The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

base verb
(v1)

past simple
(v2)

past participle
(v3)

work

worked

worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

  • I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

example
with -ed:

pronounce
the -ed:

extra syllable?

unvoiced

/t/

want

wanted

/ Id/

yes

voiced

/d/

end

ended

unvoiced

/p/

hope

hoped

/ t/

no

/f/

laugh

laughed

/s/

fax

faxed

/S/

wash

washed

/tS/

watch

watched

/k/

like

liked

voiced

all other sounds,
for example...

play

played

/ d/

allow

allowed

beg

begged

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:

  • aged
  • blessed
  • crooked
  • dogged
  • learned
  • naked
  • ragged
  • wicked
  • wretched