Ed had edited it
Four short words and a lot of D and T. It looks like a sentence from an office email, but say it three times quickly and it collapses into “Ed hadeded it”. It is a test of how clearly you finish words, not of how fast you can talk.
Ed had edited it.
More tongue twisters for the same sounds
- The cook took a good look at the cookbook.
- Doug's dog dug a deep ditch and decided to doze in the dirt.
- Good design takes time: draft it, test it, cut it, then decide.
- Tina tried to get the tiny kite to take off, but it kept dropping.
- Dina took the cake to the cottage, cut it and gave the kids a taste.
- The quick goalkeeper got a glove to the ball and kept the game tied.
Other famous tongue twisters for these sounds
- Good blood, bad blood
- Toy boat
- Tie twine to three tree twigs
- Green glass globes glow greenly
- Greek grapes
- Fred fed Ted bread
- Can you can a can
- The two-twenty-two train
- A proper cup of coffee
- Cows graze in groves
- A tutor who tooted the flute
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
- If one doctor doctors another doctor
Where to breathe
- Ed had edited it.
Where the endings disappear
Every word ends in D or T: Ed, had, edited, it. And “edited” has another D and T inside. D and T are made in the same spot, the tongue tip on the ridge behind the upper teeth; only the voice differs. When they come one after another, the tongue gets lazy and stops tapping clearly.
The result is “Ed ha' edi'ed it” or “Ed hadedid it”. The word “edited” is the main victim. It has three syllables, “ed-i-ted”, and the middle T in American English is a light tap, almost a D. If the tap is missing, the word shrinks to “edid” or “eded”.
Another trap is linking. “Ed had” and “edited it” both join a final consonant to a vowel, so the words blend. That is natural in normal speech, but in this line it makes the four words sound like one long one.
How to learn it
Say “edited” on its own, slowly: “ed-i-ted”. Clap three syllables. Then put it back into the line and make sure all three stay.
Next, exaggerate the endings. Say “Ed · had · edited · it”, with a tiny stop after each word. Feel the tongue tap on every D and T. Then reduce the stops until the line sounds normal but each ending is still there.
Say it three times in a row on one breath. Then try a whisper: without voice, D and T sound almost the same, so you hear only whether the tongue actually taps. If the taps are there in a whisper, they will be there out loud.
Questions about this tongue twister
- Why is such a short sentence so hard?
- Because the same tongue movement repeats many times with almost nothing in between. There are few vowels to rest on, and the D and T are so close that the tongue starts skipping some of them.
Keep practicing
Practice with a timer
In DramaLab, the speed ladder is an exercise: it gives you tongue twisters one by one, walks you up the five steps and keeps time. No sign-up needed.