past tense

[anniebobo]

Sometimes when people say " I walked to school."
I can't hear [FONT=&quot]/w'ɔk[/FONT][FONT=&quot]t[/FONT][FONT=&quot]/ the "[/FONT][FONT=&quot]t[/FONT][FONT=&quot]" .Is it because of "to"?
How do people know it is past tense?
or it is my problem that I can't hear[/FONT][FONT=&quot]?[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[emsr2d2]

You probably won't hear it unless the speaker is enunciating very carefully. We run the "-ed" into the "t". Context will almost always tell you which word they actually used.

What did you do yesterday?
I walked to school, then ...

How do you get to school every day?
I walk to school.

They will sound very similar, if not identical, but the preceding question in my examples will make it clear what the answer should be.

 

[GoesStation]

I think most if not all AmE speakers pronounce he's settled differently from "he settled", they've found​ differently from "they found", and walked to differently from "walk to". The difference is subtle, though, and learners should probably concentrate on gleaning the meaning from context.