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Pronunciation Boot Camp

In this lesson, we’ll look at three pronunciation points that trip up English
learners at all levels. This lesson is broken into bite-sized lessons on
pronouncing -ed endings, -s and -es endings and common suffixes. You can
tackle it all at once or take it one step at a time. We’ll practise these endings in
context to ensure your understanding. Ready to level up your pronunciation?

How to pronounce -ed endings

We’ll begin with -ed endings. Please practise reading the following passage
where I tell you about a trip I took to Bangkok last year. Pay special attention to
words ending in -ed. Then we’ll go over a few rules.

Last year, I visited Bangkok for the first time. I’d always wanted to visit
Thailand and was delighted when the opportunity finally occurred. I asked
friends who’d travelled there what I needed to take. I went totally over the
top and Will watched in horror as I packed half my wardrobe. We laughed
out loud when Diego jumped in my suitcase, too, adding to the chaos. I
continued getting ready and then we carried our cases downstairs, ready
for the morning.

One of the most common pronunciation mistakes I hear is when students try to
pronounce the ‘e’ at the end of the words:

asked
/ɑːsked/❌
/ɑːskt/✅
travelled
/ˈtrævled/ ❌
/ˈtrævld/ ✅
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Pronouncing the letter ‘e’ is only necessary when the infinitive of the word ends
in the sound /t/ or /d/.

So, words which end in the letters d, dd, de, t, tt or te add an extra syllable with
the sound /ɪd/. Let’s take a look at some examples from the text.

-ed ending pronounced /ɪd/ (adds

Infinitive ending in /t/ or /d/
an extra syllable)

visit /ˈvɪzɪt/ visited /ˈvɪzɪtɪd/

want /wɒnt/ wanted /ˈwɒntɪd/

delight /dɪˈlaɪt/ delighted /dɪˈlaɪtɪd/

need /niːd/ needed /ˈniːdɪd/

Visit, want and delight all end in the consonant sound /t/. Notice how /ɪd/ adds
an extra syllable to the word.

Verbs ending in the /d/ sound behave the same way.

But, most -ed endings aren’t pronounced this way!

With most other words ending in -ed, the ‘e’ is silent and the letter ‘d’ is
pronounced with a /t/ or /d/ sound. How do you know which? Well, you need to
know which sounds are voiced and which are unvoiced in order to pronounce -
ed endings accurately.

There are several ways to work out if a sound is voiced or unvoiced.

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Check for vibration.

One of the easiest is to place your fingers on your throat and check
for a vibration.

If you can feel a vibration, the sound is voiced.

If there’s no vibration, it's unvoiced or voiceless.

Practise with /p/ and /b/.

The /p/ sound is a softer sound and there’s no vibration. You should
notice a vibration when you make the /b/ sound.

Let’s try with the /t/ and /d/ sounds. This time, try blocking your ears
and see if you can ‘hear’ the vibration in your head. The /t/ is
unvoiced and the /d/ is voiced.

What about vowel sounds?

All vowel sounds are voiced.

The most important thing to remember is that we match voiced sounds with
voiced sounds.

We add the voiced consonant ‘d’ to the end and ‘occur’ - which ends in the
vowel sound /ɜː/ in most British accents: occurred - /əˈkɜːd/.

‘Ask’ ends in the unvoiced consonant /k/. We match unvoiced sounds with
unvoiced sounds, so in the past, we add the unvoiced /t/: asked - /ɑːskt/.

Remember, we don’t pronounce the letter ‘e’ and we don’t add an extra syllable;
we just stick that /t/ or /d/ sound on the end!

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Practise blending those sounds together with the words in the table below.

Voiced + /d/ Unvoiced + /t/

occur → occurred ask → asked

travel → travelled watch → watched
continue → continued pack → packed
carry → carried laugh → laughed
jump → jumped

You weren’t pronouncing the /e/ sound, were you? I didn’t think so!

The great news is that most words ending in -ed follow these rules. There are,
however, some adjectives which are exceptions. Some of the more common
adjectives which break the rules and are pronounced /ɪd/ include naked,
wretched and wicked.

How to pronounce -(e)s endings

Let’s move on to words ending in -s or -es.

We add s, es or ‘s to a noun to form the plural or possessive or to a verb to form

the 3rd person singular in the present simple.

Plural: girl → girls

Possessive: Jamal’s bag.
3rd person singular: She walks.

Just like we saw with -ed endings, the way we pronounce the letters ‘s’ or ‘es’
depends on how the base form of the word ends. As you practise reading
through the next story aloud, try to notice the three different ways we
pronounce the words in bold.

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We spent our first few days in Bangkok going for walks along busy streets,
immersing ourselves in the new sights and noises. We spent ages admiring
the different styles of clothes on display in the shops and devoured
delicious dishes for our lunches. Will took hundreds of photographs - it’s
one of his strengths - of the incredible places, flower markets and rows of
colourful spices. He wishes we could go back tomorrow.

We pronounce -s and -es endings three different ways - with /s/ /z/ or /ɪz/. The
last sound, /ɪz/, adds an extra syllable to the base form of the word.

We only use /ɪz/ when a word ends in the following sounds. I’ve included the
typical spelling patterns for each sound to help you identify the words which
follow this rule.

-(e)s pronounced /ɪz/ (adds an extra syllable)

Phonetic symbol Common spellings Example

spice - spices
place - places
bus - buses
/s/ s, ss, se, ce, x kiss - kisses
case - cases
dance - dances
box - boxes

noise - noises
nose - noses
/z/ se, z, zz, ze quiz - quizzes
buzz - buzzes
size - sizes

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Phonetic symbol Common spellings Example

dish - dishes
swish - wishes
/ʃ/ sh
wash - washes
push - pushes

lunch - lunches
/tʃ/ ch, tch beach - beaches
match - matches

age - ages
/dʒ/ ge page - pages
image - images

massage-massages
/ʒ/ ge garage - garages
mirage - mirages

Ok, so that covers when to add /ɪz/, but how do we choose between the
remaining two sounds /s/ or /z/?

Well, it’s the same rule that we saw with -ed endings - we match voiced with
voiced and unvoiced with unvoiced. Here are the words from my story which end
with voiced sounds so need to be matched with /z/. Remember, there’s no extra
syllable, we just blend the sounds together. Here’s a complete table with all of
the voiced consonant sounds and some more examples.

voiced consonants and vowels + /z/

Phonetic symbol Common spellings Example

club - clubs
/b/ b, be
tube - tubes

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Phonetic symbol Common spellings Example

hundred - hundreds
/d/ d, de, pad - pads
code - codes

bag - bags
/ɡ/ g
wig - wigs

ourselves
/v/ ve cave - caves
wave - waves

clothes (plural only)

/ð/ the
breathe - breathes

style - styles
reel - reels
/l/ l, le, ll
call - calls
rule - rules

team - teams
/m/ m, me
game - games

pen - pens
/n/ n, ne
tune - tunes

song - songs
/ŋ/ ng
ring - rings

In most British accents the letter ‘r’ is not pronounced

/r/ unless followed by a vowel. The preceding sound is
usually a voiced vowel sound, so /z/ is added

day - days
row - rows
Vowel sounds
boy - boys
car - cars

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There are also many common –(e)s words pronounced /z/, for example:

is does goes says was

sometimes has his hers theirs

yours ours always

The remaining unvoiced consonant sounds add /s/. Here they are with the
examples from my story. When the base form of the word ends in /p/, /t/, /k/,
/f/ or /θ/, add an unvoiced /s/ to the end. Here are our words from the story
which end in unvoiced consonants and some additional examples.

unvoiced consonants + /s/

Phonetic symbol Common spellings Example

shop - shops
/p/ p, pe ship - ships
shape - shapes

street - streets
sight - sights
/t/ t, te
market - markets
date - dates

walk - walks
look - looks
/k/ k, ke, ck
joke - jokes
sock - socks

photograph - photographs
reef - reefs
/f/ f, fe, ph wife - wives
life - lives
graph - graphs

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Remember, the same rules apply for possessive ‘s’, for example -

Jane’s /z/ shoes. - 'Jane' ends in a voiced sound

Mike’s /s/ shirt. - 'Mike' ends in an unvoiced sound

Contractions with is and has also follow these rules, for example -

He’s /z/
That’s /s/

Now you know the rules about how to pronounce -e(s) and -ed endings - and
that’s half of the battle! However, it can still be tricky to get them 100% right.
This is because when we add the sounds /s/, /z/, /t/ and /d/ to the end of a
word, we often get many consonant sounds together. And, if the next word also
starts with a consonant sound, it’s even more difficult! Before we move on to our
last lesson, I’m going to give you a couple of tips that will help you get your
tongue around these sounds.

When the word after /s/, /z/, /t/ or /d/ begins with a vowel sound, try to
attach the consonant sound to it.
Instead of: We laughed out loud.
Break up the consonant cluster: I laugh tout loud.
Will watche din horror /wɒtʃ tɪn/
Diego jumpe din my suitcase. /dʒʌmp tɪn/
...going for walk salong... /wɔːk səˈlɒŋ/
...immersing ourselve sin /ˌaʊəˈselv zɪn/

When the word is followed by the same consonant sound, join the two
consonants sounds together, for example -
They watched television.
We enjoyed dancing.
He walks slowly.

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How to pronounce suffixes with the schwa

Are you ready for our final mini-lesson? Once you manage to articulate this next
sound accurately, your pronunciation is going to be so much clearer. In fact, for
some of you, this could really be a game changer. I’m talking about the schwa
and we’re going to focus on how it sounds in some common suffixes at the end
of words. Before we go into detail, here’s my third and final story. This time,
focus your attention on the word endings in bold.

Our friends and family quizzed us about our trip when we got back home.
Was the hotel in a nice location? Was the weather pleasant? What was your
most memorable moment? The delicious food was definitely a highlight – it
really was incredible. And, of course, learning about the culture was
important too. But there were so many other special moments; I don’t think
I could pick just one.

This text contains some common suffixes in English. A suffix is a letter or letters
we add to the end of a word to make a new word. You can see them all in bold in
the text. All of the suffixes here contain the schwa. That’s the sound at the
beginning of the word about /əˈbaʊt/and the end of the word computer
/kəmˈpjuːtə/.

This is how you make the /ə/ sound:

relax the mouth and the tongue

open the jaw a little, but not very wide

It’s the most common and most relaxed sound in English.

And when I say relaxed, I mean it’s never stressed. The schwa never appears in
stressed syllables.

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Why is this sound so important for suffixes?

Well, most suffixes in English are not stressed. Let’s take this word from the
story as an example -

memorable - /ˈmemərəbl/

The main stress is on the first syllable - ‘mem’. The suffix isn’t stressed and the
‘a’ sound is reduced to the weak vowel, the schwa. Although the letter ‘a’ is often
pronounced /eɪ/ when it appears is stressed syllables, like it does in the word
able /ˈeɪbl/, it is usually reduced to a weak vowel in an unstressed syllable.

we don’t say memorABLE

we say MEMorable

One of the biggest pronunciation errors I hear learners make is when they try to
pronounce full, strong vowels in unstressed suffixes. Knowing that many suffixes
are pronounced with the schwa can massively improve the accuracy of your
pronunciation.

Let’s take a look at some more examples from the story and a few extras.

Suffix Pronunciation Example

delicious /dɪˈlɪʃəs/
-ous /əs/ ambitious /æmˈbɪʃəs/
generous /ˈdʒenərəs/

memorable /ˈmemərəbl/
incredible /ɪnˈkredəbl/
-able/-ible /əbl/
reliable /rɪˈlaɪəbl/
responsible /rɪˈspɒnsəbl/

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Suffix Pronunciation Example

special /ˈspeʃəl/
-al /əl/ global /ˈɡləʊbəl/
normal /ˈnɔːməl/

pleasant /ˈplezənt/
important /ɪmˈpɔːtənt/
-ant/-ent /ənt/ moment /ˈməʊmənt/
distant /ˈdɪstənt/
patient /ˈpeɪʃənt/

location /ləʊˈkeɪʃən/
-tion /ʃən/ addition /əˈdɪʃən/
action /ˈækʃən/

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Activity
Choose the correct answer for each question.
1. How should the -ed ending be pronounced in the word ‘visited’?

a. /vɪzɪted/
b. /vɪzɪt/
c. /ˈvɪzɪtɪd/

2. When is it necessary to pronounce the 'e' in -ed endings?

a. when the infinitive ends in /t/ or /d/

b. after vowel sounds
c. always

3. Which of the following words would end with a voiced /d/ sound when adding -ed?

a. pack
b. carry
c. ask

4. How can you determine if a consonant sound is voiced?

a. by checking if there's a vibration in your throat

b. by seeing if the letter is capitalised
c. by the length of the word

5. Which of the -s and -es ending sounds adds an extra syllable to the base word?

a. /s/
b. /z/
c. /ɪz/

6. How is the -es ending pronounced in the word ‘dishes’?

a. /dɪʃes/
b. /ˈdɪʃɪz/
c. /dɪʃs/

7. What is the correct pronunciation of the schwa sound?

a. stressed and strong

b. loud and clear
c. relaxed

8. Why is the schwa sound significant in English pronunciation, especially for suffixes?

a. it’s always unstressed and appears in many suffixes

b. it represents a loud vowel sound
c. it's stressed in every word
Answers:
1) c 2) a 3) b 4) a 5) c 6) b 7) c 8) a

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