Université de Bejaia
Faculté des Lettres et des Langues
Département de Langue et Culture Amazighes
Module : Anglais
Pronunciation: final “ed” and “s”
Overview
The final -ed ending has three different pronunciations: /t/, /d/, and /ed/
Final -ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds. Voiceless sounds are made by
pushing air through your mouth; no sound comes from your throat.
Examples of voiceless sounds: “K”, “P”, “S”, “Ch”, “Sh”, “F”
• Look → looked → look/t/
• Clap → clapped → clap/t/
• Miss → missed → miss/t/
• Watch → watched → watch/t/
• Finish → finished → finish/t/
Final -ed is pronounced /d/ after voiced sounds.
Voiced sounds come from your throat. Touch your neck when you make a voiced sound, you can
feel your voice box vibrate.
Examples of voiced sounds: “L”, “V”, “N”, “B” and all vowel sounds.
• Smell → smelled → smell/d/
• Save → saved → save/d/
• Clean → cleaned → clean/d/
• Rob → robbed → rob/d/
• Play → played → play/d/
Final -ed is pronounced /ed/ after “T”, and “D” sounds.
The sound /ed/ adds a whole syllable to a word
Example: Looked : look/t/ = one syllable; Needed :need/ed/ = two syllables
• Decide → decided → decide/ed/
• Need → needed → need/ed/
• Want → wanted → want/ed/
• Invite → invited → invite/ed/
Pronunciation of –s, -es
To make a noun plural, a final -s or -es is added to the noun
• Noun + s: Friend + s = Friends
• Noun + es: I like my classes
A final -s or -es is added to a present tense verb when the subject is a singular noun, e.g. my
father works at a bank. (My father is a singular noun)
• Verb + s: Mary enjoys cooking
• Verb + es: John watches the baseball game
Final -s is pronounced /s/ after voiceless sounds, as in “T”, “P”, and “K”
• Seat → seats → seat/s/
• Rope → ropes → rope/s/
• Back → backs → back/s/
Final -s is pronounced /z/ after voiced sounds, as in “D”, “B”, “G” and “EE”
• Seed → seeds → seed/z/
• Robe → robes → robe/z/
• Bag → bags → bag/z/
• See → sees → see/z/
Final -s and -es are pronounced /ez/ after “SH,” “CH,” “S,” “Z,” and “GE,”, “DGE”.
The /ez/ ending adds a syllable.
• Dish → dishes → dish/ez/
• Catch → catches → catch/ez/
• Kiss → kisses → kiss/ez/
• Mix → mixes → mix/ez/
• Prize → prizes → prize/ez/
• Edge → edges → edge/ez/
Spelling: Final –s/-es
Most words (verbs & nouns), add a final -s
• sing → sings; song → songs
Final –es is added to words ending with -SH, -CH, -S, -Z, and -X.
•wash → washes
• watch → watches
• class → classes
• buzz → buzzes
• box → boxes
For words ending in -y:
If -y is preceded by a vowel only -s is added,
• toy → toys; buy → buys
If -y is preceded by a consonant, the -y is changed to -i and -es is added.
• baby → babies; cry → cries
Pronunciation: final “ed” and “s”
Overview
The final -ed ending has three different pronunciations: /t/, /d/, and /ed/
Final -ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds. Voiceless sounds are made by pushing air through your mouth;
no sound comes from your throat.
Examples of voiceless sounds: “K”, “P”, “S”, “Ch”, “Sh”, “F”
• Look → looked → look/t/
• Clap → clapped → clap/t/
• Miss → missed → miss/t/
• Watch → watched → watch/t/
• Finish → finished → finish/t/
Final -ed is pronounced /d/ after voiced sounds. Voiced sounds come from your throat. Touch your neck when you
make a voiced sound, you can feel your voice box vibrate.
Examples of voiced sounds: “L”, “V”, “N”, “B” and all vowel sounds.
• Smell → smelled → smell/d/
• Save → saved → save/d/
• Clean → cleaned → clean/d/
• Rob → robbed → rob/d/
• Play → played → play/d/
Final -ed is pronounced /ed/ after “T”, and “D” sounds. The sound /ed/ adds a whole syllable to a word.
Example: Looked look/t/ = one syllable; Needed need/ed/ = two syllables
• Decide → decided → decide/ed/
• Need → needed → need/ed/
• Want → wanted → want/ed/
• Invite → invited → invite/ed/
Pronunciation of –s, -es
To make a noun plural, a final -s or -es is added to the noun
• Noun + s: Friend + s = Friends
• Noun + es: I like my classes
A final -s or -es is added to a present tense verb when the subject is a singular noun, e.g. my father works at a bank.
(My father is a singular noun)
• Verb + s: Mary enjoys cooking
• Verb + es: John watches the baseball game
Final -s is pronounced /s/ after voiceless sounds, as in “T”, “P”, and “K”
• Seat → seats → seat/s/
• Rope → ropes → rope/s/
• Back → backs → back/s/
Final -s is pronounced /z/ after voiced sounds, as in “D”, “B”, “G” and “EE”
• Seed → seeds → seed/z/
• Robe → robes → robe/z/
• Bag → bags → bag/z/
• See → sees → see/z/
Final -s and -es are pronounced /ez/ after “SH,” “CH,” “S,” “Z,” and “GE,”, “DGE”. The /ez/ ending adds a
syllable.
• Dish → dishes → dish/ez/
• Catch → catches → catch/ez/
• Kiss → kisses → kiss/ez/
• Mix → mixes → mix/ez/
• Prize → prizes → prize/ez/
• Edge → edges → edge/ez/
Spelling: Final –s/-es
Most words (verbs & nouns), add a final -s
• sing → sings; song → songs
Final –es is added to words ending with -SH, -CH, -S, -Z, and -X.
• wash → washes
• watch → watches
• class → classes
• buzz → buzzes
• box → boxes
For words ending in -y:
If -y is preceded by a vowel only -s is added,
• toy → toys; buy → buys
If -y is preceded by a consonant, the -y is changed to -i and -es is added.
• baby → babies; cry → cries
