Words Ending in -ed --《Mustering The American Accent》

Words Ending in -ed

The final ed forms the past tense of regular verbs (such as needed and worked) and of some
adjectives (such as interested and tired). The ed can cause problems for some non-native
speakers because it can be pronounced in three different ways: as /Id/, /d/, or /t/. Here are
the three rules you need to know when pronouncing -ed.

Rule 1

If the last letter of the word is spelled with a d or a t, the ed is pronounced as /Id/
and as a separate syllable.

needed admitted attended decided
avoided separated visited waited


Rule 2

If the last letter of the word ends in a voiced consonant or a vowel sound, the e is
silent and d is pronounced as /d/. (Reminder: Voiced consonants are /b/, /d/, /g/,
/v/, /m/, /n/, / r/, /l/, /z/, /ʤ/, /y/, and /ð/.)

opened changed earned pulled
called closed loved showed


Rule 3

If the last letter of the word ends in a voiceless consonant, the e is silent and the
d is pronounced as /t/. (Reminder: Voiceless consonants are /p/, /t/, / k/, /f/, /s/,
/ʃ/, /tʃ/, and /θ/.)

passed helped laughed stopped
washed watched worked liked