1. Home
  2. Education
  3. English as 2nd Language

Past Tense Regular Verb Pronunciation

From Daniel Guarin

Thanks to Daniel Guarin for providing this pronunciation guide to past tense regular verbs.

Group A - Voiceless sound Last sound of the verb in infinitive

Group B - Voiced sound Last sound of the verb in infinitive

Group C - T or D Last sound of the verb in infinitive

Group A

Voiceless sound: – p – k – s – ch – sh – f – x – h - pronounce ED as “T”

Example: Ask, asked = ask(T)

Ed as “T”

asked
baked
brushed
cooked
cracked
crashed
danced (da:ns) + t
dressed
dropped
escaped
finished
fixed
guessed
helped
hoped
hiked
joked
jumped
knocked
kissed
laughed (læf) + t
locked
looked
missed
mixed
packed
passed
picked
pressed
pushed
pronounced
relaxed
slipped
smoked
stopped
shopped
talked
typed
walked
washed
watched
worked

If you have any doubt, you can look at the dictionary for the phonetic transcription.

Example: advised (ad’vaiz)

NOTE: Look carefully for verbs, not for nouns or adjectives because in some cases they have some phonetic differences.

Group A - Voiceless sound Last sound of the verb in infinitive

Group B - Voiced sound Last sound of the verb in infinitive

Group C - T or D Last sound of the verb in infinitive

Explore English as 2nd Language

About.com Special Features

Dinosaur Discoveries of the Decade

The top 10 fossil discoveries between 2000 and 2010. More >

How to Ace the GRE

Being well prepared is the first step; here are more essential suggestions. More >

  1. Home
  2. Education
  3. English as 2nd Language
  4. Beginning English
  5. Pronunciation - Speaking
  6. Past Tense Regular Verb Pronunciation >

©2010 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.