English is not Phonetic

Always remember that English is not "phonetic". That means that we do not
always say a word the same way that we spell it.
Some words can have the same spelling but different pronunciation, for
example:

I like to read /ri:d/

I have read that book /red/
Some words have different spelling but the same pronunciation, for
example:

I have read that book /red/

Red is my favourite colour /red/
Tongue-Twisters
A proper copper coffee pot.
Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.
Long legged ladies last longer.
Mixed biscuits, mixed biscuits.
A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit mixer!
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled pepper?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?
Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.
The sixth sick Sheik's sixth sheep is sick.
Swan swam over the pond,
Swim swan swim!
Swan swam back again
Well swum swan!

Three grey geese in green fields grazing.

We surely shall see the sun shine soon.

How to Pronounce-ed
The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in-ed.
For example:
work, worked, worked
In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end
in -ed. For example:
I like painted furniture.
The question is, how do we pronounce the -ed? The answer is, in 3
ways:

/d/
/t/
/d/
If the base verb ends in one
of these sounds

example
base verb*

example
with -ed

/t/

want

wanted

/d/

end

ended

/p/

hope

hoped

/f/

laugh

laughed

/s/

fax

faxed

//

wash

washed

//

watch

watched

unvoiced

pronounce the
-ed as

extra
syllable?

d/

yes

no

/ /

If the base verb ends in one

of these sounds

voiced

example
base verb*

example
with -ed

/k/

like

liked

all other sounds,

eg

play

played

allow

allowed

beg

begged

pronounce the
-ed as

extra
syllable?

d/

*Note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For
example, fax ends in the letter x but the sound /s/; like ends in the letter
ebut the sound /k/.
Exceptions
The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /d/:
aged
dogged
ragged
blessed
learned
wicked
crooked
naked
wretched
So we say:

 an aged man /d/

a blessed nuisance /d/
a dogged persistence /d/
a learned professor - the professor, who was truly learned /d/
a wretched beggar - the beggar was wretched /d/
But when used as real verbs (past simple and past participle), the normal
rules apply and we say:
he aged quickly /d/
he blessed me /t/
they dogged him /d/
he has learned well /d/ or /t/