Get It RIGHT! | How To Nail -ED Endings—Speaking English

Have you ever noticed how the past tense Ed  ending can disappear in spoken English? What?

Yeah. Let's look at an example the  word ‘looked’. The Ed which has  

three different pronunciations  is a t sound here. T, looked.

But sometimes we drop the t- sound between two  consonants. So, in the common phrase ‘looked for’,  

there might be no t- sound at all. Then  it sounds just like the present tense.

That we analyze and look for  patterns in what our leaders did.

Did you hear a T? I didn't. Let's watch  on slow motion then maybe we'll catch a T.

That we analyze and look for  patterns in what our leaders did.

No. In conversational English  those Ts are sometimes dropped.

Let's look at another example. Where is the T?

If you haven't looked for a  job within some period of time.

Nope, didn't hear it. Let's try slow motion.

If you haven't looked for a  job within some period of time.

This T also dropped.

Today we're pulling together three  videos on this confusing topic. The  

three different pronunciations of the Ed ending.

I'm Rachel and I've been  teaching the American accent  

here on YouTube for over 15 years. Check out  Rachelsenglish.com/free for my free course:  

The Top 3 Ways to Master the American Accent.  Let's get started with the Ed endings.

If you know the three pronunciations or  have a guess put them in the comments below.

There are three rules. The first one is: If  the sound before the Ed ending is unvoiced  

then the Ed ending becomes a T. Worked,  for example. The k sound is unvoiced,  

k. That means only air makes the sound not a  vibration of the vocal cords. Kk. So for an  

unvoiced ending the Ed is also unvoiced, Tt,  tt. The T sound is unvoiced. Worked. Worked.

You probably learned that, worked and  you learned that pronunciation with  

that true T. Okay, let's go to Youglish  where we can hear some Americans saying  

this word worked with that tt, T sound  following the rules of pronunciation.  

We're going to do a search on the phrase  ‘worked for’, worked for in American English.

So, then one of the two adults  who work for the program said—

Worked for the program. Wait,  I didn't hear that. Did you?

I didn't hear ‘worked for the program’ I didn't  

hear that T, tt,tt, tt. I heard work  for the program. Let's listen again.

So then one of the two adults  who worked for the program said—

Let's try it in slow motion. If we  slow it down here, do we hear the T?

Two adults who work for the program said—

Work for the—

There's no T. It sounds like the present tense  ‘work for’. ‘I work for them.’ But it's past  

tense and we know that because she's telling  a story about something that happened to her  

in the past. Alright, well, let's listen to  another one. Are we hearing the T in worked?

My dad worked.

Okay there he said ‘worked’. Let's  listen to that in a full sentence.

You know it uh, he worked for Chrysler and—

Oh no, when he put the word in the sentence,  he dropped the T again. What's going on? Well,  

in American English, it's pretty common  to drop a T when it comes between two  

consonants. This happens for example, in the  word ‘exactly’. Most Americans won't say that T,  

exactly. They'll say ‘exactly’, dropping the  T sound, or in the phrase ‘just because’,  

most Americans will drop that t because it  comes between two consonants and will say  

‘just because’, just be-, right  from the S to the B with no T.

So, this can happen with these Ed  endings. As we go through all the  

rules for Ed endings in this video, we're  going to look at not just the rules but  

what actually happens when Americans speak  so you're getting effective accent training.

So rule one was: Unvoiced ending, Ed is  pronounced like a T, tt. Rule two: If the  

ending of the word in the infinitive is voiced,  the Ed ending will also be voiced which is a D.

Let's go to Youglish to find some examples.  We'll look at the phrase ‘opened the’.

I showed up and Cathy, his secretary  opened the door and I walked back—

Oh no, it happened again. Opened  the door became open the door,  

with no D sound even though it was in  the past tense, even though in English  

it would absolutely be written with that  Ed ending. Let's listen in slow motion.

Secretary opened the door and I walked back,

opened the door,

Nope, no D. We'll talk more  about this D later but for now,  

let's go and look at the  third rule for Ed endings.

If the final sound is D or T, the Ed ending  adds not just an extra sound like tt or dd,  

but an extra syllable. You can think of  this as being I as in sit or schwa plus D,  

and it said very quickly, It's  unstressed. So, need becomes  

needed. That last syllable always unstressed,  said quickly, needed, id, id, id, needed.

So we're learning these three rules:  worked, opened and needed. And  

we're also learning how these endings  might change when part of a sentence.

Let's go into more detail about rule one Ed is  T, tt after an unvoiced sound. These are all  

of the unvoiced sounds in American English but  we've already said that t goes with rule three,  

also there are no words that  end in the H sound. Plenty of  

words that end in the letter but none  that end in the sound that I know of,  

so for our ending sound for rule one  we have ch, f, k, p, s, sh, and h].

For all of the words in this category, if the  Ed word is at the end of the sentence you will  

pronounce that T. How did you get there? I walked.  Walked. With a light release of the T sound.

For all of the words in this category if the Ed  word is linking into a word that begins with a  

vowel or diphthong, you will lightly release the  T into that word connecting the two words for  

example, ‘walked a lot’. Walked a lot, walked  a, [t], the T linking into the schwa. But,  

if the next word begins with a consonant, many  times a native speaker will drop the T sound.

Let's look at each of the possibilities. We'll  start with a CH like in the word ‘watched’ in the  

phrase ‘I watched the best movie last night.’ I  watched the best, watched the best, I watched the  

best movie last night. Now let's play me saying  that phrase in slow motion, you won't hear a T.

I watched the best movie last night.

To fully pronounce the T,  it would sound like this:

watched the, watched the, I watched the best movie  last night. I watched the best movie last night.

And that's just not as natural as:

I watched the best movie last night.

Dropping the T. Now do you have to drop the T?  

Will Every American always drop  the T between two consonants?

No, I'm sorry. This is one of the things where  sometimes Americans will do it and sometimes  

they won't but just knowing about it is going to  help you understand what's happening in American  

English conversation. And you're going to hear  a lot of examples in this video that will help  

you feel more comfortable dropping the tea in  these Ed ending words so that you can sound more  

natural too. We're going to go to Youglish and  we're going to listen to two people saying the  

phrase ‘watched the’. The first time you'll  hear a T dropped, no T at all and then not.

You know, when I when I watched the original  trilogy, I thought it was the story of Luke.

Watch the original. I didn't hear a  T there. Let's listen in slow motion.

You know when I watched the original trilogy, I—

Okay, no T. Here's an example though where  there's a clear T in the phrase ‘watched the’

Utter lack of leadership  that I watched the NFL fail—

Watched the. So this one can go  either way. The thing you don't  

want to do is drop the T but then  not connect it to the next word,  

you do want it connect them. You can only  get by with dropping that T if you connect.

But even when we say this T, remember  it's not tt, watched. It's got less  

energy than that watched, tt,  tt, watched the. A very light T.

Next, the unvoiced sound F let's  link it into a vowel. Stuffed it,  

stuffed it, stuffed it. Light true T connecting.

Let's look at ‘stuffed the’ where  the next sound is a consonant.

I stuff the blanket into the bag. Stuff the. I  went to Youglish and I heard both pronunciations.  

With the light T released and then also dropped.  Let's listen to some. Here it's dropped.

So I rented the biggest Lincoln made,  and I stuffed the bowls in the trunk.

I stuffed the—

And here it is lightly pronounced.

I'm not sure uh if you guys stuffed the box.

Stuffed the—

The K sound like in kicked. I  kicked it. Linking into a vowel,  

we do a light T release. Kicked it, tt, tt, tt.

When the next sound is a  consonant like ‘kicked the’,  

‘I kicked the ball.’ This can go either  way. Here's an example where it's dropped.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's  Nest, the last book in the trilogy.

Kick the—

And here's one where it's not dropped.

While we kicked the can down the road.

kicked the—

But I want to say I listened to about 50  samples on Youglish of ‘kicked the’ and  

I only found one or two where the  T was pronounced. Also in these 50  

samples I found a lot of them were in the  phrase ‘kick the can down the road.’ This  

is an idiom that means to deal with  a problem or make a decision later.

For example, let's say my car broke down.  It's an old car and I probably need to buy  

a new one but I don't know what to  get and I don't have a lot of money,  

so I kicked the can down the road and just got  this one fixed. I know eventually I'll have to  

face the problem and replace the car but for  now I'm going to kick the can down the road.

Next, P like in the word ‘hoped’. Hoped.  I hoped it would get better. Hoped it.  

Tt, tt, tt. Light release of the T linking  into a vowel. Let's look at ‘hoped that’.  

Now the t is between two consonants and that  sound might get dropped in spoken English.  

I found quite a few examples of both dropped  and pronounced. Here's one where it's dropped:

I had hoped that that word might enter—

I hope that—

And here's one where it's not dropped:

I hoped that my mom would  just take care of it for me.

I hoped that—

Sometimes I sense my students panic when  there are two ways to do something. Are  

there cases where it's right and  cases where it's wrong? Not really.  

Both dropped and pronounced T will work. But my  students don't have to want to make a decision  

in the moment. Sometimes that's stressful so just  pick. In general, you'll pronounce it lightly or  

you won't. I think for a lot of my students  dropping it makes it a little easier makes  

linking easier, you'll hear native speakers do  both but you find the one that's right for you.

You know as I think of it, there is one more  point we need to discuss for all of these rule  

one Ed endings when a word ends in a T sound  which all of these do and it's followed by  

you or your that T can be turned into a CH. For  example, ‘helped you’ can become ‘helped you’,  

‘helped you’. Does that sound familiar? Helped  you, helped you. Let's listen to an example.

What shift in your thinking has helped you?

helped you?

Helped you? Helped you? Ch, ch, ch. So you can  hear this CH for any of these words. For example,  

‘missed’ which you'll study next.  ‘Missed your’ can become missed your,  

missed your. Let's listen to an example.

Perhaps missed your own life's mission.

Missed your—

Missed your. Okay, let's look at the S sound  like in the word ‘missed’. If the next sound  

is a vowel or diff thong you'll hear the  T linking in like in the phrase ‘missed  

it’, tt, tt, tt. Or if it's at the end of  the sentence, you'll hear the T. You'll be  

missed. Missed, but followed by a consonant  let's look at the example ‘missed the’,  

missed the. Now when I just said those two  words together it was really natural for me  

to drop that T. Missed the. That's what I  want to do. Missed the, missed that. When  

I search for missed the on Yougish, almost  all had the dropped T. So it actually just  

sounds like the present tense, miss the. Let's  go to Youglish. You tell me if you hear the T.

Everybody missed the boat that way.

Did you hear the T for the  past tense? Listen again.

Everybody missed the boat that way.

Missed the—

No, it's not there. Dropped T here is so natural.  Now, here's one where we will hear the T.

And yet, it kind of missed the boat.

missed the--

In both of these cases we heard the  idiom ‘to miss the boat’. It means  

to miss your chance to do something,  to miss an opportunity. For example,  

my mom invited me on a trip but I took too  long to decide if I wanted to go and she  

invited someone else. I missed the boat I decided  I really wanted to go so I was bummed about it.

SH. Let's use the word ‘push’.  Followed by a vowel or diphthong,  

you will hear the T linking in pushed a, pushed  a, pushed a, tt, tt, tt. Pushed a. He pushed a  

kid at school but followed by a consonant like  in pushed the. If I say that fast in a sentence,  

‘He pushed the wrong button.’ I will probably  drop that T. I just listened to Youglish and  

almost everyone there dropped the T in  pushed the. Maybe 90%. Here's an example.

When he pushed the Civil Rights uh, bills through—

pushed the—

And here's one where he  does say the T. Pushed the.

which is pushed the debt-to-GDP ratio higher.

pushed the—

Let's look at the unvoiced TH  like in the word ‘unearthed’.

If followed by a vowel or  diphthong, you'll hear a light T,  

we unearthed another clue.  Unearthed another, tt, tt, tt.

To unearth means to dig something  out of the Earth but it also means to  

discover something. Something that had been  hidden, lost, or kept secret. For example,  

I unearthed a secret from my father's past.  If followed by a constant, it can be dropped.

I listened to a lot of examples and most  of the time it was dropped. Here's one.

had unearth the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

unearthed the—

And here's one where it wasn't dropped.

Evans had basically unearthed the record room—

Unearthed the--

So my conclusion with Ed endings rule one is  this: When it links into a word that begins  

with another consonant, it's most common to  drop the T which then sounds just like the  

present tense. But don't worry about that,  everyone will know what you mean because  

of the context. Because you're speaking  about something that happened in the past.

Now, let's have you train with some of these rule  one cases with a dropped T to make that feel more  

comfortable. First, you'll hear a phrase then  you'll hear just the two-word link. Miss my,  

miss my in slow motion two times, repeat  the second time. It's important not to  

just learn something but to actually  train it speak out loud get used to it.

So then one of the two adults who work  for the program said--

to work for—

You know uh, he worked for Chrysler and he—

worked for--

I watched the best movie last night.

watched the—

You know when I when I watched the original  trilogy, I thought it was the story of Luke.

watched the—

So I rented the biggest Lincoln made  and I stuffed the bowls in the trunk,

I stuffed the—

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's  Nest, the last book in the trilogy.

kicked the—

I had hoped that that word might enter—

I hope that—

Everybody missed the boat that way.

Missed the—

When he pushed the civil rights uh, bills through—

pushed the—

had unearthed the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

unearthed the—

I've actually kicked the tires on most,

kicked the—

he skipped the 50th anniversary party in 1987,

he skipped the—

It helped that Tome had  brought in a talented chef.

help that—

That has pushed for bills of  rights around the country—

Pushed for—

Do you plan on paying for the legal fees of this  

older gentleman in North Carolina  who sucker punched the protester?

Punched the—

I also discovered that as I kind of  sniffed the air around Lake Charles—

sniffed the—

I tossed the newspaper into the back seat—

tossed the—

You know, we went through all the rules for the  

Ed endings but we really only got  to talk about rule one in depth.

Rule two: The last sound in the infinitive is a  voiced sound. What is a voiced sound? All vowels  

and diphthongs are voiced and some consonants.  First, we'll talk about vowels and diphthongs.  

For example, the word agree ends in  the E vowel. Agree. Past tense would be  

agreed. With the D sound. Agreed. Now you  probably learned that D is pronounced d,  

a stop of air voicing the vocal cords, dd, dd,  dd and then a release. Agreed. But we actually  

have a couple of different pronunciations  that we'll use for these rule two Ed endings.

Let's look at the phrase ‘I agreed it would be a  good idea.’ Agreed it, agreed it. Agreed [flap]  

agreed it. That's a flap of the tongue, it's  not a stop of air, it's actually just like the  

flap T if you're familiar with that sound. The  D between vowel or diphthong sounds is a quick  

single flap of the tongue against the roof of the  mouth. Agreed it, agreed it [flap], agreed it.

So anytime with these Ed endings  that you have the sounds of a vowel  

or diphthong D and then a vowel or  diphthong, it's a flap. Agreed it.

Light about. Light, light  about, light about, light about.

What if the next word doesn't begin  with a vowel or diphthong but rather  

a consonant? Let's take a look at the  example agreed with. I agreed with you.  

I agreed with you. It's not a fully pronounced D  because there's no release. That would be this:

I agreed with you. I agreed with you.  Agreed with, agreed with. We don't do that,  

we don't do that release when the next word begins  with a consonant, we make the noise in the vocal  

cords but we don't release it, we go right into  the next sound. In this case, W. Agreed with,  

agreed with agreed, it's the sound but there's  not a stop and release we just carry that voice  

d right into the W. Agreed with, agreed with. We  like to make English really smooth and that's why  

in these cases stop consonants are not fully  pronounced. Let's look at a few more examples  

where we have a vowel or diphthong then the D  and then the next word begins with a consonant.

He sued the company. Sued the, sued  the. Do you hear that D in the vocal  

cords? He sued the company. Plowed  through. Plowed, plowed through.

Weighed my options. Weighed my, weighted my,  weighed my options. Now let's look at a few  

more examples, you tell me how the Ed ending  should be pronounced. Flapped or unreleased?

The next word begins with a consonant sound so  this D is unreleased. Toyed with. Toyed with,  

toyed with. Let's go to Youglish for an example.

And I even toyed with calling the movie  Liberty for a little while.

toyed with—

Toyed with. Can you say that  now? Really easily with that  

unreleased D sound toyed with, toyed with.

What about this one? Is the D flapped or  unreleased? Reviewed a. Reviewed a. That's  

usually going to be a flap because  the D comes between two vowel or  

diphthong sounds. Reviewed a, reviewed  a. Let's go to Youglish for an example.

It's what people said when they  came from abroad, reviewed a place--

Reviewed a—

One more, what about this one? Booed  by. The next word begins with a  

consonant so that will be an unreleased  D. Booed by. Vibrating the vocal cords,  

making the D sound but not releasing.  Booed by. Let's look at an example.

I got booed by 20,000 people  for those that don't know in 2012.

Booed by--

So for rule two, we looked at vowel and diphthongs  plus Ed. What about all the consonants that are  

voiced? That's still rule two and things  start to get a little more complicated.

We'll look at each of these voiced consonant  

endings. Let's start with  R like in the word fired.

He was fired last week. Fired last, fired last.  Not d, a release, that would be fired last, fired  

last, but it's fired last. That unreleased D sound  in the vocal cords before the next consonant.

If the next word begins with a vowel or  diphthong, the D will be flapped but only  

because of the R. The rule for flapping is  a D or T will be flapped between two sounds  

that are vowels and diphthongs or if the first  sound the sound before is an r and the sound  

after is a vowel or diphthong like in the  word party or hardy, those are both flaps  

because of the r-d-t diphthong pattern.  Party, hardy. So when we have an ending  

R infinitive plus the D sound plus the word that  begins with the vowel or diphthong, that D will be  

flapped. It's not like this for any of these other  voiced consonants it's just because of the R.

He was fired on Monday. Fired on [flap]  single flap of the tongue. Fired on.

And I should say for any of these rule  two words if the next word is you or your,  

a native speaker might turn that d  into a j sound. We do this with any  

word that ends in a d when the next  word begins with you or your like in  

the phrase ‘would you’. Would jj, jj, jj, J  sound. Would you. Would you do that for me?

J, J. So all of these words in rule  two do end in a D sound therefore you  

might hear this happen. Let's take fired  you, fired you as an example. Fired you.

You know they fired you and you were  you were you know poor for two years,

Fired you--

Fired you, fired you, J J, with that J sound.

How about G? Another voiced consonant like in the  word beg, begged, she begged all the time. When  

the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,  you will release that D into the next word,  

begged all the time. Do, do, do, begged all,  begged all the time. But when the next sound is  

a consonant, it gets more complicated. Honestly,  there are three ways you might hear it. First,  

dropped. I begged for a dog when I was a little  kid. Begged for, begged for. I dropped it there.  

Or you might hear that unreleased D sound in the  vocal cords I begged for a dog. Begged for a dog,  

begged for a dog. Or you might even hear a  light release, I begged for a dog, begged,  

light release, I begged for a dog. Let me  show you what I mean, we'll go to Youglish.

Now in this one, I hear the D in the vocal  cords but not released, beg for, begged for.

That he begged for quarters  in the park across the street.

Begged for quarters—

In this next one, I don't really  hear any D. I think it's dropped.

The rebels beg for food at homes along the way.

Begged for food--

And now an example where  the D is lightly released.

I like begged for an interview,

Begged for an interview—

Like I said in my rule one video, try not to  get stressed out about there being more than one  

option. if it's easier for you to always lightly  release your D, that's okay. As you get more  

used to English and you're around a lot of native  speakers or if you're doing a lot of imitating you  

may find that you start dropping the D sound more  naturally. What we're doing here is looking at  

all the different possibilities and pronunciations  of what you'll hear when speaking with Americans.

When a word ends in the J sound like in ‘changed’,  

I just listened to a bunch of examples  of changed. Let's listen to a few.

Life changed pretty rapidly for the worst.

changed pretty—

Little by little things changed—

Changed—

So all those had the released D,  changed but it can definitely be  

dropped too. Let's look at a common  phrase changed my mind. Changed my.  

It's fairly common to drop the Ed ending  there. The more common a phrase is,  

the more likely we'll do some sort of reduction  there. And that's what I found often happens here.

‘I changed my mind’ becomes ‘I change  my mind.’ I listen to a lot of phrases  

and the D was almost always dropped. So  it just sounds like the present tense.  

Change my mind. Even though it's  past tense. Here are some examples.

But I have changed my mind about stress.

Change my mind. When I listen in slow  motion I don't hear any kind of D.

It's changed my mind—

Here a few more with that dropped D.

Kind of still feel like a loser  because I changed my mind.

Yes.

I changed my mind—

Uh I've changed my mind a number of  times after hearing the oral argument.

I've changed my mind—

God appears to Schleyer and says I changed  my mind about that confounded speech thing.

change my mind—

What about a word where the last sound  in the affinitive is the L like in the  

word drill? When it's followed by  a word that begins with a vowel or  

diphthong release the D into that  word to link it. Drilled into,  

drilled into. Let's look at some examples  where the next word begins with a consonant.

Each hole has been drilled  to fit a certain nut shape.

Drilled to fit—

Drilled to. The D made in the vocal  cords drilled to, it's not released  

we just go right into the T sound. If  I released it, it would be drilled to,  

drilled to, but it's drilled  to, drilled to. Listen again.

Each hole has been drilled  to fit a certain nut shape.

drilled to fit—

Another example.

We have all these drilled but uncompleted wells

drilled but--

Drilled but, drilled but. I did hear  the D released lightly. Drilled but.

This next one was tricky for me,  I had to really slow it down to  

hear if there is an unreleased  to D or not, I think there is.

There's more rig more holes being drilled, we're  starting to see some more sales tax come in.

Drilled, we’re star—

The most common pronunciation I was hearing  in various situations was an unreleased D.

Now we'll cover our three  nasal consonants: M, N and NG.

For M we'll look at the word bummed. That means  disappointed. We often use it with out. I'm so  

bummed out. Now in that case because  the next word begins with a diphthong,  

we link with the D. Doubt, doubt, bummed out,  

bummed out. I'm so bummed out. Let's  listen to an example of that one.

It was about a full day of just  like being down and bummed out.

Bummed out—

Dout, dout, bummed out.

Now we'll hear two examples where  bummed is followed by a consonant.  

First it's dropped and that's more common  and then you'll hear it where it's released.

See, she's probably just bummed that  she's not in the center of attention.

Bummed that--

Bummed that. I didn't hear that D at all.  That D was dropped. Here it's released.

And so we were bummed for a couple of days until—

Bummed for a couple—

Bummed for, bummer for, D D  D. A Light release of the D.

You know I haven't been talking about much  when these Ed ending words are at the end  

of a thought group. There it will usually be  a light release. Let's look at an example.

So I was bummed.

so I was bummed.

Bummed. Light release. That's a fun  word isn't it? I'm feeling bummed,  

I'm kind of bummed out, or you can use  it as a noun, It's a bummer. Oh shoot,  

my favorite restaurant is closed today  I wanted to eat there. That's a bummer.

N. N is kind of special. N can make a T silent.  Do you know this rule? When T comes after an N,  

it's not uncommon to drop that T like in the  word internet or interview. When D comes after  

an n and before another consonant, it's pretty  common to drop like in ‘grand piano’. So it's  

really common to drop the D sound in these  Ed endings when the sound in the infinitive,  

the final sound was n and the next  word begins with a consonant. Let's  

look at several examples. These  are all with the word signed.

The contracts that we signed with  virtual employee State very clearly—

we signed with—

The result was that he had only  signed 10% of his paintings.

Signed 10—

Of all the different laws of the country  put it on one document signed by an EO,

Signed by an--

All with a dropped D. Now, we'll look  at drained, also all dropped Ds here.

You know the political philosophers have sort  of drained the life out of them to some extent.

Drained the life—

We see what we've done is we've  drained the water down in this Basin.

Drained the water—

The American Soldier has drained deep  the chalice of courage. drained deep--

And as always when the next word  begins with a vowel or diphthong,  

we'll use the released D to  link in. Like in this example.

I signed into law the global food Security Act.

I signed into law--

Signed into. Into [flap] with  that D sound linking. At the  

end of a sentence we'll probably release that D.

What about NG? Well we don't have many words  here. A lot of those NG ending verbs are not  

regular like, ring, rang, sing, sang, but  we do have the word long, longed. The noun  

is longing and this means to yearn for. To  have a strong desire for. I longed for my  

mother's attention or I longed for my newborn  baby when I was at work or I longed to be taken  

seriously. This is often followed by for which  of course begins with a consonant. The Ed ending  

can be dropped but also this is an emotional  word and it will sometimes be more stressed.

I longed for acceptance. And in  these cases, the D will probably  

we be lightly released. We'll hear two examples,  first where it's dropped and then when it's not.

Spanish soledad, which longed  for them long for them.

longed for them.

The Limited technical approaches that were  

available I I I longed for the  advantages of a microorganism.

Longed for—

Let's move on to the voiced th. This is another  sound that's not very common in Ed ending words.  

We have smoothed, bathed. These words will most  often be followed by a word that begins with a  

vowel like smoothed out or smoothed over  or bathed in. We’ll lightly release the D  

into that next sound. But when the next sound  is a consonant it's much easier to drop the  

Ed ending to connect. Here are three examples  dropping the Ed ending with the word smoothed.

You might say well maybe things  just smoothed themselves out.

smoothed themselves--

The other thing we did is  that we smoothed the profile.

Smoothed the-- And smoothed things out so I'm waiting—

smoothed things out—

The V sound like in moved his car. Moved his,  moved his. There I dropped the H in his, that's  

a common reduction and so the D linked into the  I sound because that's a vowel. Moved his, dis,  

dis, I moved his car. At the end of a sentence  we'll probably release that D. He moved. He moved.  

But when the next sound is a consonant, you'll  hear both dropped and lightly released. Here,  

two examples. In the first, the D is released.  Moved me. In the second example, it's dropped.

That insight is what moved me to  write my book “The True American.”

moved me—

Before she moved back to Mexico.

moved back—

Words were the infinitive ends in Z like ‘buzzed’,  

the rules are the same. Released D and into  a vowel or diphthong like in buzzed about.

Which is one of the most buzzed  about companies in education today.

buzzed about—

Buzzed about means really talked  about. There's a lot of interest  

about something. At the end of a thought  group it will likely be released like here.

And she buzzed.

Buzzed.

And when the next word begins with a consonant,  

you'll have either dropped or lightly released  ending. Here's an example where it's released.

My phone buzzed with a text message telling me—

Buzzed--

And where the Ed ending is completely dropped.

Oh, my husband came home a  little buzzed last night.

Buzzed last last.

We have one more sound here for rule two and  it's the Zh sound. It's not at all common to  

have a verb that ends with Zh plus Ed but we  do have barraged. Barraged means to bombard,  

aggressively throw something at someone and  it might not mean physically throw. You can  

barrage someone with words or someone can feel  barraged with emails, they just keep getting  

too many emails. They can't keep up. This word is  usually followed by with or by but you might hear  

barraged us, followed by a vowel so you'll link  with the D. They barraged us with phone calls,  

dus, dus, dus, barraged us, barraged us. At  the end of a sentence, I'll lightly release  

it. I was completely barraged. But followed  by a consonant it will likely be dropped,

We're barraged by it everywhere  we go, we're barraged by paper.

we're barraged by it--

Or lightly released.

I was just barraged with questions.

Barraged--

Whew! That is a lot for rule two isn't it?  The pronunciations of the Ed ending depend  

on the sounds before and after. And  the more you study and watch examples  

on Youglish or TED talks the more you'll  get used to how Americans pronounce the  

Ed endings and you'll be able to smooth  out your own speech and sound natural.

Now let's have you train some of these  rule two cases with a dropped D to make  

that feel more comfortable for you. First  you'll hear a phrase then you'll hear just  

the two-word link in slow motion twice three  times, repeat the third time. It's important  

to not just learn something but to actually  train it. To speak out loud to get used to it.

I got booed by 20,000 people for those  that don't know in 2012. Begged for food--

But I changed my mind about stress.

changed my mind—

Kind of still feel like a loser  because I changed my mind. Yes.

I changed my mind—

Uh i' I've changed my mind a number of  times after hearing the oral argument.

I've changed my mind—

God Appears to Schlayer and says I changed  my mind about that confounded speech thing.

I changed my mind--

See, she's probably just bummed that  she's not in the center of attention.

Bummed that she's—

The contracts that we signed with  virtual employee stay very clearly—

We signed with--

The result was that he had only  signed 10% of his paintings.

Signed--

Of all the different laws of the  country put it on one document  

signed by an EO that empowered the  Department of Homeland Security.

Signed by an--

You know the political philosphers who sort  of drained the life out of him to some extent.

drained the life—

we see what we've done is we've  drained the water down in this basin.

drained the water--

The American Soldier has drained  deep the chalice of courage.

Drained deep--

You might say, “Well, maybe things  just smooth themselves out.”

smooth themselves—

The other thing we did is  that we smoothed the profile.

We smoothed the--

And you figured things out a little bit  and smoothed things out so I'm waiting,

smoothed things out smooth out—

Before she moved back to Mexico.

Moved back--

Oh, my husband came home a  little buzzed last night.

Buzzed last night.

We're barraged by it, everywhere  we go we're barraged by paper.

we're barraged by it--

I plugged the probe into my phone,

Plugged the--

They came in, did the staged reading.

did the staged reading.

We actually enrolled the company,

we enrolled the company--

Of course, he blamed the Press.

he blamed the—

It is now day two and I've strained the broth.

strained the—

I strained the potatoes,

I strained--

Do you feel you were wronged by Conference  USA not being able to host in the final year?

wronged by—

They solved the problem  they have called cash flow.

They solved the--

I did not expect rule two to take this long.

What happens to the T in wanted? or parted?

The Ed endings in American English  are absolutely crazy. We have rules  

but we don't always follow them. Today  we're going over rule three for the Ed  

ending verbs. Don't worry if you missed one or  two, you will not be lost here. These are the  

words where the Ed ending adds not just  an extra sound but a full extra syllable.  

We're going to make sure that you know how  to integrate them smoothly and perfectly into  

your speech so you sound natural speaking  in the past tense in American English.

We did a deep dive on rule one. Final  sounds in the affinitive is unvoiced T,  

like in walked. We did a deep dive on rule two,  

final sound in the infinitive is voiced,  the Ed becomes d, a D sound like in seemed.

Now we have one more rule and it's short. There  are only two sounds involved. The last sound in  

the infinitive is T or D. Then the Ed ending is  not just an extra sound but an extra syllable.  

Need, a one- syllable word becomes needed, a  two syllable word. Correct, a two syllable word  

becomes corrected, a three syllable word.  This ending syllable is always unstressed.  

Today we'll go deep on rule three: What exactly  does it mean, what are all the cases and how can  

you use this to sound more natural and relaxed  speaking English. With this extra syllable we  

have the I sound or you can think of it as  the schwa plus D. The ending D will always  

be a flap sound when it links into a word that  begins with a vowel or diphthong. For example,  

end it up. End it [flap] up, end it up, ended up.  A quick flap of the tongue for that Ed ending.  

Let's look at another example. Acted on becomes  acted on. Acted [flap] on, acted on. That flap  

of the tongue. At the end of a thought group  or when the next word begins with a consonant,  

that will usually be an unreleased D. That means  we make a sound in the vocal cords for the D  

but we don't release it, D, it's just dd. For  example, ‘it ended’. End of my thought group  

I didn't release the D, it ended. That vibrating  of the vocal cords for that voiced sound. Ended.

Now, if it links into a word that begins with  a consonant, we'll also make that unreleased  

sound. Ended my. Ended my. So it's not ended my.  Ended, ended. We don't release it. It's ended my,  

ended my, ended my. Releasing the D, ended my,  ended my is just a little bit extra. We don't  

want to make that much of the D so we vibrate  the vocal cords but then go on to the next sound.

Now, if the next word is you or your, you  might hear the ending become a jJ sound.  

Ender Ended your, ended your. Great. But now let's  look at some cases that affect the T or D at the  

end of the infinitive. So not the Ed ending but  the T at the end of the word ‘heat’. For example,  

heated does not equal heated because the  rule for the t is that if it comes between  

two vowel or diphthong sounds, it's a flap  T. So it's not t heated. That's a true T,  

it's heated [flap] heated, heated. So any word  where there's a vowel or diphthong plus T and  

then an ed ending, that's a flap T. Heated,  dated, noted, weighted, [flap]. All flap T's.

The flap T rule also applies when the  sound before was an R. So R plus t plus  

vowel or diphthong is a flap T. That means  all the RT Ed ending words have a flap T like  

parted. Part, part [flap] parted, parted.  Alerted [flap], alert [flap], alerted.

And this is also true for the D. A D  between vowels or after an R before a  

vowel or diphthong is a flap. So  for example in the word boarded,  

board [flap], that D at the end of the  infinitive is a flap. Boarded, worded, worded.

What would it sound like if it wasn't a flap but  a real D with a stop and the release D? That would  

sound like this worded, worded, worded. It's too  much D we make a flap. Worded, graded, flap sound.

Let's look at another case. The sound before  the T of the word in the infinitive is an N.  

We might drop that that T. We do that in  the N combination sometimes like in the  

word interview. It's very common to drop  that T. So let's look at the word want.  

Past tense with the Ed ending, wanted.  But it's actually very common to drop  

the T sound in that word and it becomes  wanted, wanted. This pronunciation is  

more common than the pronunciation with  the T. Let's go to Youglish for examples.

And I got into it because I wanted to  help people feel better. Wanted to—

You had something you wanted to accomplish,

you wanted—

Wanted. Each one with no T sound at all. Isn't  this interesting? It's the T at the end of want  

that puts this into rule three because the  final sound is the T but we don't even say  

that. This is true also of the word counted.  You'll often hear that T dropped, counted.

Depending on how you counted it  between 30 and 60 mobile engineers.

You counted it— The votes hadn't been counted,

Counted—

There will definitely be cases  where you hear the T in counted  

but often not. Pointed, is  another word where usually  

the T will be dropped. I pointed out the  mistake. Pointed out. Pointed out. No T.

What about the word ‘planted’ becoming  ‘plan-ed’? Now I listened to a bunch of  

examples, there it does seem to be more common  to actually say the T sound than to drop it,  

planted, but even that one can go  either way. Planted or plan-ed.

What about n d plus Ed ending? We never drop  that D. Ended. If we dropped it, it would be  

ended. And that would sound very strange to us.  So ended, ended, bonded, we don't drop the D.

In the other ending clusters, we  do say the t or d, for example,  

the PT ending prompt or interrupt. We do  say that T when we add on the Ed. Prompted,  

interrupted, tt, tt, tt. A light  true T. Acted, lifted, folded,  

we say the D and fold. Folded, did, folded.  And those are the cases for rule three.

Wow, when you add up all these videos we've  been talking about Ed endings for well over  

30 minutes. Things just aren't as simple  as they seem. Now let's test your memory  

for the main three rules. Is the Ed ending  a T sound, a D sound or an extra syllable?  

Here's your first word word. Is it agred,  agreed or agreed? The final sound on the word  

when it's in the infinitive is a vowel that's  voiced so it's rule three, a D sound. Agreed.

What about this word? Is it  bombed, bombed, or bombed?

The last sound is voiced, it's not a T or a  D, therefore it's rule two, a D sound, bombed.

What about this word? Is it  talked, talked, or talked?

The last sound of the word in  the infinitive is unvoiced.  

Therefore the ending is unvoiced, T, talked.

Now let's listen to a bunch of examples  for rule three Ed endings. Some of them  

will have a dropped T some of them will have  a flap. Get used to simplifying and linking  

these words into the next words.

First you'll hear a phrase then you'll hear just  the two-word link like counted my in slow motion  

several times, repeat the last time, the third  time. Repeat that slow motion link. It's important  

not to just learn something but to actually  train it, to speak out loud, to get used to it.

And I got into it because I  wanted to help people feel better.

I wanted to--

You had something you wanted to accomplish,

you wanted—

Depending on how you counted it  between 30 and 60 mobile Engineers,

you counted it--

The votes hadn't been counted,

Counted--

I think that the landscape has  changed from when I started

When I started--

She rented a room for a summer and  she said, “Edith Knox wore pants.”

She rented--

They are then able to choose whether  they would to view the most noted,

most noted—

I think overwhelmingly like 87% of people sided  with the coalition. You know they, they get it.

People sided with--

which guided a lot of my decisions. Guided a lot--

Now you could prepare a lecture on  how to pronounce Ed endings. What  

do you think? Confusing? Simple?  Keep your learning going now with  

this video and don't forget to  subscribe with notifications on,  

I love being your English teacher. That's it  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.