American English sound
/d/: how to pronounce “d” in day, ready and bed
/d/ is made with the tongue tip on the gum ridge behind the upper teeth, with your voice on. It's the voiced partner of /t/.
Two things matter most: keeping the voice at the end of words (bed is not bet), and the -ed ending, which can sound like /d/, /t/ or /ɪd/.
/d/
the “d” sound
How to make the sound
- 1Touch your tongue tip to the gum ridge behind your upper teeth.
- 2Turn your voice on before you release: you should feel a buzz.
- 3Release without a big puff of air.
- 4At the end of a word, keep the voice through the closure, and make the vowel before it a little longer.
- Tongue
- tip-alveolar
- Lips
- neutral
- Voice
- voiced
Hear it in words
Tap a word to hear it.
At the start
In the middle
At the end
How it's spelled
- d / dd: day, ladder, middle
- -ed after a voiced sound: played, called, lived
- silent d: Wednesday, handsome
Common mistakes
Losing the voice at the end: “bet” for bed
German, Russian and Turkish speakers often devoice final d. Keep the buzz and lengthen the vowel before it.
Touching the teeth
A d made on the teeth sounds foreign in English. Move the tongue back to the gum ridge.
Saying every -ed as “ed”
Played is /pleɪd/ and walked is /wɔkt/: only after t or d is -ed a full syllable (wanted, needed).
Who finds /d/ hard
Speakers of these languages often replace it with a sound from their own language. Linked languages have their own accent traps page.
Often say /t/ instead
German
Often say /dʒ/ instead
Portuguese
Minimal pairs
Each pair differs by one sound. If both words sound the same when you say them, practice this pair.
Try it
“David played and danced in the garden all day.”
Record a sentence and get a score for every sound, /d/ included. Free, no account.
Questions
How do I pronounce the -ed ending?
Three ways. /d/ after voiced sounds: played, called, lived. /t/ after voiceless sounds: walked, stopped, laughed. /ɪd/ after t or d: wanted, needed, decided.
Why does bed sound longer than bet?
In English, a vowel before a voiced consonant is longer. Lengthening the vowel is one of the clearest cues listeners use to hear bed and not bet.