Pronunciation of ED 👉 Called /d/ Helped /t/ Wanted /id/

Many students of English as a Second Language have trouble with the pronunciation of –ed when it’s used to form the past tense or the past participle of a regular verb, such as asked, landed or explored.

Let’s quickly revise their structures:
V₁       +    ed     =         V₂                     or                    V₃
verb base                 past simple              past participle

Example:
Past Simple       play + ed = played.   Ana played tennis yesterday afternoon.
Past Participle    play + ed = played.   Ana has played tennis many times.

Note that if the base verb ends in “e” we only have to add “d” to form the past form. Example:  like + d = liked

The pronunciation of –ed follows these rules:
If the regular base verb’s last sound is:

1.     k, s, ch, sh, th, p, f(gh)… then –ed is pronounced  /t/
Example:  lick-ed is pronounced lick-/t/
                         watch-ed is pronounced watch-/t
                         laugh-ed is pronounced laugh-/t/

2.     t, d ……………………………then –ed is pronounced  /id/
         Example: wait-ed is pronounced wait-/id/
                         land-ed is pronounced land-/id/ 

3.     everything else …………then –ed is pronounced /d/
        Example:  play-ed is pronounced play-/d/
                         answer-ed is pronounced answer-/d/
                         close-ed is pronounced close-/d/  Note that the last sound in close is a z!

There are a few irregular verbs whose past simple form end in –ed and follow the same pronunciation rules as for regular verbs, e.g. sew sewed (sew/d/) sewn; show showed (show/d/) shown.

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