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The -ed suffix for the past form of verbs is pronounced

  • /-d/ after a voiced sound (e.g.: allowed: /əˈlaʊd/),
  • /-t/ after a voiceless one and (e.g.: walked: /wɔːkt/)
  • and /-ɪd/ after /t/ and /d/ (e.g.: halted: /hɔːltɪd/).

How is -ed suffix pronounced in the past of verbs ending in /ð/ and /θ/?

How do you pronounce smoothed in the sentence 'He smoothed his hair back.':

  • /smu:ðd/
  • or /smu:ðɪd/?

By the rules above, I guess that the correct answer should be the first form, that incidentally, as a non-native speaker, I find a bit difficult to utter.

Thanks in advance.

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    The rules are correct: /smu:ðd/. And unlike some of the horrible consonant clusters at the ends of words in English (e.g. sixths), native English speakers don't generally simply this one, so you should just keep on trying to pronounce it.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 14:54

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As Peter Shor notes in the comments, the correct pronunciation is /smu:ðd/. If you are having trouble with that pronunciation, native speakers will probably consider /smu:ðt/ as sounding more correct than /smu:ðɪd/.

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  • Or /smuːθt/, which I am fairly sure occurs quite frequently in native speech.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jun 21, 2015 at 14:20

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