Year 4 Verb and adjective suffixes worksheet

“Adding -ed to verbs” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 English unit “Verb and adjective suffixes”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 21 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 4 to 6 of the year, 12 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Adding -ed to verbs

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · English · about 21 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can add -ed to verbs by checking the last letters of the root word first.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which word is a doing word in: The dog runs fast.
dogrunsfast
2.
Which sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop?
the cat sat on the matThe cat sat on the matThe cat sat on the mat.the cat sat on the mat.
3.
Which word has the same vowel sound as 'boat'?
coatbitebell

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali hops over a puddle on his way home. Yesterday he did the same thing. Look at the end of 'hop' before you add -ed.

A wet garden path with a puddle and a pair of red wellies by a gate

Watch me

hop ends in one short vowel, o, and one consonant, p.

So we double the p, then add -ed.

hop becomes hopped.

Now you

1.
Pick the past tense of 'rub'.
rubbedrubedrubbled

C Your turn6 min

Pick the past tense of each verb. Look at the last letters first.

1.
Pick the past tense of 'jump'.
jumpedjumppedjumpd
2.
Pick the past tense of 'smile'.
smiledsmilledsmileed
3.
Pick the past tense of 'carry'.
carriedcarryedcarrried
4.
Pick the past tense of 'stop'.
stoppedstopedstopp

Say it out loud: Which letters at the end of the root word told you which rule to use?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “We plied in the park after school.”

1.
Circle the correct past tense of 'play'.
playedpliedplaied

E Think deeper4 min

Sort these verbs into the right columns. Then tell your grown-up how the letter before the y helps you decide.

1.
Sort the verbs into the right columns.
enjoystayobeycryhurrytry
Just add -ed Change y to i, add -ed

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Adding -ed to verbs · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. runs

2. The cat sat on the mat.

3. coat

B

1. rubbed If they pick 'rubed', they have not doubled the b. Ask: is the vowel short, and is there one consonant at the end?

C

1. jumped If they pick 'jumpped', they doubled the p. 'jump' ends in two consonants, so just add -ed. 'jumpd' is missing the e.

2. smiled If they pick 'smilled', they doubled the l as if it were 'hop'. If they pick 'smileed', they kept the e. Fix: take off the silent e, then add -ed.

3. carried If they pick 'carryed', they kept the y and only added -ed. The y comes after a consonant, so change it to i, then add -ed.

4. stopped If they pick 'stoped', they did not double the p. Stop has one short vowel and one consonant at the end, so double the p, then add -ed.

D

1. played If they circle 'plied', they changed the y to i, which is the wrong rule. Play ends in ay, a vowel pair, so just add -ed.

E

1. Just add -ed: enjoy, stay, obey · Change y to i, add -ed: cry, hurry, try

Words to use

Say“Which letter is at the end of the root word? Does it help you pick the rule?”

Instead of“Just add -ed to every verb, or say the spelling is wrong without showing which rule applies.”

After the sheet

Write verbs on scrap paper, such as clap, cry and bake. Say the past tense for each one and name the rule you used. Then swap roles.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

11 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Catching rebel verbs(with a plan)
Adding -ing to verbs(with a plan)
Doubling for -ing(with a plan)
Adding the suffix -ate(with a plan)
Adding the suffix -en(with a plan)
Adding -ify to words(with a plan)
Adding the suffix -ise(with a plan)
Adding -ous to words(with a plan)
Adding the -ous ending(with a plan)
Spelling -ous, -ious and -eous(with a plan)
Choosing the right -ous rule(with a plan)

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