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The sheep "bunched together" as soon as they saw the dog.

VERY HARD to pronounce [~ed t~] together

"~ed" here is like "t" or "d"?

There are many [ch+ed] words. How should I pronounce them?

Are there any good rules for English learners to bear in mind?

For me "bunched together" sounds like just "bunch two gether"

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    If you type in "bunched pronounce" on google, we will be offered a built-in tool that pronounces words for you... it's a t at the end
    – Andrew
    Commented Jan 17, 2021 at 1:21
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    You can usually omit the /t/ and /d/ when they're flanked by other consonants. Handbag is actually [ˈhændbæɡ], but you'll hear some native speakers pronounce it [ˈhæmbæɡ]; they omit the /d/ and assimilate the /n/ to /m/ in anticipation of the following /b/. So if you find such clusters difficult to pronounce, omit one of the consonants. See "don't be" pronounced "dombe"
    – Rayan Khan
    Commented Jan 17, 2021 at 4:06

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English consonant clusters can be difficult-to-pronounce at times,...

The -ed is pronounced /t/ in this case. I've expounded on the pronunciations of the -ed endings in this answer

Now, there are four consonants in a row in bu[nt͡ʃt.t]ogether, including the problematic /t͡ʃ/. The simple trick is to omit the -ed:

bu[nt͡ʃ.t]ogether

That's how most native speakers pronounce it. However, what it means will depend on the context.

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  • Unfortunately I can't read phonetics so I'm not exactly certain how that's intended to be pronounced. In my own dialect, Yorkshire, BrE, the first 't' would become a glottal stop, the second pronounced, to retain some small delineation between the two words.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented Jan 19, 2021 at 11:34
  • @gonefishin'again.: bu[nt͡ʃ.t]ogether → BUNCH-TOGETHER. I told the OP to omit the sound given by the -ed ('t' in this case).
    – Rayan Khan
    Commented Jan 19, 2021 at 11:49

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