Regular verbs in past• Remember, regular verbs are the ones that follow the rule of adding

“ed” to make their past form.

• You also need to remember that in English there is no way to identify if a verb is regular or irregular. The only way to differentiate verbs in English is by memorizing their forms.

• As you know there are certain rules to add the “ed” ending to regular verbs. 1. if the verb ends in “e” you only add “d”, 2. if the verb ends in “y” preceded by a consonant you change the “y” for an “i” and add “ed”, 3. if the verb has only one syllable and ends in a consonant preceded by a vowel, you need to double the consonant. Can you think of examples to the rules I just mentioned?

• Now that you remember regular verbs and their past form, let’s focus on the pronunciation of that past form.

• There are three ways of pronouncing regular verbs in past and they are related to the last sound of the verb in present. Let’s take a look first at what voiced and voiceless sounds are.

• A voiced sound is a sound that produces vibration in the vocal cords when it is produced. There are 15 voiced sounds and 9 voiceless sounds: Notice: All vowels sounds are voiced

Voiced sounds Voiceless sounds

/z/ /ʒ/ /d/ /b/ /r/ /p/ /t/ /k/

/v/ /dʒ/ /g/ /w/ /l/ /f/ /θ/ /s/

/ð/ /m/ /n/ /j/ /ŋ/ / /ꭍ /ʧ/ /h/

• The rule is very simple, if the verb ends in a voiceless sound we pronounce the past /t/. If the verb ends in a voiced sound we pronounce the past /d/. Now, if the verb already ends in /t/ or /d/ we need to pronounce the past /Id/. Let see a couple of examples.

Verb in present tense Verb in past tense Correct pronunciation

Walk (voiceless) Walked /ˈwɔːkt/

Stop (voiceless) Stopped /stɒpt/

Wash (voiceless) Washed /wɒʃt/

Clean (voiced) Cleaned /kliːnd/

Call (voiced) Called /kɔːld/

Follow (voiced) Followed /ˈfɒləʊd/

Decide (/d/) Decided /dɪˈsaɪdɪd/

Want (/t/) Wanted /ˈwɒntɪd/

• Please notice the final sounds in the phonetic transcription of the verbs in past.

• We are now going to practice the pronunciation of the past form of regular verbs. For this, you need to go to the “Pronunciation Practice” in the V-Room, where you will find this exercise:.

• Please record the pronunciation of the following verbs in past:/t/ /d/ /Id/

Watch Cycle Accept

Bake Wonder Visit

Smoke Damaged Decide

Help Play Include

Finish Clean Lift

Bake Remove Select

Shop Listen Act

Dress Kill Celebrate

Ask Replace Wait

Work Admire Need

/t/ /d/ /Id/

Blush Achieve Invite

Walk Cry Complete

Enjoy Call Count

Jump Travel Add

Ache Answer Taste

Brush Spill Want

Clap Battle Shout

Wish Live Attempt

Touch Film Avoid

Check Hug Bolt

Presentation designed by: Manuel Medina (2016)