Learnt vs. Learned (Questions About Your Target Languages) Language Learning Forum

Learnt vs. Learned
Tags: Dialect \| Verbs/Conjugation \| English
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Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages

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Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 6042 days ago
1457 posts - 1759 votes

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Message 17 of 34

30 December 2008 at 4:42pm | IP Logged

jeff_lindqvist wrote:

In my world, "read" is always pronounced as "red" in past and perfect tenses. When I learned English, we were encouraged (required?) to learn the "themes" of the irregular verbs: go-went-gone, see-saw-seen, write-wrote-written, read-read-read et.c.

Having heard and recited those forms over and over, "I've 'reed' this book" would sound extremely odd.

I also find it extremely odd, but I've heard the (have) 'reed' version on occasion (not from native speakers); That's why I prefer to ask.

Edited by Sennin on 30 December 2008 at 4:48pm
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Kleberson
Diglot
Senior Member
Great Britain
Joined 6426 days ago
166 posts - 168 votes

Speaks: English*, Portuguese
Studies: Italian, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin

Message 18 of 34

30 December 2008 at 4:44pm | IP Logged

Sennin wrote:

I would like to pose another question related to irregular verbs. It's really trivial but it causes some trouble (or at least for me). Consider these two sentences:

A) I've read this book.
B) I'll read this book tomorrow.

Would you pronounce "read" absolutely identically in A and B? For some reason I feel the urge to make it sound like "red" in the first sentence.

Hello,

A) I've read {red} this book
B) I'll read {reed} this book tomorrow

Regards

Edited by Kleberson on 30 December 2008 at 4:47pm
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Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
Joined 6042 days ago
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Message 19 of 34

30 December 2008 at 4:49pm | IP Logged

Kleberson wrote:

Sennin wrote:

Hello,

A) I've read {red} this book
B) I'll read {reed} this book tomorrow

Regards

Thanks, Kleberson. I think this settles it.
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MSO
Newbie
United States
Joined 5819 days ago
25 posts - 25 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese

Message 20 of 34

03 January 2009 at 2:57am | IP Logged

I wouldn't worry too much about the -ed vs -t endings. It will just distinguish you as either an American or a Brit when you write it, spoken its almost the same.

You will be understood by Americans saying "learnt," especially in the South, since they can't spell anyways (just kidding :D).
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Jeito
Triglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 5825 days ago
55 posts - 63 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese

Message 21 of 34

03 January 2009 at 7:19pm | IP Logged

For me, "learnt" in writing is almost exclusively a British usage. I don't know anyone in the U.S. who would spell it that way. The same is the case with "burnt" and "burned."

In regional speech, you do hear "I learnt it," sometimes. But to me (and this is not meant to offend) it sounds uneducated. Right up there with "I done it."

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J-Learner
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6038 days ago
556 posts - 636 votes

Studies: Yiddish, English*
Studies: Dutch

Message 22 of 34

03 January 2009 at 9:34pm | IP Logged

Uneducated to a certain standard/dialect, certainly.

Here in Australia the 't' ending is perfectly normal. Not to forget that learned has another meaning. Just saying the 'ed' ending in context sound rather strange to me.

And African-American English, I believe, permits "I done it".

I think everyone needs to accept it. English is not homogeneous! :p

And now for an example of how I find burnt and burned to be different:

That piece of wood is burnt.
That piece of wood was (being) burned.

Those are different in my mind. Perhaps it is a slight change in aspect?
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MSO
Newbie
United States
Joined 5819 days ago
25 posts - 25 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese

Message 23 of 34

04 January 2009 at 6:11am | IP Logged

J-Learner wrote:

That piece of wood is burnt.
That piece of wood was (being) burned.

Funny thing, when it comes to certain words like burn, we actually do say "burnt" around here. Though, I've yet to see it in writing.

Only sometimes though.. lol it's weird.

If you were to say "He's burned out," it would sound odd to say "burnt."

But if you were to say "Wow, that burnt to a crisp," it wouldn't sound off at all. Maybe it has to do with the "t" sound immediately following the word (in this case, "to").

Quick question, do you guys say "earnt" for earned?
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Alkeides
Senior Member
Bhutan
Joined 6156 days ago
636 posts - 644 votes

Message 24 of 34

04 January 2009 at 8:02am | IP Logged

MSO wrote:

J-Learner wrote:

That piece of wood is burnt.
That piece of wood was (being) burned.

No.

The verbs with the "t" ending are very limited actually. Here's a list. Also, some words while being spelt with an -ed are often pronounced "t" due to the preceding or following phoneme. I don't think many people actually pronounce "skipped" with a "d" at the end for example.

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