Main Difference – Brought vs Bought
Although the two verbs brought and bought have two totally different meanings, we sometimes tend to confuse these two words due to their similarity in spellings. Both are irregular past tense verbs. Therefore, an English learner might find it difficult to distinguish the difference between brought and bought. The main difference between brought and bought is that brought is the past participle of buy and brought is the past participle of bring.
Brought – Meaning and Usage
As mentioned above, brought is the past tense of bring. It is an irregular verb. Bring is one of the most commonly used verbs in the English language. It can have several meanings. Bring/Brought can refer to,
Take or go with someone or something to a place
They brought the baby home.
She heard my cough and brought me a glass of water.
He brought me some books from the bookstore.
Cause someone or something to be in a particular state or condition
He gave me an aspirin to bring down my temperature.
She worked hard and brought success to this company.
Many people tend to confuse take with bring. It is important to notice that bring means to move something or someone to a particular place whereas to take means to move someone or something away from a particular place.
He brought me a glass of cold water
Bought – Meaning and Usage
Bought is the past tense of buy. It is an irregular verb that has the opposite meaning of sell. Sell means to give away or hand over something to someone in exchange for money. But when we buy something, we obtain something in exchange for payment. In other words, we pay money or make another form of payment in order to obtain something. Buy is another word for purchased. We can use the verb, buy when we are talking about obtaining material things like food, clothes, houses, etc. we can also use buy to refer to a service provided by people or even to the people itself. That is, we use the verb buy to refer to the act of procuring the loyalty and support of someone by bribery.
Look at the following sentences to understand the meaning and usage of this word better.
He bought me lunch.
We bought a new house last month.
He was a man who could not be bought.
They saved money for years and bought their dream house.
I bought three chocolates and shared them with friends.
They bought food.
Difference Between Brought and Bought
Past Tense
Brought is the past tense of bring.
Bought is the past tense of buy.
Meaning
Brought means to move something or someone to another place.
Bought means to acquire something in exchange for payment.
Synonyms
Brought is similar to carried, took, conveyed, etc.
Bought is similar to purchased, acquired, etc.
