In American English, prefixes (pronounced: PREE-fiks-z) and suffixes (pronounced: SUHF-iks-z) may change the pronunciation, form, and/or meaning of a word ([click here for our previous article on this topic]). In today’s article, we are focusing on the suffix “-ed” and other past tense suffixes.
When “-ed” is added to the end of a verb, it changes the tense of that word to simple past. Usually, we do not pronounce the “e”, but only the “d” here, unless it comes after the letters “t” or another “d”. Take a look at the following examples:
1 – sound/syllable —
play (PLAY) – present tense
played (PLAYD) – past tense
jump (JUHMP) – present tense
jumped (JUHMPD) – past tense
hike (HYK) – present tense
hiked (HYKD) – past tense
use (YOOZ) – present tense
used (YOOZD) – past tense
judge (JUHJ) – present tense
judged (JUHJD) – past tense
vote (VOHT) – present tense
head (HEHD) – present tense
2 – sounds/syllables —
voted (VOH-did) – past tense
(notice in the American accent the letter “t” can be pronounced a little softer to sound like a “d”)
headed (HEH-did) – past tense
💡NOTE: When “ed” is used as a permanent part of a word and not as a suffix, the “e” is pronounced and makes a new syllable.
For example, look at the difference here:
“naked” (NAY-kid) – adjective – 2 syllables
VS
“faked” (FAYKD) – past tense verb of “fake” – 1 syllable
👉 Now, let’s take a look at some other suffixes that are not so common, but used for changing verbs to their past tense form:
“-old” (e.g. sold, told)
(present tense: sell / tell)
“-ent” (e.g. sent, spent)
(present tense: send / spend)
“-oke” (e.g. spoke, broke)
(present tense: speak / break)
🧠 Also, remember:
The suffix “-ed” can also be used to turn verbs into adjectives that describe feelings or emotions, for example:
-
excited (EHKS – II – did)
-
annoyed (UH – noyd)
-
bored (BOHRD)
-
scared (SKEHRD)
-
interested (IN – tris – stid)
Can you think of any others? 👀
Anyway, that concludes today’s article on a very frequently used suffix: “-ed”.
Stay tuned for our future discussion on another commonly used suffix: “-es”, coming soon 😉!
