Pronunciation of Similar Past Tenses

Posted by Neil Keefe on October 28, 2009

A few common verbs that look different in the present tense, look similar in the past tense:

think	I think about my future.	thought	I thought about my past.
teach	I teach a class.	taught	I taught a class.
fight	I fight the enemy.	fought	I fought the enemy.
bring	I bring the coffee.	brought	I brought the coffee.
buy	I buy the newspaper.	bought	I bought the newspaper.

In American English, the pronunciation of these past tenses is open and long. Something like this:

thawwwt
tawwwt
fawwwt
brawwwt
bawwwt

Also, notice the spelling difference between “taught”, and the other verbs. The sound is the same, even though the spelling is different (“au”, and “ou”).

Try to open your mouth and make a long “awwww” sound when you pronounce these words.

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