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Learned vs. Learnt | ||
Tags: Verbs/Conjugation | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| jes422 Newbie United States Joined 6216 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Esperanto | Message 1 of 15 02 December 2007 at 6:42am | IP Logged | ||
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Ever since I found this site, I have seen the past tense of "to learn" spelled "learned" and "learnt". I searched on yahoo and found this site http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/lea rnt?view=uk
If you don't want to go to the site, it says that "learnt" is British English and "learned" is American English. They also list "burn, dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, and spoil" as similar words. I looked up each word in the dictionary(American Heritage) and two forms could, indeed, be said. I am from the US (California)and I say each of these in different ways. I say: learn - learned burn - burned dream - dreamt kneel - knelt lean - leaned leap - leapt spell - spelled spill - spilled spoil - spoiled I find this very intriguing, since the way I say these might sound strange to some of you just like how, say "The milk spoilt" would sound strange to me. How do you guys say these words? And which do you speak, American or British English? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Felixelus Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6848 days ago 237 posts - 244 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 15 02 December 2007 at 7:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Well I speak British English and we do say learned but not for the past tense. It's pronounced Learn-Ed and it means someone who is educated. For the past tense I say learnt! For the rest of them I use both ways of saying them interchangably, apart from leaped. That sounds weird to me...
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| FrozenNorth Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6307 days ago 37 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB2 Studies: Finnish | Message 3 of 15 02 December 2007 at 8:34am | IP Logged | ||
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British Englush here.
I think it has a lot to do with the context of the sentence or where you 'learnt' English. Whilst I can use a few of the examples above in a sentence without it feeling 'weird' for the most part I often use -t over -ed. It burned with ferocity It burnt fiercely I'm sitting here scratching my head now... Grammar has never been my strong point, even in my native tongue. Interesting point. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6282 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 4 of 15 02 December 2007 at 9:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I speak and write British English, but I spent some of my early life among American English. I often use learned, burned etc. Perhaps it is that early US influence. I suspect also that American English TV and films infiltrate British English, and this is one of the signs.
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| OrlMoth Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6374 days ago 77 posts - 83 votes 2 sounds | Message 5 of 15 02 December 2007 at 11:19am | IP Logged | ||
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I use American English (my second language), but when I was learning English I turned to British music, tv and books for learning materials. I have been using learnt, burnt, and similar as long as I can remember.
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| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7156 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 6 of 15 02 December 2007 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | ||
I would say learnt, burnt, dreamt, leapt, spelt, spilt (as in spilt milk). For spoil I would say spoiled if I were talking about a child who has been spoiled, but I would say the food has spoilt or the concert was spoilt by the unruly audience. Sometimes it depends on the mood I am in as to which form I would use. I use both learned and learnt and burned and burnt. I think I would use learned and burned as simple past and learnt and burnt with an auxiliary verb. I might say I learned it (or learnt) but I would say the poem has been learnt. I would say, it burned but it has been burnt. There is no rule for this. And I don't speak American or British English. I speak Australian English. Edited by fanatic on 02 December 2007 at 5:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jody Senior Member United States Joined 6248 days ago 242 posts - 252 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Bulgarian | Message 7 of 15 02 December 2007 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | ||
American English here. I would say almost always "-ed". Rarely, if evet, the "-t" form. And I can say I never said "whilst." That must be British! Edited by jody on 02 December 2007 at 8:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6449 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 8 of 15 02 December 2007 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | ||
I use 'whilst', but I only started using it after spending large amounts of time with speakers of British English. I almost always use the -ed form for the past. (I speak, or once spoke, Canadian English). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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