You say "I walk-ED to the store" with an extra syllable, or you drop the ending completely and say "Yesterday I clean the kitchen." Your friend hears "he cook" and is not sure if you mean now or always. Many languages show time and number with separate words, or never change the end of a word at all, so learners either skip English endings or read them letter by letter. But English spelling hides a simple system: the -s ending has three sounds, and the -ed ending has three sounds. In this episode: • Voiced and voiceless: the key • -S AND -ES: s, z, iz • -ED: t, d, id • Endings link to the next word • Listening lab: sunday chores • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: cups (KUPS) — two cups cats (KATS) — the cats he cooks (KUUKS) — He cooks on Sundays. dogs (DAWGZ) — walk the dogs keys (KEEZ) — Where are my keys? spoons (SPOONZ) — the spoons she plays (PLAYZ) — She plays outside. he cleans (KLEENZ) — He cleans on Saturday. dishes (DISH-iz) — do the dishes glasses (GLAS-iz) — my glasses boxes (BAHK-siz) — moving boxes she washes (WAH-shiz) — She washes the car. he watches (WAH-chiz) — He watches the kids. walked (WAWKT) — We walked to the park. cooked (KUUKT) — Who cooked this? washed (WAHSHT) — I washed the dishes. laughed (LAFT) — Everyone laughed. fixed (FIKST) — Dad fixed the door. played (PLAYD) — The kids played all day. cleaned (KLEEND) — I cleaned my room. called (KAWLD) — Grandma called. moved (MOOVD) — They moved next door. wanted (WAHN-id) — I wanted rice. needed (NEE-did) — We needed milk. waited (WAY-did) — We waited an hour. Season 2 · Real American English: the complete spoken course for learners worldwide — accent, everyday grammar, prepositions, articles, phrasal verbs, idioms, slang and real conversations at home. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.