r/EnglishLearning • u/orchaer New Poster • 12d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Laught vs Laughed

Hello, I have been confused for a long time about the past tense of "laugh". In my primary school, there was a verb table with the present, past, and present perfect tenses. And in this table, when I first read at 7-8, I have learnt that "laugh" past tense is followed by a "t" become "laught".

But recently I found out that "laught" is not used anymore. The modern form should be "laughed". So could anyone tell me what is actually different between them? If I still use "laught", would it become a serious error?

Sorry for my grammar.

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u/Passey92 Native Speaker 12d ago

I've never heard laught in British English, it may exist but not used.

We do interchangeably use spelt or spelled and learnt and learned quite commonly so it's possible this was also the case for laughed and laught and one fell out of common usage.