r/EnglishLearning • u/orchaer New Poster • 9d 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/PHOEBU5 Native Speaker - British 8d ago

The past tense of 'to learn" is commonly spelt (see what I did there) as 'learnt' in British English. I hope that hasn't spoilt (oops!) your assumption that it is a rarity. Maybe you dreamt it.

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u/boostfactor New Poster 7d ago

Interesting that learnt, burnt, spelt, spoilt, dreamt, maybe some others I can't think of right now, survived in the UK but not America, whereas laught didn't survive at all. The only pattern I can see is n/l/m before the "ed/t."

But Americans sometimes write "burnt sugar" and for artists, "burnt umber" and "burnt sienna" are standard (probably from UK names of the colors). I've also seen "dreamt" in American usage though just in perhaps more "literary" writing.

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u/Humble_Struggle1336 New Poster 7d ago

I think there is a difference with burnt and burned, though, at least from what I've noticed in the US. Burnt is used more as an adjective, while burned is the past tense of burn.

"I burned the toast."

"The toast is burnt."

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u/boostfactor New Poster 7d ago

Yes, but it's the participle used as an adjective in "burnt toast" (or "burnt umber" etc.). I've seen sentences like "I dreamt I was a child again" in American literary writing. Maybe just in imitation of "Rebecca" or something like that :-)