How to pronounce passed in American English

IPA /pæst/ Syllables 1 · past Stress 1st syllable

PAST

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Americans pronounce passed as PAST (/pæst/).

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

78%

Intonation

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Fluency

62%

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Why it sounds different

Why "passed" sounds like PAST.

The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, how Americans glue words together so they sound like one phrase. It comes out as PAST.

In real conversation

Hear "passed" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"She passed her exam, didn't she?"

shee PAST her uhg·ZAM DIH·duhnt shee

"She passed the background check required for the job."

shee PAST dhuh BAK·grownd CHEHK ruh·KWAHY·erd fer dhuh JAHB

"She passed the ball to her teammate who was open."

shee PAST dhuh BAHL tuh her TEEM·mayt hoo wuhz OH·puhn

"She passed the certification test on her very first attempt."

shee PAST dhuh sur·tuh·fuh·KAY·shuhn TEHST ahn her VEH·ree FURST uh·TEHMPT

"She tracked the path of the comet as it passed by Earth."

shee TRAKT dhuh PATH uhv dhuh KAH·muht uhz iht PAST bahy URTH

"The holiday traditions in our family have been passed down for generations."

dhuh HAH·luh·day truh·DIH·shuhnz ihn owr FAM·lee huhv bihn PAST DOWN fer jeh·nuh·RAY·shuhnz

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "passed" different from British English?

American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "PAST" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.