Brought is the past tense of bring. It denotes having carried, conveyed, or caused something to arrive or be in a particular state. In use, it often accompanies transport or delivery of objects or ideas, and can imply bringing about a result through initiative or influence.
US: /brɔt/ with a slightly flatter /ɔ/ and stronger rhoticity on the preceding /r/; UK: /brɔːt/ with a pure long /ɔː/ and crisper /t/; AU: /brɔːt/ with broader vowel and relaxed ball-of-mouth motion. Vowel length is important in all: aim for a single, long /ɔː/ before the /t/. Pay attention to lip rounding in RP and maintain more rounded lips in AU/US depending on your base accent.
"She brought the package to the door just before noon."
"During the meeting, he brought up an important point about budget priorities."
"They brought their own snacks to the movie theater."
"The storm brought heavy rain and strong winds, delaying the event."
Brought comes from Old English bringan, meaning to carry, bear, or convey. The past tense form developed with the strong verb pattern, where the stem vowel is altered and the suffix -t is added, yielding bog-standard irregular past tenses like brought, built, and fought. Historically, bring had the past tense brouht in some dialects, but the standard form in Modern English solidified as brought by the Middle English period. The verb bring is cognate with Dutch brengen (“to bring, carry”) and German bringen, but the English past tense irregular inflection distinguishes Old English, with forms like brōht and brōhtest appearing in earlier records. The semantic evolution centers on physical motion toward the speaker or a point of reference, expanding later to include figurative “bringing” of ideas, opportunities, or consequences. First known uses appear in Old English glossaries and homiletic texts, with the present spelling and pronunciation stabilizing by Early Modern English, influenced by the Great Vowel Shift, which affected the vowel quality of the long /ɔː/ in bring and related verbs. In contemporary use, brought is a staple irregular preterite emphasizing completed action with an object, often followed by direct or indirect objects (brought something, brought up a topic).
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Brought" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Brought" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Brought"
-ght sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
🎵 Rhyme tip: Practicing with rhyming words helps you master similar sound patterns and improves your overall pronunciation accuracy.
Pronunciation is /brɔːt/. The word is monosyllabic with primary stress on the sole syllable. Start with /b/ then /r/ curled with the tongue near the alveolar ridge, followed by /ɔː/ as a long open-mid back rounded vowel (like 'law' in many dialects but longer), and end with /t/ with a light release. Listen to native speakers via Pronounce or Forvo for subtle differences.
Two frequent mistakes: (1) pronouncing as /brɒt/ with a shorter, lax o; (2) inserting a 'y' sound or pretending there is a 'gh' or 'ugh' sound. Correct by maintaining a continuous /ɔː/ vowel without breaking into /ɒ/ or /aɪ/. Ensure the /t/ is unreleased in rapid speech, and avoid adding a vowel after /t/. Practice with minimal pairs: /brɔːt/ vs /brɒt/ vs /brɔːtɡ/ (no final g). Keep the tongue slightly back, lips rounded for /ɔː/.
In US accents, /ɔː/ often centralizes toward a mid-back position, sometimes sounding like /ɑː/ depending on dialect, but still trailing into a clear /t/. UK Received Pronunciation keeps a clear /ɔː/ with a pure long vowel and a crisp /t/. Australian English often exhibits a broad /ɔː/ similar to UK but may show a more relaxed vowel and a lighter /t/ release. In all, the final /t/ remains present, but vowel length and quality vary.
The difficulty lies in the tense, long /ɔː/ vowel followed by a voiceless alveolar Plosive /t/ in a single syllable. The tongue must stay in a single position long enough for /ɔː/ and then switch quickly to the stop /t/ without adding an extra vowel. Some learners insert a schwa or reduce the vowel before /t/, which changes the characteristic sound. Focus on a smooth glide from /ɔː/ to /t/ with minimal mouth movement.
A unique aspect is the lack of a 'gh' or 'ough' sound despite appearance in spelling. The word is not pronounced like 'brought' with extra letters; it is a clean /brɔːt/ with a single vowel phoneme /ɔː/ and a hard /t/ ending. There’s no extra syllable or consonant cluster—tension is in sustaining /ɔː/ before the stop release.
🗣️ Voice search tip: These questions are optimized for voice search. Try asking your voice assistant any of these questions about "Brought"!
- Shadow a native speaker reading a sentence containing 'brought' for 30-60 seconds, focusing on /brɔːt/ and the immediate /t/ release. - Minimal pairs: brought / brɔːt/ vs brood / bruːd/ (vowel quality), vs broad / brɔːd/ (different vowel and final consonant). - Rhythm: practice 4-beat rhythm: /brɔːt/ is strong-stress syllable; place it on beat with a slight pause before continuation. - Stress: this is a one-syllable word; avoid any extra stress. Use slow pronunciation, then speed up with natural alacrity. - Recording: record yourself repeating the word in contexts: “I brought it,” “She brought up the topic,” extract minimal cues and monitor the vowel length.
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