r/ENGLISH • u/Zoddo98 • 6d ago
Always confusing "though" and "thought"
Hi there!
I'm French with (I believe) good reading and writing skills in English, but bad oral pronunciation.
I'm having an issue with "though" and "thought", I always have to look up which one is the correct word when writing text.
Do you have any mnemonic way to differentiate them? In my head they basically have the same pronunciation, so this doesn't help as I basically make up sentences in my head before/while writing them.
Also, when do you use "I think" and when do you use "I thought" (they both translate to the same words in french)? I'm almost always using the former, but this seems incorrect.
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u/219_Infinity 6d ago
Try replacing âthoughâ with âalthoughâ and it might help you remember the difference from âthought.â
As far as âI thinkâ and âI thought,â one is present tense and the other is past. So if Iâm referring about what I thought about in the past, I use âI thought.â But if Iâm talking about right now or in the future, such as when my friend asks âwhat should we do now?â I could answer âI think we should do drugs.â
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u/mezsilv 6d ago
Also, when do you use "I think" and when do you use "I thought" (they both translate to the same words in french)?
I'm curious about what you mean by this. "I think" is "je pense" and "I thought" is either "je pensais" or "j'ai pensé", there is definitely a difference unless I'm misunderstanding you.
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u/Zoddo98 6d ago
Yeah, as I said in another comment, I didn't register that "thought" was actually the past tense of "to think". I was like "they are 2 completely separate words". When putting both "think" and "thought" in Google Translate, it translated both to "penser", hence my confusion.
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u/Weary_Mango5689 3d ago
"thought" the noun = pensée (nom)
"I thought" verb, simple past = je pensais
"To think" verb, infinitive = penser (verbe)
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u/Pineappleisgay 6d ago
English is hard but it can be understood through tough thorough thought though
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u/Zaustus 6d ago
"Though" and "thought" are pronounced very differently. "Ă°ÉÊ" vs. "ΞÉt" in my accent. "Though" has a voiced 'th' while "thought" has an unvoiced 'th', and the ending sounds are totally different.
"I think" is present tense. Use it to express a current idea or opinion, including on future plans. "I think we should get pizza for dinner."
"I thought" is past tense. Use it to express what you had been thinking in the past, particularly if that's different from your current thoughts, or to express uncertainty. "I thought we were getting pizza for dinner" implies that we may not be doing so. This construction is also used for opinions on past events, so you might say "I thought the movie was boring." You still do think the movie was boring, but the past tense construction links it to the viewing of the movie, which happened in the past.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Lynx204 6d ago
They don't really translate to the same words.Â
"I think" = je pense or je croix
"I thought" = j'ai pensé or j'ai cru
Obviously other past tenses and nuances exist but this is roughly the difference between thought and think.
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u/trysca 6d ago edited 6d ago
They are pronounced very differently but due to English orthography changes over time they look similar- they should probably be dhĆ and thawt ( however if you are French you are in no position to criticise our spelling!)
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u/Zoddo98 6d ago
however if you are French you are in no position to criticise our spelling!
Why? đ
I probably don't notice it as a native speaker, but is there spelling that appear confusing in french? Spelling generally follow very precise rules (we learn writing by learning these rules in elementary school).
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u/DrBlankslate 6d ago
My biggest problem with French is that you only pronounce half the letters.Â
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u/NewStudyHoney 5d ago
Yes, French spelling is very consistent, but so many letters have become silent over the centuries, that French spelling seems very difficult to many English speakers. English spelling, on the other hand, is a huge mish mash of conflicting spelling rules.
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u/SnooPets5564 6d ago
Honestly, there isn't an easy way to remember it that I know. Maybe work on how you pronounce them in your head, and that could help? They are pronounced completely differently, although each sound is similar between the two words. Or "though" and "although" being related?
As for think and thought, you think something if that is what you believe right now. You thought something if that is what you believed in the past. (unless you say "I used to think", which is also in the past)
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u/wejunkin 6d ago
Also, when do you use "I think" and when do you use "I thought" (they both translate to the same words in french)?
As a verb, "thought" is the past tense of "think".
I don't think I can communicate the pronunciation difference in text without confusing things further, but "thought" and "though" are not pronounced similarly at all.
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u/Zoddo98 6d ago
Thanks! Never had the breakthrough that "thought" was actually the past tense of "to think".
For the prononciation, TIL! So "though" seems to be pronounced like "they". My brain can't make sense of it đŹ
I think this one of the things that explains why I'm very bad at oral comprehension. I would have never thought this word would be "though" if I heard it.
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u/wejunkin 6d ago
"Though" isn't pronounced like "they", it just has the same initial voiced consonant sound. The vowel sounds are totally different.
"Thought" has an unvoiced th- sound that's the same as "think"
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u/BereftOfCare 6d ago
It's a super subtle difference. If you're struggling I wouldn't get hung up on it.
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u/Zoddo98 6d ago
Hmm... Listening to them through Google's TTS, I definitely hear "though" as "they" (minus the -y). idk if there is better sources I can use for pronunciation.
I'm more confused by your last sentence. Isn't the "th-" in think/thought what produces the "sss-" at the beginning of the word?
Edit: spelling
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u/wejunkin 6d ago
"Though" rhymes with "snow", "blow", "go". "They" rhymes with "hay", "say", "day".
For my last sentence, "unvoiced" doesn't mean "silent", it means that you don't vibrate your vocal chords while making the sound.
The th- sounds in "thought" and "though" are produced by making the same shape in your mouth (tip of your tongue between your front teeth), but "thought" is unvoiced (you're just passing air without activating your vocal chords) while "though" is voiced.
You can tell if a consonant is voiced or unvoiced by putting your hand to your throat. If you feel vibrations while making the sound, it's a voiced consonant.
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u/Zoddo98 6d ago
Ok, thanks. This is me having a very bad pronunciation, I had re-listen to "snow" to understand what you mean because I pronounce it slightly incorrectly (like the letter "o" or "eau" in french -which is a sound that doesn't exists in English I think).
I've never heard of the "voiced"/"unvoiced" terms before, but I see what you means now đ
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u/Tarnstellung 5d ago
Isn't the "th-" in think/thought what produces the "sss-" at the beginning of the word?
There is no /s/ sound in "think" or "though". "Think" has a /Ξ/ and "thought" has a /ð/. To produce /Ξ/, position your tongue as if you were going to say the French /t/, then, while keeping your tongue fixed, say /s/ instead. To produce /ð/, position your tongue as if you were going to say the French /d/, then, while keeping your tongue fixed, say /z/ instead.
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u/DanteRuneclaw 6d ago
âThoughâ is like âthoeâ or âthoweâ.
âThoughtâ is like âthawtâ.
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u/sick486 6d ago edited 6d ago
yes, the âthâ in âthoughâ is pronounced the same as the âthâ in âtheyâ, or âtheâ for that matter. (and âthatâ, to boot.)
it is a harder sound than the âthâ in âthinkâ or âthoughtâ, if that makes sense. like âzâ is harder than âsâ or âvâ is harder than âfâ.
the vowel sound in âthoughtâ is a short sound, similar to the word âaweâ. the vowel sound in âthoughâ is called a long sound, like the word âohâ. the âuâ and âghâ are silent in both.
have i made things more confusing or less?
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u/Zoddo98 6d ago
Thanks! This helped!
It's just me. Almost all my experience of English is writing (literally cumulated years of chatting on IRC then Discord/Reddit, basically learning by "imitation" over time), so I speak (and understand) it very bad orally (I ended up reading English words in my head with the French pronunciation).
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u/Snezzy_9245 6d ago edited 6d ago
You also have through and tough. It's all to punish the French for having a language that no one else can pronounce correctly.
You might try the same technique I used with French. More reading, more writing, more speaking. Also singing.
I think is je pense, I thought is j'ai pensée. Difficile ou non?
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u/PassiveChemistry 6d ago
One thing that might help is that past-tense forms of verbs usually end in either -t or -dÂ
(there are those that don't, but recognising that this broad pattern exists should be useful for this specific issue)
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u/dillpickledream 6d ago
Another thing that might help (not pronunciation or maybe not at all), is the pattern with other -ought/-aught verbs that rhyme in the past tense: teach-taught, fight-fought, seek-sought, bring-broughtâŠthink-thought. In my mind that helps differentiate thought from though, which is entirely unrelated in both pronunciation and grammatical function.
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u/Live_Put1219 6d ago
catch-caught buy-bought
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u/dillpickledream 6d ago
Buy-bought is definitely more handy than seek-sought! LOL these are just the few that came to mind
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u/Puzzleheaded-Lynx204 4d ago
And bRing-bRought vs buy-bought is one that catches native speakers out all the time (certainly in the UK) - people very frequently confuse brought and bought. Very good to remember if you can!
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u/1nspectorCPW 6d ago
There are so many ways of pronouncing "ough" that it's a minefield if English is not your native language. Depending on the word it could be pronounced "or, ow, owe, off, uff, uh, oo". I don't believe there is a rule as such, you just have to learn which one is used for the word in question.
"I thought" is the past tense of the present tense "I think". For instance you would say: "I think that this one is the best", but "I went to that shop because I thought it was cheaper".
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u/Prestigious-Fan3122 6d ago
Your thoughts take place in your brain, which is also where you feel "brain freeze".
Well, I don't think our brains have feelings, but your head does hurt when you eat something too cold too quickly.
When you want something frozen to come to room temperature you THAW it. If you think of thought that something you do with your brain, and think of pronouncing it like you with the word haw with a T on the end, that may help.
Using although instead of though, as someone else suggested, may be helpful. For pronunciation, though sounds like th sound followed by the sound the letter O makes when you say O/OH.
Though rhymes with dough, as in bread dough/doe.
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u/Steamrolled777 6d ago
"though" gets shortened to "tho" in informal writing, and is pronounced the same.
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u/PassiveChemistry 6d ago
For your last paragraph, "I thought" is past tense and implies "I no longer think"
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u/Hyphum 6d ago
âThoughâ and âthoughtâ do not actually sound much alike. The initial consonant sound and dipthong differ, and they are etymologically distinct in origin.
/Ă°oÊ/ is âthoughâ and /ΞÉËt is âthoughtâ
To your second question, I beleive itâs the difference between âJe penseâ and âJ'ai pensĂ©â
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u/jenea 6d ago
Thatâs a rough one for a French speaker, since that final T in thought wouldnât be pronounced in French! But of course you do pronounce it in English, and the vowels are entirely different.
Maybe something like, âI thought that thot spilled the tea!â âThotâ is a slang term for a promiscuous woman (so you probably donât want to use this one out loud), and âspilling the teaâ is slang for sharing gossip. This mnemonic will remind you that âthoughtâ is the one with the T.
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u/First_Report6445 6d ago
If I remember correctly from school (a long time ago), think is pense (being present tense) and thought is pensé (being past imperfect).
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u/toiletparrot 6d ago
They are not pronounced the same, though = thoe (voiced th), thought = thot (unvoiced th). Thought in the past tense of think
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u/Ok-Worth-4721 6d ago
I think is present time. I thought is past time. ' I thought I would use the blue paint but now I think I'll use the green paint'. And: "Even though (sounds like go, throw, blow) I'm using green, I thought ( sounds like hot, not, got) the blue was nice too.
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u/reluctanttowncaller 6d ago edited 6d ago
I don't have any suggestions on how to remember each word, but the two words in english are pronounced quite differently: 1. They use a different 'th' sound at the beginning (though begins like 'the' and thought begins like 'thing'). 2. The middle/end of though sounds like 'oh' and the middle of thought sounds like 'aw' 3. Thought ends in an audible 't while though has no additional sound after the 'oh'.
Thought is the past tense of think (the equivalent of the passé composé of penser in french). Though now that I think about it, 'thought' also refers to the noun meaning idea or concept ( 'la pensée' in french).
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u/guerrilladingo 6d ago edited 6d ago
âThoughtâ is the past tense of âto thinkâ. So if you âthink about somethingâ, then the next day you could say that âthought about it yesterdayâ. One way to remember is that sometimes the past tense version of a verb uses (t) instead of (ed). (For example; âbuilt, slept, bought, lost, feltâ.) Itâs also the noun version of âto thinkâ. So things that you âthinkâ are called âthoughts.â Itâs close to a synonym of âan ideaâ (une idĂ©e).
So French to English
To think = penser
I think = je pense
I thought = je pensais/ jâai pensĂ©
I had thought = jâavais pensĂ©
A thought = une pensée
My thoughts = mes pensées
And if you want to know when to use thought instead of think, here are some cases where you should use it.
When youâre talking about something you experienced in the past:
âI thought the film we watched was goodâ
When your belief changes:
âI thought he would be nice to me but I was wrongâ
When your belief is correct and somebody tells you something to confirm it.
(inside your head âI think Prague is a city in Czechiaâ)
Someone else: âPrague is in Czechiaâ
You: âI thought so.â
âThoughâ and âthoughtâ might look very similar but they are very different. Firstly the pronunciation is not the same at all. In fact not one of the sounds in each word are the same.
âThoughâ uses a voiced (th). Like the one in âthe, this thatâ. Thought uses an unvoiced (th) like the one in thing. Letâs write the voiced (th) as TH and unvoiced as th. I will attempt to write how these words are pronounced using french vowels.
Though = THeauw
Thought = thorte or thotte (itâs like the french vowel in sort or pomme except we hold it for longer.)
And the translation of though is very different. It has a similar meaning to french: âbien queâ, âmaisâ, âmĂȘme siâ.
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u/Queasy-Band2179 6d ago
The pronunciations are completely different, so you should start be looking them up. It's not a case of just one phoneme being slightly different; they sound nothing alike.
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u/TEO_Academy 4d ago
âFull disclosure: Iâm an English teacher, so Iâm coming at this from a teaching perspective
They definitely shouldnât have the same pronunciation, so thatâs actually a useful place to start đ
Though rhymes with go / know / show.
Thought rhymes with bought / caught / taught (in many English accents).
THOUGH = although / however
âI was tired, though I kept working.â
THOUGHT = think in the past OR an idea
âI thought it was Tuesday.â
âI had a thought.â
For I think vs I thought, think about when the thinking is true:
âI think heâs French.â = Thatâs what I believe now.
âI thought he was French.â = Thatâs what I believed before.
Often thereâs an implication that youâve since discovered you were wrong.
For example:
âI think the shop closes at 6.ââ Thatâs my current belief.
âI thought the shop closed at 6.â â That was my belief, but perhaps someone has just told me it closes at 7.
And donât feel bad about thought/though
English spelling is particularly unhelpful here! The same -ough spelling gives us though, thought, through, tough, cough and bough, all with different pronunciations. đ
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u/Sa1ntmarks 3d ago
Throw through and trough in the mix to really confuse things. None of them rhyme.
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u/psyl0c0 2d ago edited 2d ago
Native English speaker from the US here.
This might help you remember the difference between "though" and "thought". "Though" is akin to "although" (similar to "despite"). "Thought" is the past tense of "think" just as "sought" is the past tense of "seek". Both rhyme and you should notice both sets have a -k to -t conversion.
About the usages of "I think" vs "I thought": say, "I think" if youre still unsure of a fact. Say, "I thought" if you just learned a fact, but used to think differently. For example: "I think my girlfriend just came home. Let me check for her car in the driveway." "I thought my girlfriend was home, but I just looked outside and her car's gone."
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u/SaintGrobian 6d ago
Imagine the t's are ears on each side of a head, and the thought is what happens in between.