ConceptCONCEPTMind Your Future
Part Two · Building accuracy · Level B1

Unit 22
The -ed ending

/t/ /d/ /ɪd/
Worksheet W22
From your coach. There are three ways to say -ed and only one of them is right for any given word. The sound just before it decides.
Loading audio index…

These are the symbols you will see in a dictionary. Click any one to hear it. You do not need to memorize them.

Why this mattersOne spelling, three pronunciations

Worked, learned, wanted. One spelling, three pronunciations, and the choice is not random.

Two things can go wrong. You can pick the wrong one, which marks the accent. Or you can add a syllable that is not there, which changes the rhythm of the sentence and is much more disruptive.

Worked is one beat, not two. If you say work-ed, you have added a beat, and everything in Part Four depends on getting beats right.

Worked is one beat, not two.

What your language doesA spelling problem, not a sound problem

If your language pronounces every written vowel, you will see -ed and say a vowel. This is the main error, and it comes from the page rather than the ear.

If your language does not allow the resulting consonant groups, worked ending in kt, you may simplify instead and drop the ending entirely, which loses the past tense.

Both errors come from unit 3. One adds a vowel to fix an illegal ending, the other deletes a consonant. Same mechanism.

Common trap

If your language says every written vowel, you will see -ed and add a syllable. That error comes from the page, not the ear.

How to make itThe ending copies its neighbor

The rule depends only on the sound before the ending, never on the spelling.

If the verb ends in a t or d sound, add a syllable. Wanted, needed, started. This is the only case where -ed is its own beat.

If the verb ends in any other voiceless sound, p, k, f, s, sh or ch, the ending is a t. Worked, watched, hoped, laughed.

If the verb ends in any other voiced sound, a vowel or b, g, v, z, m, n, l, r, the ending is a d. Learned, played, called, loved.

The shortcut: put your hand on your throat. If the last sound before -ed buzzes, you get a d. If it does not, you get a t. If it is already a t or a d, you get a whole extra syllable.

Then clap the beats. Worked is one clap. Wanted is two.

Try this now

Put a hand on your throat: if the sound before -ed buzzes, you get a d; if not, a t; if it is already a t or d, add a syllable. Then clap the beats: worked is one clap, wanted is two.

Side view of the mouth, showing how the sound is made

Say itWord banks

T ending, one beat

D ending, one beat

Extra syllable

In a sentencePut it under pressure

Record and compareSee the shape of your voice

Pick anything above, then record yourself saying it. Your recording appears in red over the model in gray. You are comparing shapes, not chasing a score.

Choose a word or sentence above
ModelYou
Nothing selected

Check yourself

Worked and wanted both end in -ed. Why is one word one beat and the other two?

Because want already ends in a t sound, and English cannot add another t directly to it, so a whole syllable appears. Work ends in k, so the ending just attaches as a t with no extra beat.