PRONUNCIATION OF REGULAR VERBS

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In todays blog, Id like to explain some rules for an important, but often ignored topic when studying English The pronunciation of regular verbs. The conjugation of regular verbs in English is easy and I suppose thats why many people make the mistake of overlooking regular verbs entirely when theyre allocating their study time. To conjugate them we simply add either a D or an ED to the end. In the case of verbs ending in Y we remove the Y and add IED.

The problem isnt generally the conjugation, but rater the pronunciation. Hopefully, with a little review and some practice reading and pronouncing the conjugations out loud (en voz alta) you can master these very common regular verbs, 60 or so of which (de las cuales) make up a tremendous portion of our everyday speech. With a few simple rules, you can add an understanding of their pronunciation, and therefore be able to recognize whether or not youre pronouncing the word correctly without your teacher standing over your shoulder. First, lets break down all regular verbs into 2 categories: - Infinitives that end in T or D - Infinitives that dont end in T or D

1. T or D Ending Infinitives
These verbs will receive an extra syllable when pronounced in the past. An example is the verb to divide which is pronounced with two syllables in the infinitive form and in the past, three: Every day I di-vide Yesterday I di-vi-ded. Similarly, the verb To Act changes from one syllable to two: Every day I act Yesterday I act-ed.

2. Non-T or D Ending Infinitives

These verbs are pronounced in the past without an extra syllable. Within this collection of verbs, there are two possible pronunciations: the hard D sound and the T sound. The T sound

All of the verbs in this category are spelled with an ED ending in their past form however, it is often difficult to pronounce the D so in this case we have developed the habit of pronouncing the ending as if it were a T. In terms of pronunciation, the T sound occurs with verbs ending in certain sounds such as K as in to look, to check, to ask or to walk. They will be pronounced as follows: Every day I look Yesterday I lookt (looked). Every day I check Yesterday I chekt (checked). Every day I ask Yesterday I askt (asked). Every day I walk Yesterday I walkt (walked). We also use the T sound ending with verbs ending in S, P, SH, CH and F sounds. S: Every day I cross Yesterday I crost (crossed). Every day I dance Yesterday I danst (danced). **S sounding ending in the infinitive P: Every day I help Yesterday I helpt (helped). Every day I stop Yesterday I stopt (stopped). SH: Every day I wash Yesterday I washt (washed). Every day I wish Yesterday I wisht (wished). Every day I smash Yesterday I smasht (smashed). CH: Every day I watch Yesterday I watcht (watched). F: Every day I laugh Yesterday I laft (laughed). **F sounding ending in the infinitive

The hard D ending

The rest of the regular verbs are pronounced with the hard D sound ending. In the past (and participle) forms, these verbs are spelled by adding ED, or simply a D when the infinitive ends in the letter E. Additionally, we have some verbs which end in a Y, in which case we remove the Y and add IED. The pronunciation of these verbs in the past is often difficult for many Spaniards. In English we often link these verbs onto the following word, for example: We arrived at 9:00 = We arrive-dat 9:00. Some of these verbs are: To Agree: Every day I agree Yesterday I agreed. To Believe: Every day I believe Yesterday I believed. To Call: Every day I call Yesterday I called. To Earn: Every day I earn Yesterday I earned. To Live: Every day I live Yesterday I lived. To gain agility with these verbs and an ability to consistently pronounce them correctly, I strongly recommend practicing regularly, by reading them out loud, and forming the short sentences as I have shown above. For a more complete list of all the most important regular verbs, see the Vaughan Student Manual 1 or 2. You can get a copy at the Vaughan Tienda.

Good Luck! Kyle

**Follow Kyle Millar on Twitter: @imkylemillar. Have your grammar and general English questions answered by writing to: byrequest@grupovaughan.com