-ED pronunciation

HOW TO PRONOUNCE -ED

AT THE END OF A VERB

Perfect ENGLISH Grammar

Improve your ENGLISH

It's difficult to know how to pronounce -ed in English, because it's pronounced in three different ways. It depends on the letter before.
The three ways are:

1: 'id' (like in painted 'paint-id')
2: 'd' (like in played)
3: 't' (like in hoped)

The most important thing to remember is this: if the verb has a 'd' or a 't' sound before -ed you need to pronounce 'id'. If it doesn't, don't pronounce an extra syllable.
Be careful! It's the sound, not the letter: 'decided' is pronounced 'decide-id' even though 'decide' ends in 'e', because we don't say the 'e', so the last sound is 'd'.
So, for example:

• wanted (want-id)
• ended (end-id)
• decided (decide-id)
• admitted (admit-id)
• suggested (suggest-id)
• recommended (recommend-id)
• hated (hate-id)
• intended (intend-id)
• started (start-id)

For the other two sounds it doesn't matter so much. Just make sure you don't say '-id'! For example, 'stopped' is pronounced 'stopt' and never 'stop-id'.
If the word before -ed ends in the sounds 'p', 'f', 's', 'ch', 'sh', 'k', then -ed is pronounced 't'. So:

• 'p' stopped
• 'f' laughed
• 's' promised
• 'ch' watched
• 'sh' finished
• 'k' walked

For all other words, -ed is pronounced 'd':

• allowed
• cried
• enjoyed
• cleaned
• imagined

CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio with the examples above.

Adapted from: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/how-to-pronounce-ed.html. Accessed on November 11, 2025. © www.perfect-english-grammar.com. All rights reserved.