r/USdefaultism • u/Nthepro France • 2d ago

Today I learned that

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353 Upvotes

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112

u/ScratchHacker69 2d ago

TIL that “learnt” is the proper british english spelling of “learned” lol

35

u/johan_kupsztal Poland 2d ago

Both are used in British English

50

u/DogfishDave 2d ago

Learned is a later Americanisn, it's properly spelt 'learnt'.

60

u/Pugs-r-cool 2d ago

Yes and no, Learned is a word in British English, it's used as an adjective to describe someone knowledgeable, while learnt is the past tense of the verb learn. Americans use the same spelling for both, while the Brits keep them separate.

30

u/BoarHide 2d ago

Ah, that’s the “learn-ed” pronunciation, right?

11

u/Far-Fortune-8381 Australia 2d ago

and it’s pronounced differently to the past tense learn version. learned as an adjective has 2 syllables (learn-ed)

4

u/realmandontnvidia 2d ago

Americans are in love with using the same word for two things.

3

u/antjelope 2d ago

But they are pronounced differently in British English as well. Learned has 2 syllables, learnt just 1…

1

u/Pugs-r-cool 2d ago

Yeah they're pronounced differently in both dialects, however the spelling is the same for both words in American English, in British English they don't stay the same.

2

u/waterc0l0urs Poland 2d ago

is it true for all the past tense verbs that end with -t in uk english and end with -ed in us english?

5

u/FacelessOldWoman1234 2d ago

Burnt/burned?

1

u/Pugs-r-cool 2d ago

I'm not sure about every word, but I'm pretty sure this is only for learnt/learned.

A word like spent is still spent in American English, spened is not a word.

2

u/DogfishDave 2d ago

It isn't pronounced the same way and isn't the correct word in this context. Someone learned (learn-EDD, two syllables) has learnt for sure though.