Previous research has shown that English regular past-tense forms are difficult to perceive, yet perception studies to date have used experimentally manipulated input, and none has investigated how contextual cues, beyond temporal adverbials, affect the perception of the regular past. This study investigated whether second language (L2) learners and native (L1) speakers of English perceive regular past -"ed" in naturalistic input, whether phonological context (salient [[schwa]d] vs. non-salient [t, d]) affects perception, and whether language exposure and use are related to increased confidence or perceptual accuracy. Eleven L1 speakers and 28 L2 learners (14 intermediate, 14 advanced) watched 64 clips from television sitcoms (containing 32 regular past and 32 base forms), indicated whether they heard -"ed" or no ending, and rated their confidence on an 8-point Likert scale. Advanced L2 learners perceived -"ed" as accurately as L1 speakers, and both groups outperformed intermediate learners. All perceived [[schwa]d] more accurately than [t, d]. Confidence increased with proficiency and decreased with phonological difficulty. Learners' perception accuracy correlated with a measure of L2 exposure, and interviews revealed similarities in advanced learners' and L1 speakers' use of discourse cues to interpret tense. Results imply that -"ed" perception involves integration of multiple contextual cues.