The verb play/pleι/ has one syllable and the past tense played/pleιd/ also has only one syllable. Usually the -ed ending is just a consonant sound (C), not another syllable; the letter E is silent. So, for example, smiled/smaιld/ rhymes with child /t∫aιld/, even though child does not have a letter E before the D. Listen to the rhymes. Notice that -ed rhymes with either /t/ or /d/.
He looked round first, And then reversed. The car that passed Was going fast. It hit the side. The driver cried. He never guessed, He'd pass the test.
If the infinitive of the verb ends with the sounds /t/ or /d/, -ed or -d is a new syllable; the lerter E is pronounced as a vowel sound. For example: hate/heιt/- one syllable hated /heιtιd/ = two syllables
Listen and compare the sentences on the left and right below.
OO
OoOo (-ed = extra syllable)
Pete played. Dan danced. Will watched. Liz laughed. Clare cleaned. Steve stopped.
Past tense endings tell you if the sentence is present or past. Listen to the difference.
Present
Past
You never cook a meal. I sometimes watch a movie. We often phone our parents.
You never cooked a meal. I sometimes watched a movie. We often phoned our parents.
Note: If it is difficult to say the -ed ending in words like cooked, imagine that the -ed is joined to the word after. For example say cooked all the food like this: cook tall the food. Note: If the word after the past tense verb begins with a consonant, you may not hear the -ed, e.g. cooked dinner, walked through.
Complete each sentence with the past tense of a verb from the box.In each sentence, the first sound of the verb is the same as the firstsound in the person's name! Then listen, check and repeat.
play watch add phone count mix cook start shout paint
Listen and circle the verb form you hear, past or present. Key. 1. walked 2. want 3. laugh 4. danced 5. hated 6. help 7. needed 8. paint 1 I always walk / walked away from fights. 2 I think they want / wanted to talk. 3 Me and my friends laugh / laughed a lot. 4 On Saturdays, we dance / danced all night. 5 I always hate / hated Sundays. 6 You never help / helped Alice. 7 They need / needed more time. 8 They paint / painted the walls every few years.
Follow up: Record yourself saying the sentences in 4, choosing thepresent or past tense. Make a note of which tense you say. Then listento your recording in about two weeks. Is it clear which tense you said?