Shadowing Practice: How to pronounce past tense endings - a Mini English Lesson - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Mini English Lessons Today's Mini English Lesson is about how to pronounce -ed endings.
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These are common on regular past simple verbs, regular past participles, and also lots of adjectives.
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When you see an -ed ending, there are three different possible pronunciations, and we can divide these into two main categories.
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Here are some verbs from the first category.
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Want becomes wanted.
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Need becomes needed.
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In this category, we add a syllable when we pronounce it.
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So to 'want', a one syllable word, we add /ɪd/, making a two syllable word.
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Wanted. The same for need, one syllable, we add /ɪd/, needed.
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Here are some other verbs in this category: wait, waited, recommend, recommended. Can you see the pattern?
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All of these verbs end with 'd' or 't'.
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If the final letter of the verb is d or t, you can add a syllable in the past simple.
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You add /ɪd/.
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That's the first category. Let's look at the second category.
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Here are some example verbs: play - played, live - lived.
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With these verbs, we do not add another syllable.
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If you say /pleɪed/, it's wrong.
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Remember, the only verbs that add an extra syllable end in 't' or 'd'.
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All other verbs, they keep the same number of syllables.
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Close is one syllable, and the past is closed, still one syllable.
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Focus is two syllables and the past is focussed. Still two syllables.
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But there is a little difference in this category.
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We don't add an extra syllable, but we do add an extra sound to make the past simple.
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And for this, you have two options.
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The sound could be /d/ or /t/.
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Let's compare those two verbs again, close and focus.
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The verb focus ends with a /s/ sound, like a snake.
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When you say /s/, if you put your hand here, you can't feel it.
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/s/ This means it is unvoiced.
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For the verb close, it ends with a /z/.
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When you say /z/, if you put your hand here, you can feel it.
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/z/ And that means it is voiced.
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So we have /s/ unvoiced, /z/ voiced.
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If the sound is unvoiced, like /s/ then we add a /t/ sound to make the past.
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Focus, focussed.
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If the sound is voiced, /z/, we add a /d/ sound to make the past.
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Close, closed.
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The only important thing is not to add an extra syllable unless the verb ends in t or d.
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In all other cases, keep the same number of syllables and just add the sound /t/ or /d/.
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So I hope you enjoyed the video and that you got everything you needed. Bye.

About This Lesson

You're practicing English with "How to pronounce past tense endings - a Mini English Lesson" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.

Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.