difference between learned and learnt?

[halo666]

What is the difference between learned and learnt?

 

[ostap77]

What is the difference between learned and learnt?

NOT A NATIVE
"learnt" sounds more like British

 

[riquecohen]

Ostap77 is correct. In AmE learned is both the simple past and the past participle of learn. While learnt is a proper alternative for the past participle, we rarely hear it spoken.

 

[BobK]

:up: Also (in Br English at least) 'learned' can be used as a two-syllable adjective that means 'educated' - 'a learnéd person' (the second syllable often has a written accent).

b

 

[riquecohen]

:up: Also (in Br English at least) 'learned' can be used as a two-syllable adjective that means 'educated' - 'a learnéd person' (the second syllable often has a written accent).

b

Yes. That pronunciation for the adjective is the same in the U.S. We had, during the second half of the 20th century, a famous and scholarly appeals court judge named Learned Hand.
I´ve never seen the written accent in AmE though.

 

[halo666]

hmmm.... thx for the answers. But what is AmE? Is it American spelling? So in summary...learned = American, learnt = British?

 

[BobK]

hmmm.... thx for the answers. But what is AmE? Is it American spelling? So in summary...learned = American, learnt = British?

AmE is American English - not just American spelling; also American syntax, American lexis and American phonology.

Your summary is an over-simplification that many people believe. As a British person who uses both 'learnt' and 'learned' I disagree. People have written something closer to the whole story in the foregoing posts.

b

 

[konungursvia]

We say learnt here.

 

[4pawjess]

I have always understood that there is a subtle difference:

"learned" is the past of the action of learning (e.g. Fred learned how to ride a bike)
"learnt" is the state that something (rather than someone) has been learned e.g. Mathematics was learnt.

The example with burned and burnt may be easier to explain:

The paper burned (i.e. it was on fire)
That piece of paper is burnt (i.e. the action of it being burned has caused it to be in a burnt state).

Happy to be told otherwise