to each other, either
within a word or across word boundaries when linking words together,
the middle consonant can be dropped from the pronunciation.
You're probably already using this in words like Christmas.
There is no T in Christmas.
Attempts.
There's no final T in attempts.
And asked.
You can drop the K in asked.
The Rule of Three simplifies the pronunciation of complex consonant
combinations.
Sometimes it's followed 100% of the time
like the word Christmas.
I have never heard anyone
pronounce it like “Christ” “mas.”
And sometimes it's optional, like the word asked.
This can be pronounced like asked or asked.
Either one is fine.
Now let's see how the Rule of Three applies
to the phrase that the man said in the video that you watched.
Here's what he said.
I have imagined where I would be at the pub in Indianapolis,
where I watched the games with other Liverpool fans.
The phrase I want to focus on is watched the.
Let's look at the IPA of this phrase.
If I transcribe it completely,
you'll see three consonants in a row, the CH, T
and TH consonants.
So if we apply the Rule of Three
to this phrase, the /t/ consonant can be dropped.
This results in the pronunciation of watch the,
just like the present tense.
You may be wondering, “Really?
The past tense will sound exactly like the present tense?”
Yes, sometimes it can.
But you can't just go around dropping
the -ed ending from all verbs.
The Rule of Three only applies when, number one,
you're linking the verb to another word.
You can't drop the -ed ending when saying a word
by itself, or when the word ends a phrase or sentence,
or if you choose not to link it to anything.
It only happens within the context of linking,
and you must be speaking
at a normal rate, not too slow.
Number two, when you're linking the verb
to a word that begins with a consonant.
You must be linking to a consonant, not a vowel.
And number three,
when the linking results in at least three consonants in a row.
But like I mentioned earlier, this particular
application of the Rule of Three is optional.
Not everyone will do it, especially if they are trying to speak slowly,
or they want to make sure that people understand them as clearly as possible.
But in fast speech,
when native speakers aren't thinking about what they're saying, it does happen.
But most native speakers have no idea that they're doing it.
So today, as you interact with native speakers,
maybe at work, at a conference or while watching TV, I want to challenge you
to listen for the Rule of Three within the context of the -ed ending.
And if it's a past tense verb, this will mean the past
tense will sound exactly like the present tense.
I bet you'll hear it at least once.
If you're ready to practice the -ed ending even more,
then check out my online accent
training community called English Pro.
Enrollment opens in September 2023.
But if you pre-enroll now, you'll get your first month free.
Details on
how to pre-enroll in English Pro are below.
Thanks so much for watching, and I hope you have
a great day.