'Bought' is the past tense of 'buy' (to purchase); 'brought' is the past tense of 'bring' (to carry to a place).
Verb (past tense and past participle of 'buy'). To have acquired something in exchange for money. Purchased.
She bought three new books at the airport before the long flight home.
They bought the company for far less than its estimated market value.
He bought a coffee and sat by the window to read for an hour.
Verb (past tense and past participle of 'bring'). To have carried something or someone to the place where the speaker or listener is. Carried here.
She brought her laptop to the meeting so everyone could see the revised presentation.
He brought his entire team together for a strategy session at the end of the quarter.
The new CEO brought a completely different management philosophy to the organisation.
Common mistake
"I brought it at the store" when meaning purchased (correct: bought). Or "I bought flowers for you" when you also carried them here (both bought AND brought may apply). Also very common: 'bringed' and 'buyed' from ESL learners applying regular past-tense rules to irregular verbs.
Trick to remember it
'Bought' = 'buy' shifted — B-U-Y becomes B-O-U-G-H-T (buy → bought). 'Brought' = 'bring' shifted — B-R-I-N-G becomes B-R-O-U-G-H-T. Both keep the same first two letters as their base verb: BU→BO, BR→BR.
Quick rule
Is it the past of 'buy' (purchase)? 'Bought'. Is it the past of 'bring' (carry here)? 'Brought'.
Did you know?
'Buy' and 'bring' are among the most-used irregular verbs in English, and both share the -OUGHT pattern in the past tense. The same pattern appears in: think/thought, seek/sought, fight/fought, catch/caught, teach/taught — all from Old English, where the past tense was formed by changing the internal vowel plus adding consonant suffixes. The 'ough' spelling is notoriously irregular in English pronunciation: 'bought' = /bɔːt/, 'tough' = /tʌf/, 'though' = /ðoʊ/, 'through' = /θruː/, 'cough' = /kɒf/. Same spelling, five different pronunciations — which is why English spelling causes so much confusion even for native speakers.
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
She _____ a gift for the host and left it on the welcome table at the entrance.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
He _____ ten units at the discounted price before the promotion ended.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Is it the past of 'buy' (purchase)? 'Bought'. Is it the past of 'bring' (carry here)? 'Brought'.
"I brought it at the store" when meaning purchased (correct: bought). Or "I bought flowers for you" when you also carried them here (both bought AND brought may apply). Also very common: 'bringed' and 'buyed' from ESL learners applying regular past-tense rules to irregular verbs.
'Bought' = 'buy' shifted — B-U-Y becomes B-O-U-G-H-T (buy → bought). 'Brought' = 'bring' shifted — B-R-I-N-G becomes B-R-O-U-G-H-T. Both keep the same first two letters as their base verb: BU→BO, BR→BR.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy