Is it learned or learnt?
These are from a set of words which has two forms of the past.
These include the following:
- burned/burnt
- learned/learnt
- smelled/smelt
- spelled/spelt
- spilled/spilt
- spoiled/spoilt
Usually, when forming the past tense of a verb, the -ed form is used, while the -t form is used mainly for adjectives, but not always.
Examples:
- What have you learned? [perfect tense]
- It was burnt toast. [adjective]
NB: Archaic English uses an exception (but this is pronounced differently) – ‘a learned man’.