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How to Pronounce -ed

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

work, worked, worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

I like painted furniture.

The question is, how do we pronounce the -ed? The answer is, in 3 ways:

  • /ɪd/
  • /t/
  • /d/
If the base verb ends in one of these sounds example base verb* example with -ed pronounce the -ed as extra syllable?
/t/ want wanted /ɪd/ yes
/d/ end ended
unvoiced /p/ hope hoped /t/ no
/f/ laugh laughed
/s/ fax faxed
/ʃ/ wash washed
/ʧ/ watch watched
/k/ like liked
voiced all other sounds, eg play played /d/
allow allowed
beg begged

*Note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, fax ends in the letter x but the sound /s/; like ends in the letter e but the sound /k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /ɪd/:

  • aged
  • dogged
  • ragged
  • blessed
  • learned
  • wicked
  • crooked
  • naked
  • wretched

So we say:

  • an aged man /ɪd/
  • a blessed nuisance /ɪd/
  • a dogged persistence /ɪd/
  • a learned professor - the professor, who was truly learned /ɪd/
  • a wretched beggar - the beggar was wretched /ɪd/

But when used as real verbs (past simple and past participle), the normal rules apply and we say:

  • he aged quickly /d/
  • he blessed me /t/
  • they dogged him /d/
  • he has learned well /d/ or /t/