# Pronunciación of English



## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

One hopefully for those of you who give English lessons or help Spanish friends with English.

My wife has serious trouble pronouncing the 'ed' on the end of past participles. (e.g. changed, remained ). 

Anyone come across this problem with their spanish students/friends?
Are there any good exercises to help?

She has a strong Andaluz accent mixed with years in an aircraft hangar in Madrid which I feel hasn't helped her english but has certainly augmented my colloquial spanish


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

nigele2 said:


> One hopefully for those of you who give English lessons or help Spanish friends with English.
> 
> My wife has serious trouble pronouncing the 'ed' on the end of past participles. (e.g. changed, remained ).
> 
> ...


Well, I can give you the theory behind it, but in the end it's just using it and tuning your ear in...
There are three different pronunciations of the ed ending in theory which are /t/, /d/ or /id/. The one that really "matters", and which may f***k up communication, is the last one. It's pronounced as an extra syllable and if a native speaker doesn't hear that extra syllable when he's expecting it, he's left high and dry, and doesn't know if we're talking about the past, present or the chip shop down the road, so I'd concentrate on that one.
The ending ed is pronounced /id/ if the last _*sound*_ in the verb is a /t/ or a /d/

EXAMPLES

_*decide*_ - The last _*letter*_ is e , but the *sound* is /d/. The verb decide has 2 syllables, but in the past tense it has 3 /_*de ci did/*_

_*want*_ - The last sound (and letter in this case) is /t/. Want is one syllable, but in the past is 2 /_*wan tid/*_

*hate*
*wait*
*add*
*faint*
*create*
*fade*

The other regular verbs have a /t/ or a /d/ pronunciation, but there's little to hear between the two. Here are examples of both

_*Like, shop, walk, drop*_ = /t/

_*move, live, climb, seem*_ = /d/

Confused????????:tongue1:

By the way, not to put your wife down, but Andaluzes are almost a *caso perdido*, (lost case) 'cos think what they do to their native tongue!!!


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## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

nigele2 said:


> ... mixed with years in an aircraft hangar in Madrid which I feel hasn't helped her english but has certainly augmented my colloquial spanish


We call that the Queens English. Does that translate into the King's Spanish?


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## Guest (May 9, 2010)

nigele2 said:


> One hopefully for those of you who give English lessons or help Spanish friends with English.
> 
> My wife has serious trouble pronouncing the 'ed' on the end of past participles. (e.g. changed, remained ).
> 
> ...


I don't think my OH can physically do the "ed" sound, despite the many "Look, this is where your tongue goes when you make this sound." He's my worst student. The most handsome, but definitely the worst one.

As for exercises to use with adults, I haven't got any for this issue.


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Well, I can give you the theory behind it[/QUOTE
> 
> Good heavens Pesky a detailed structured response in less than 10 minutes :clap2::flame::clap2:
> 
> ...


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

halydia said:


> I don't think my OH can physically do the "ed" sound, despite the many "Look, this is where your tongue goes when you make this sound." He's my worst student. The most handsome, but definitely the worst one.
> 
> As for exercises to use with adults, I haven't got any for this issue.


Thank you Halydia. Yes OHs don't make good students do they


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

halydia said:


> I don't think my OH can physically do the "ed" sound, despite the many "Look, this is where your tongue goes when you make this sound." He's my worst student. The most handsome, but definitely the worst one.
> 
> As for exercises to use with adults, I haven't got any for this issue.


He's having you on halydia, Basques can do it, those from Andalucia... well there may be a breakthough with Pilar...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

nigele2 said:


> Pesky Wesky said:
> 
> 
> > Well, I can give you the theory behind it[/QUOTE
> ...


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## Guest (May 9, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> He's having you on halydia, Basques can do it, those from Andalucia... well there may be a breakthough with Pilar...


He's a very good music and history student. Languages? Not so much.

My favorite was correcting his pronunciation of "zoo." Imagine the Basque pronunciation of "z" - it was (almost) cute!


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## Irishgirl (Sep 26, 2008)

OK I hope this helps and isnt to complicated, this is what I use when teaching my students.

Simple past regular verbs:
This is all Phonetics and is easier when you are demonstrating it. Any how here goes.

1) Sound /id/ ed. only for verbs that end with /t/ or /d/ sound eg. want = wanted, need = needed.

2) /t/ for verbs ending in unvoiced sounds, this is when you have the sound in your mouth not in your throat and you dont have to open your mouth much to create the sound eg. 
Jump = Jumped (jump/t/) Finish = Finished (finish/t/)

3) /d/ for verbs ending in voiced sounds, this is when you create the sound in your throat, hold your throat and feel the vibrations also you need to open your mouth to create the sound eg Care = cared (care/d/) continue = continued (continue/d/).

Ok this looks complicated but its not its all about practice. When teaching I use this and it works but it does take a bit of practice to be able to recognise voiced and unvoiced sounds and its also a bit easier if its demonstrated to you. 
Hope it helps!!!


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

Irishgirl said:


> OK I hope this helps and isnt to complicated, this is what I use when teaching my students.
> .........
> Hope it helps!!!


Thank you Irishgirl. Pilar's beavering away so in a week or two I'll let you know how she gets along.

In the meantime I'll practise my subjunctives with a beer of course :couch2:


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