Lesson · Tense Tables · The rule that needs the sound

How -ed and -s Are Said

Walked, played and wanted all end in -ed, and the ending is said three different ways. The last sound of the verb picks the way, and the rule that does it is right for 1111 of the 1118 verbs it can be checked on. The seven it misses are the lesson.

Open the interactive lesson Practice

-ed after t or d id wanted after voiceless t walked after anything else d played -s after a hiss iz passes after voiceless s walks after anything else z plays the last SOUND picks it, not the last letter

How the two endings are said

Core ideas

What this lesson establishes

Three ideas, and the second is a test you can do with one finger.

One spelling, three sounds

The ending -ed is written the same in walked, played and wanted, and said three ways. The ending -s is the same: walks, plays and passes. The page reads a sound and not a spelling, so you can hear what the spelling hides.

The last sound of the verb picks the ending

You do not learn the sound of each verb. You listen to how the verb ends. After t or d, the past ending is a part of its own, id. After a hiss, the -s ending is a part of its own, iz. Everywhere else the ending joins the last part, and one question picks it: is the last sound voiced or voiceless?

A rule about sounds is scored the same way as a rule about letters

The lab runs each rule over every verb in the printed list and checks the answer against a dictionary, a book that records how words are said. The share right is printed, and so is every verb the rule gets wrong. The rule is not a feeling about how English sounds. It is a count.

The material

The verbs that break it

The rule for -ed misses seven verbs of 1118, and the rule for -s misses two of 1189. Every miss is the rule being given a sound the form does not have: either the dictionary's first reading is another word, or the last sound itself turns voiced before the ending.

Walked, played and wanted all end in -ed. Say them and the endings are not the same. Walked ends in a t sound, played in a d sound, and wanted has an extra part. The ending -s does the same thing in walks, plays and passes.

You do not have to learn which sound each verb takes. The last sound of the verb decides, and there is a rule for it.

Voiced and voiceless

A sound is voiceless when it is said without the throat shaking, and voiced when the throat shakes. Put a finger on your throat and say s, then z. The first has no shake and the second does. Every vowel is voiced. So are b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v and z, among others. The voiceless ones are p, k, f, s, t, the sound at the start of think, the sound at the start of ship and the sound at the start of church.

The rule for -ed

After t or d, the ending is a part of its own, id: wanted, needed.
After any other voiceless sound, the ending is t: walked, hoped, laughed.
After any other sound, a vowel included, the ending is d: played, loved, opened.

The rule for -s

After a hiss, the ending is a part of its own, iz: passes, wishes, watches.
After any other voiceless sound, the ending is s: walks, hopes.
After any other sound, a vowel included, the ending is z: plays, needs, loves.

The spelling does not always show the hiss. Judges and faces end in a silent e, so the spelling adds only -s, and they still take the extra part.

How often the rule is right

The lab looks up the last sound of each verb in a dictionary of sounds and applies the rule. The dictionary also says how the form with the ending is said, so each answer is checked. Counted on this page, the -ed rule is right for 1111 of 1118 verbs, 99.4%. The -s rule is right for 1187 of 1189, 99.8%. The dictionary does not carry 92 of the past forms and 21 of the -s forms, such as blogged; the lab lists them and does not count them.

The seven words the -ed rule misses

Not one of the seven is a verb that breaks the rule. In every one the dictionary answered about a different word, so the rule was given a sound the verb does not have.

The dictionary gives the noun or the adjective first: abused, closed, excused, housed and used. The noun house, the noun use and the adjective close end in s, but the verbs end in z, so the ending is d. Give the rule the verb's sound and it is right.
A voiceless sound that turns voiced: mouthed. The noun mouth ends in the sound at the start of think. The verb ends in the sound at the start of then, which is voiced, so the ending is d, and the rule is right about the verb.
A form with two readings: legged. As a verb, he legged it, the ending is d, as the rule says. The dictionary's first reading is the adjective, as in four-legged, which is said with id after the g. The rule was right; the dictionary was asked about another word.

The -s rule misses knives and mouths, and both are one turn: a voiceless last sound turns voiced, and the ending turns to z with it. Knife ends in f, and the f becomes v in knives, as it does in wives; the list also records knifes, which follows the rule, but the dictionary does not carry it. Mouths is the verb mouth again, said with the sound at the start of then, where the dictionary's first reading is the noun.

The same rule on nouns

The -s rule is the same rule on a noun that means more than one. Run on 1823 nouns, it is right for 1820, 99.8%, and the three misses are mouths, paths and youths. All three end in the sound at the start of think, and in all three it turns into the sound at the start of then when the noun means more than one, so the ending is z and not s. The course called Nouns and Articles returns to this rule and the words that break it.

Two limits. The sounds are American, from the dictionary's first reading of each word, so a British speaker may say a word a little differently. And the rule says how an ending is said, not when to use it.

Interactive

How -ed and -s are said, from the last sound of the word

Two rules run on every verb in the printed list, and scored against the dictionary

the rule—

the rule is right—

share—

it misses—

the words it misses—

not in the dictionary, not counted—

the word you typed—

Score the two endings on the printed list

Each verb in the list of the 2,800 most common words has its last sound looked up in a dictionary of sounds. The rule says how the ending should be said; the dictionary says how it is said. The table prints both for every word, and the words where they differ. Choose the same -s rule on the plurals of nouns to run the second rule on nouns. Type a verb under A word from the list and the page says its last sound, what the rule says and what the dictionary says, so you can test your own answer before you read the table. The sounds are American, from the dictionary's first reading of each word.

The ending List A word from the list

Method

Saying an ending

To say the ending of a verb you have not heard, do this.

Say the verb and listen to its last sound

Not the last letter. Love ends in e and sounds like it ends in v; laugh ends in -gh and sounds like it ends in f.

Ask if it is the sound the ending needs a part for

For -ed, that is t or d. For -s, it is a hiss: the sound that ends pass, wish or watch. If so, add a part: id or iz.

If not, decide if the last sound is voiced

Say the sound with a finger on your throat. A shake means voiced, and the ending is d or z. No shake means voiceless, and the ending is t or s.

Check the short list of verbs that break it

A few verbs do not end the way the dictionary's first reading says. The lab prints them, and each one has a reason.

Check yourself

Score 0 / 0

Choose the answer you can justify.

Three verbs, three sounds

Read the last sound of each verb. The rule picks the ending from it, and the dictionary agrees.

walk last sound k, voiceless walked said t play last sound a vowel, voiced played said d want last sound t wanted said id 1111 of 1118 verbs follow the -ed rule

Walk ends in a voiceless sound, so the ending is t. Play ends in a vowel, and every vowel is voiced, so the ending is d. Want ends in t, and t and d are the sounds that cannot take a joined ending, so wanted has a part of its own, id.

The dictionary agrees for 1111 of the 1118 verbs it can check. That is the whole rule, and you can use it on a verb you have never heard.

Common mistakes

Saying -ed as a part of its own every timeWalked has one part, not two. The ending is a part of its own only after t or d, as in wanted and needed. After walk it is t, and after play it is d.

Reading the last letter instead of the last soundLaugh ends in the letters -gh and the sound f, so laughed ends in t. Love ends in the letter e but its last sound is v, so loved ends in d. The rule reads sounds.

Saying the -s ending as s every timePlays, needs and loves end in z, not s. The s you see is a z you hear after a voiced sound.

Check your understanding

✓

Finish when you can say, from the last sound of a verb, how its -ed and its -s are said.

You should be able to say whether the -ed of a verb is said t or d or a part of its own, and whether its -s is said s or z or with a part of its own, read the score of each rule off the printed list, and explain the few verbs the rules miss.

Note: The same sounds appear in the spelling. A hiss at the end of a verb is the -es of “Five Forms Make Twelve”: passes, wishes, watches. The spelling rule and the sound rule are two views of one fact.