learned/learnt

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apprentice - 24 Nov 2005 22:58 GMT

Is there any difference between those two?
I mean like with "often" that is pronunced in two ways, however, it doesn't
really matter which you use.
Pawel from Warsaw

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Lorents - 24 Nov 2005 22:49 GMT

> Is there any difference between those two?
> I mean like with "often" that is pronunced in two ways, however, it doesn't
> really matter which you use.
> Pawel from Warsaw

have a look here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionan
swer/page14.shtml

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Molly Mockford - 24 Nov 2005 23:15 GMT

At 23:58:10 on Thu, 24 Nov 2005, apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> wrote in
<53ecf$438646d4$d4ba586d$19898@news.chello.pl>:

>Is there any difference between those two?

There can be, but there needn't be.

By which I mean that the verb "learned", when pronounced as one
syllable, is pronounced with a "d" whereas "learnt" is pronounced with a
"t", but they both mean the same - roughly "acquired information or
skill".

However, the adjective "learned", when pronounced as two syllables,
means well-educated or well-informed - and there is no "learnt"
equivalent.

>I mean like with "often" that is pronunced in two ways, however, it doesn't
>really matter which you use.

No, that's different. It's the same word, but differently pronounced in
different dialects of English. You can find the same with words like
"singer" (some use a soft "g" and some a hard one). That's not at all
the same as "learnt" and "learned", which are more like "dreamt"
(pronounced "dremt") and "dreamed" (pronounced "dreemed").

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Molly Mockford
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Discussion Groups / British English / November 2005

learned/learnt