Ending -ed
In English, the -ed ending is incredibly important. We use it to form the past simple tense and the past participle for regular verbs. While it seems simple, there are a few spelling rules you need to know to add -ed correctly. This guide will break down all the rules, from the easiest to the trickiest, with clear examples to help you master them.
How to form
For most verbs, you simply add -ed to the end of the base form. This is the most common and straightforward rule.
- watch → watched
- laugh → laughed
- jump → jumped
If the verb already ends with a silent -e, you only need to add -d. Adding another -e would be unnecessary!
- like → liked
- live → lived
- agree → agreed
If the verb ends with a consonant + -y, you change the -y to an -i and then add -ed.
- study → studied
- try → tried,
- worry → worried
If a verb ends in -ic, add -ked.
- panic → panicked
- traffic → trafficked
- mimic → mimicked
If a verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC), and the last syllable is stressed, double the final consonant before adding -ed.
- prefer → preferred
- regret → regretted
- occur → occurred
- visit → visited
- happen → happened
- develop → developed
- fix → fixed
- play → played
- snow → snowed
