# To text / Texted (past tense of [to text]) [pronunciation]



## Carochem

Hello everyone!

I got a text message with the following sentence: "I will text you later".

I would like to know if it is correct (in English) to use the word "text" as a verb.

Thank you in advance.


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## Meadow Blue

Carochem said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I got a text message with the following sentence: "I will text you later".
> 
> I would like to know if it is correct (in English) to use the word "text" as a verb.
> 
> Thank you in advance.


 
Welcome to WR forums, Carochem.

Yes, "text" is a verb which has entered our vocabulary with the introduction of the mobile phone.


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## Carochem

Thank you for your answer


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## ewie

I predict (not that anyone asked me to) an interesting future for this verb.
I hope other English speakers will agree that _texts _(/teksts/) is not easy to say. I've noticed that my mother (who's 71) pronounces it /tekstiz/; and the general pronunciation seems to be /teks/.
Similarly, _texted_ is, from what I hear, generally pronounced /tekst/.
Maybe one day the infinitive will be the more manageable _[tek]_.


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## nzfauna

Ewie, I'm afraid I have to disagree.

I don't find the various forms of the verb TEXT difficult to say, and I cringe at and judge people who do not say them properly.

TEXT (noun, verb)
TEXTS (plural noun, aka text messages)
TEXTING (gerund)
WILL TEXT (future)
TEXTED (past)


But what do do with PIXT MESSAGES?


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## ewie

nzfauna said:


> Ewie, I'm afraid I have to disagree.
> Feel free, NZF, feel free.
> But what do do with PIXT MESSAGES?
> I'm afraid this piece of (erm) technology hasn't yet reached me.  I do  have a mobile phone, in a drawer somewhere.


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## Paulfromitaly

ewie said:


> I predict (not that anyone asked me to) an interesting future for this verb.
> I hope other English speakers will agree that _texts _(/teksts/) is not easy to say.  I've noticed that my mother (who's 71) pronounces it /tekstiz/; and the general pronunciation seems to be /teks/.
> Similarly, _texted_ is, from what I hear, generally pronounced /tekst/.
> Maybe one day the infinitive will be the more manageable _[tek]_.



Hiya,

Am I completely wrong if I say that I've heard some people using "to text" as it was an irregular verb (maybe due to the pronunciation problems you were citing above) and hence saying "text" instead of "texted" or is it just careless speaking/writing?


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## ewie

Yes, Paul, that's what I was saying in my original post ~ relevant bit now highlighted in red.


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## ewie

Well, in 13 days of *listening* to British people saying _texted_, I haven't once heard it pronounced /tekstid/ ~ only /tekst/.


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## Ms researcher

It seems that the verb 'to text' is irregular - many people say 'I text you yesterday' . This is strange since other verbs ending in 't' take the regular verb ending, e.g. permitted.


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## cropje_jnr

Ms researcher said:


> It seems that the verb 'to text' is irregular - many people say 'I text you yesterday' . This is strange since other verbs ending in 't' take the regular verb ending, e.g. permitted.


 
I don't agree - the past tense form would be "I texted you yesterday". Saying "I text you yesterday" is a classic case of tense confusion - a current tense verb mixed with "yesterday" makes for a quasi-nonsensical sentence.


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## Ms researcher

Why would native speakers confuse tenses on a regular basis? It might be more economical to say 'text' in the sense that there is a consonant cluster and that is why we automatically avoid another consonant (-d for past tense)


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## Scalloper

I think it would be _possible_ to imagine the verb to be "to tex" and the past tense as "texed", pronounced the samed as "text" but I've never heard anybody do so.


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## ewie

You might be interested in this previous thread MsR
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=773226


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## Scalloper

soooooooooooo, if there are people using "text" as the past form, what do they use as the present form? - "He text me earlier so now I'll ____ him back"


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## Loob

The same, I think.

As in "put"


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## panjandrum

Today's thread has been merged with the earlier thread that ewie remembered.
We are at the beginning of the live of text (verb) in this sense.
Whether it emerges as regular or irregular will be determined by usage and there is little point in pontificating about how it ought to be.

From my own observations, the past form began as _texted_, but as the verb has became more widely used the t-d sound at the end is merging so that it is impossible to distinguish from _text_.
The result is that you will think you hear something like: He _text _me earlier so now I'll _text _him back.


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## icecreamsoldier

As nzfauna said, the past participle and simple past are *texted*, pronounced with the -ed, in NZ at least.
_
I've texted Jim several times but he hasn't replied yet.
I texted Jim this morning to say I would be late._


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## ewie

80-odd days later I _still_ haven't, to the best of my knowledge, *actually physically (with my ears, by listening to the sounds they make) heard anyone actually physically say (with their mouth) /tekstid/* for the past tense of _text_.

(Before launching into a pronouncement on a given pronunciation, I feel we would all do well _to actually physically listen to the sounds people make ~ including ourselves_. 'Nuff said.)


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## icecreamsoldier

Why not simply avoid the verb _text_ altogether and _*send* our text messages_? 
Which suggests a solution for nzfauna's query (albeit a little off-topic):


nzfauna said:


> But what do do with PIXT MESSAGES?


In my experience PXTs (derivation of TXTs, the P denoting _picture_) are far less common than texts and so are _sent_ rather than having their own verb. I suppose you can PXT your mates, therefore you _PXTed_ them, but I've always heard "I sent my mates a PXT."

(It's possible that PXT is a term unique to NZ and Australia, in which case they are likely referred as _MMS_ or _multimedia_ _messages_ elsewhere - I can't imagine someone having _"MMSed"_ his/her friend...)


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## ewie

I've never heard of _any_ of those, ICS

EDIT: but I _have_ heard of 'SMS'.


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## Cathy Rose

ewie said:


> 80-odd days later I _still_ haven't, to the best of my knowledge, *actually physically (with my ears, by listening to the sounds they make) heard anyone actually physically say (with their mouth) /tekstid/* for the past tense of _text_.


I have to weigh in on this with Ewie.  As someone who taught high school for a hundred years, I have some idea about what the current practices are as they relate to mobile phones, computers, and MP3 players.  I've never heard the word _texted_ spoken with the "ed" articulated.  I have, however, heard "TM'd" used much in the same way they use "IM'd" as the past tense.  Perhaps that will become the standard. Perhaps that term is particular to urban areas in the Northeast US, but it's certainly easier to say than "texted."


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## Mark1978

The correct form is "texted". However the impression on the -ed is often very light as to be inaudible. 

e.g. "I text dher yesterday". the -ed being carried over as a slight 'd' onto the next word.


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## panjandrum

I am sure it is much to late to stem the tide of text (verb) in this context.  It is already in the OED, dating from 2004.

I have just consulted a very regular text message user (London resident, aged 30, female).
She assures me that "I text you yesterday" is the normal usage amongst her friends and colleagues.  She thinks most of them think they are saying texted, but they aren't.*

She is also a regular picture message user, but that is relatively low volume.  At the moment the choice is between "I sent you a picture message," and "I MMSed you."

* Correction:  She thinks they began by thinking they were saying texted, but now they don't even think that.

PS: I don't think it is possible to describe any usage of this verb as correct or incorrect at this stage. It is too young.

____________________________________

I've just doubled the sample size - to two.
A very prolific texter of my acquaintance (Belfast, slightly older than the previous respondent, female) always says _texted _and has never heard any of her very, very many text contacts use _text _as a past form.  Even when pressed, she assures me that they don't even sound as if they are dropping the -ed from the end.


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## ewie

ewie said:


> 80-odd days later I _still_ haven't, to the best of my knowledge, *actually physically (with my ears, by listening to the sounds they make) heard anyone actually physically say (with their mouth) /tekstid/* for the past tense of _text_.


I have *finally* heard someone say _texted /tekstid/_.  It was on the BBC's 10 o'clock news last night.  He was a theatah directah _(theatre director)_.


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## amateurr

Could you tell me if there's any difference in pronunciation of the words "text" and "texted"?


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## Alxmrphi

There has been a recent discussion on what is the correct past form of this verb, and I really don't know what I would say, I'd just have to put myself in a situation and see which one comes out as I think I use both and can't seem to find a reason why. I definitely hear both used when out and about.

A lot of AE speakers in this recent discussion registered how bad they thought it sounded, and I can understand why, but last week on the Daily Show, Jason Jones used 'texted' and I immediately thought about that recent thread, as I was under the impression it wasn't used in AE, but I see now it is.

Anyway, back to the question, it's just the usual schwa ending we have for weak verbs, don't pronounce the 'e', just the _schwa + d_.
If you want more info, this should be good for you: *How to pronounce 'ed' in English*.. (look at the unvoiced /t/, top one)


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## ewie

*(Moderator note: Amateurr's question appended to this thread on the same subject)*


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## Tacocat

Hi everyone,
My input...
No one I know drops the "-ed" declension from the past tense. Maybe some people say "I text her yesterday" somewhere, but then again, there are also people who muddle their past tenses in other ways, like "I never done that before" or "We finally seen her last weekend." As much as I would like to believe that those last two don't exist among educated people, I have plenty of intelligent friends who occasionally come out with a big flaming error like that... it may just be in the vernacular. However, even these people say "text*ed*," and that what I say too, even though I usually prefer saying "I sent you a text (message); did you get it?"
I would say that the problem with people not pronouncing the *ed* comes from the difficulty of pronouncing it and the tendency that we have in AE to drop final sounds that are harder to articulate, such as "I dunno" or "I don' know" for "I don't know," or things like "D'you wanna" or "We're goin' out later" or "You really should'n' do that." Terminal "T" sounds and nasalized G's disappear from people's speech all the time, yet most people who speak that way would still write out their utterances with all the letters intact. Therefore, I think that the dropping of *ed* in the past tense of texted is a phonological phenomenon and has nothing to do with irregular verbs... but it might carry over into the morphology of the verb if it persists!


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## natkretep

I would say _texted_ as two syllables, but I can't recall what other people said, partly because it is not very common here. I can recall alternative ways of saying that: 'I sent her a text' and 'I sent her an SMS'. (Funnily enough, I have heard 'I SMS'd her'.)


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## chamyto

It must be _tekstid , _because it has a "t" before the _ed , musn´t it ?


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## JulianStuart

chamyto said:


> It must be _tekstid , _because it has a "t" before the _ed , musn´t it ?


You would think so, wouldn't you,_ if _everybody automatically followed the "rules" for a new "regular" verb.  

I think the point of this thread (now, at least) is that that hasn't happened everywhere, and some have put (not putted, as Mrs Loob helped us notice) it in the  _irregular _verb category.  One wonders why!  I personally don't find it hard to say textid - I would find it harder to put the schwa as the second vowel, but that's different.


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## Kumpel

Mark1978 said:


> The correct form is "texted". However the impression on the -ed is often very light as to be inaudible. _I disagree with the comment on a '*correct*' form._
> 
> e.g. "I text dher yesterday". the -ed being carried over as a slight 'd' onto the next word.



Earlier on, I said "_I already text'd'im_." - cf. "_I already text 'im_."
This may come as a result of dropping (h)aitches at the beginning of words.
(Probably the only feature of a Cheshire accent...)
I would say, for example, "_I don't like 'im._"

I also found myself saying "_a tex' ma mum_," - ie. "I text(ed) my mum." - (past tense was implied).
It's only when spelling phonetically that I realise how northern I actually sound...

As you can see, I don't carry the _d_ from _texted _across to the next word when it begins with a consonant.
(NB _'im_ and _'er_ don't begin with consonants, even though _him_ and _her_ do when I enunciate properly.)


Lloyd

PS On today's _Mock the Week_, Russell Howard avoided it, and said "_sent a text_." Damn him, I wanted another example.


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## Forero

Where I live, _text_ is a perfectly regular verb.


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## Alxmrphi

> I also found myself saying "_a tex' ma mum_," - ie. "I text(ed) my  mum." - (past tense was implied).
> It's only when spelling phonetically that I realise how  northern I actually sound...


Haha that's what I thought when I read your message.
I was in Crewe the other week at a house party and that's how I'm sure  some people sounded. 

Anyway, also being a northerner, a large  characteristic is using the infinitive form as the past form in  colloquial speech, i.e. "give" as a past form "He give it her" or something along those lines, it's something I've been wondering about recently because it's not applicable in all verbs, only some (I wonder about analogy with verbs that have the past participle form as the infinitive [i.e. come]) but yeah, I think I vary my usage of it. It's a new verb, many forms when being new have had dual forms where one eventually gains general acceptance, we're just in the stage where the population hasn't quite decided yet, I wonder which way it will go


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## Kumpel

Alxmrphi said:


> Anyway, also being a northerner, a large  characteristic is using the infinitive form as the past form in  colloquial speech, i.e. "give" as a past form "He give it her" or something along those lines, it's something I've been wondering about recently because it's not applicable in all verbs, only some (I wonder about analogy with verbs that have the past participle form as the infinitive [i.e. come])



I don't know. Surely, then, it wouldn't work with _give_, the past participle being _given_, although I do see the similarity (_*give*n_).

Would it not be better written _"ee giv i __ə_"? NB Not IPA, but I had to use the schwa.

But that helps my point (and Mark1978's) with the shifting of the _d_ over to the next word in _text(ed)_. Notice the northern pronunciation of "He give it her," specifically "it her": either "_i tə_" or "_i ə_" (both short _i_, like _p*i*p_).
In the former, the _t_ is shifted over from the _it_, but ... *Sorry, nonsense.* I was just muddling it up with "he give it *to* her." - or even "he give it t'er."

Lloyd


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## Alxmrphi

Sorry I didn't mean to put it into a phonetic form, just illustrate infinitive form used as past like you indicated. It does work with* give*, it's an example I hear all the time where I am from, it's what first got me thinking about it and listening out for it in others' speech, interesting discussion!

I think the similarity between a verb like /hex/ -> /hext/ (hexed) is present in the minds of English speakers, but the /t/ is already present in the infinitive form, so when using it in the past it naturally sounds like a PP (as if the infinitive was *to tex*), whereas in others' minds the infinitive is clear and you need /əd/ on the end to form the past.


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## Kumpel

Alxmrphi said:


> ...it's an example I hear all the time where I am from...



Where is that, might I ask?



Alxmrphi said:


> I think the similarity between a verb like /hex/ -> /hext/ (hexed) is present in the minds of English speakers, but the /t/ is already present in the infinitive form, so when using it in the past it naturally sounds like a PP (as if the infinitive was *to tex*), whereas in others' minds the infinitive is clear and you need /əd/ on the end to form the past.



I completely agree. Even in verbs with a different vowel, _jump_, for example, the /t/ of /dʒʌmpt/ makes the /t/ of /tɛkst/ sound like a regular pp. ending.

I agree that it's QI , it's a discussion I frequently have with my sister but never seem to come to any kind of conclusion on.
Lloyd


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## twinkletoes56

_<< --- threads merged here (see what others have said above)  --- >>_
I live in Germany but have just returned from a visit in the U.S. Midwest. While there I heard more than one person pronounce the past tense of _text_ as _text_. No change. As in, "She text me this morning."  I'm curious--how do people where you are pronounce this word? To me, no -_ed _here flies in the face of all pronunciation rules and sounds flat-out uneducated.


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## Glasguensis

To me too. In British English we pronounce the -ed.


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## Chasint

I've heard both in BE.  If you listen _very_ carefully you will realise that some people believe that the verb is "to tex".

Example

Did John tex you?
No, I texed him.


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## PaulQ

I like Biffo's idea, but there are people who have great difficulty with the sk'd sound: I remember years back a girl, who had a strong southern Welsh accent, could not say "asked" - it was always "axed."


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## Wordsmyth

I'm not sure how that relates to "text", Paul. There's no _sk'd_ sound in _text_ or in _texted_. 

By the way, are you sure she really couldn't say it? In parts of the West Country (and South Wales is just around the corner), _axed_ (or _aksed_) is a dialect form in its own right, derived from the Old English verb _acsian/axian_. I've known a number of people who say it, but not because they have any problem with _sk'd_: they quite happily say _tasked, basked, masked_ (not _taxed, baxed, maxed_).

I think Biffo's right. If some people say _"tex"/"texed"_, they're treating it as if the verb were _'to tex'_. Though I don't know whether they really believe it's that; it may just be a subconscious imitation of all the many verbs that end in _x_. Whereas, offhand, I can't think of a single one that ends in _xt_, other than _text_.

Ws


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## panjandrum

panjandrum said:


> ...
> A very prolific texter of my acquaintance (Belfast, slightly older than the previous respondent, female) always says _texted _and has never heard any of her very, very many text contacts use _text _as a past form.  Even when pressed, she assures me that they don't even sound as if they are dropping the -ed from the end.


Time has moved on.
Six years later, I generally hear these same samples say 'text' as Wordsmyth describes - as if the verb were 'to tex'.


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## Loob

Ah, that's interesting.  I think that in the earlier part of the thread we were tending towards an "irregular verb" hypothesis - _present:_ I text, _past:_ I text, _present perfect: _I have text*.

But perhaps the better explanation is that the verb changes form from present to past: _present:_ I text, _past:_ I texed, _present perfect:_ I have texed?

------

*Actually, now I think about it, nobody's talked about the present perfect


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## twinkletoes56

panjandrum said:


> Time has moved on.
> Six years later, I generally hear these same samples say 'text' as Wordsmyth describes - as if the verb were 'to tex'.


Yes, time moves on. I've just heard from my sister-in-law, who is constantly texting, and who also has begun saying "text" for the past tense form. She says that she always used to say "texted" but her daughters, in their 20's made fun of her. She says they always write "text" for the past form, too. So, as someone else noted in the older part of the thread, the verb "text" seems to be developing along the lines of "put."


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## Wordsmyth

Time obviously has moved on, and I'm beginning to think I must be in some sort of time warp! Reading ewie's earlier post in these now-merged threads ... 





ewie said:


> 80-odd days later I _still_ haven't, to the best of my knowledge, *actually physically (with my ears, by listening to the sounds they make) heard anyone actually physically say (with their mouth) /tekstid/* for the past tense of _text_.


 ... my first thought was that I hadn't ever heard anyone say it as other than _'tekstid_' (or at least _tekst'd_). Biffo's post (now #41) was the first I'd ever heard of the 'tex/texed' pronunciation. I've kept my ears open since then, and everyone I've heard say it has said "texted" or "text'd". Then I realised that most of the English-speakers I spend time with are either expats (of all ages, including kids), or, in the UK, people over 30. The missing link is UK-resident youngsters. That seems to support what twinkletoes has said: that 'tex/texed' is prevalent among younger people (other than those who share my time warp) and among older people who have been influenced by the kid-speak trend. Well, it's a theory.


Meadow Blue said:


> _[...] _Yes, "text" is a verb which has entered our vocabulary with the introduction of the mobile phone.


 But what goes around comes around! According to etymonline.com, "text" was already a verb in the 16th century: "Formerly it meant "to write in text letters" (1590s), _text letters_ being a kind of large writing used by clerks in the text or body of a manuscript (distinguished from the smaller hand used in the notes)."

Ws


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