5. Paco talked to Alex some days ago

When learning the English past tense pronunciation for regular Past Simple verbs, students have to  be first taught to add "-ed" to the end of the base form of the verb. This is easy enough to form and spell regular past tense verbs; the problem with pronunciation arises because students are often taught that the "-ed" ending adds another syllable to the word. And then they always add another syllable to the past tense of the verb. For example, "worked" is erroneously pronounced "work/id/" with two syllables, instead of just one, "work/t/."

A second syllable with the "-ed" ending is only necessary when the last sound (not the last letter) is a /t/ or /d/, for example, "wanted," "decided," "needed," or "invited." The last sound for the words "want" and "invite" is /t/. The last sound for the words "decide" and "need" is /d/. These two sounds require that the added -ed ending be pronounced with an additional syllable.

Icono IDevice Reading activity

Although Paco was really busy in London visiting museums, parks, buildings, exhibitions, walking along the streets of different boroughs, he spoke everyday with his family. He told them about the places and incredible people and things he watched in the city. Paco also tried to speak to his friends as well. He talked to Alex and they enjoyed a lot speaking about lots of things. Obviously, Alex wanted to be with him but that was impossible.

Classic UK red telephone boxes.

By Aaron Logan. Creative Commons


Paco realized that some people sometimes didn't understand him, so he made an effort to pronounce English properly, about all the third person singular (/s/ and /z/ sounds) and the past endings (/d/, /t/ and /id/ sounds). So he decided to study these grammatical aspects more deeply.


Can you deduce the rules why these regular verbs in the past tense belong to these three different pronunciations? Try it.

 



Icono IDevice Listening activity


Listen to the following video in order to learn about the past ending different pronunciations.


Icono de iDevice Solved exercise

INFINITIVE
PAST TENSE PRONUNICATION
use used d
study    
stop    
complete
    
finish
    
wait
    
close
    
start
    
cook
    
laugh    
Write the following regular verbs in the Simple Past and indicate how you pronounce the last sound.

Icono de IDevice de pregunta Self-assessment exercise
Say which past ending pronunciation is the correct one for the following verbs.
transplanted
  
/id/
/d/
/t/

talked
  
/d/
/t/
/id/

studied
  
/id/
/d/
/t/

Icono IDevice Important

The Different Sounds of the -ed Ending

Don't let the sound of an -ed ending ever trick you into making a spelling error when you form the past tense. While we do hear a d sound at the end of some verbs (for example, moved and visited), we hear a t sound at the end of others (promised, laughed). Also, if you have a habit when you speak of clipping off word endings, don't do this when you write. No matter what sound you hear or fail to hear when you pronounce a regular verb in the past tense, be careful when you write to add -d or -ed at the end.


Icono IDevice Curiosity
A K6 Telephone box and a Edward VII Pillar box at the Amberley Working Museum.
By Unisouth. GNU license
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. Such a booth usually has a door to provide privacy and a window to let others know if the booth is in use.
 
The booth may be furnished with a printed directory of local telephone numbers, and a booth in a formal setting such as a hotel may be furnished with paper and pen and even a seat.
 
An outdoor booth may be made of metal and plastic to withstand the elements and heavy use, while an indoor booth (once known as a silence cabinet) may have more elaborate architecture and furnishings.
 
Most outdoor booths feature the name and logo of the telephone service provider.
 
From Wikipedia.

Icono IDevice Further knowledge

Do you need more practice?

About voiced and voiceless or unvoiced sounds.

The three different pronunciations of the past ending -ed.

Exercises to practice the past ending pronunciation. Don't miss them.

 

 


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