brought

brought — verb

1. the past tense of 'bring'; also used as the past participle

1.verbtransitiveA2
Definition

the past tense of 'bring'; also used as the past participle

Example

Omar brought his little sister to school every morning last year.

brought + person + to + place (past habit)

Anong brought a warm coat because she knew the weather would turn cold.

Common collocations
  • brought back
  • brought along
  • brought together
  • brought up
  • brought about
  • brought in
  • brought to light
  • brought to an end
Synonyms
  • carried

    focuses on physically holding and moving something, not on the destination

  • fetched

    implies going to a place and bringing something back; more specific than 'brought'

  • delivered

    suggests handing something over formally or as part of a service

Antonyms
  • took

    implies moving something away from the speaker, rather than toward them

  • removed

    suggests taking something away from a location

Grammar Patterns

brought + object + to + place/person

brought + object + adverb (back/along/up)

brought + noun (event/feeling) + to/upon + someone/something

Usage Note

Frequently used with adverbs such as 'back', 'along', 'up', 'out', and 'together'. The verb 'bring' means to carry or move someone or something to a place, or to cause an event or feeling to happen. 'Brought' is the only form of 'bring' used for past-time events — the form 'bringed' does not exist.

Common Mistakes

Yesterday she bringed her guitar to class.
Yesterday she brought her guitar to class.
'bring' is an irregular verb; the past form is 'brought', not 'bringed'.
I have bring my passport.
I have brought my passport.
The past participle of 'bring' is 'brought', not 'bring'.

Word family

  • bring
    verbA2
  • brings
    verbA2
  • bringing
    verbA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

'Brought' is the past form of 'bring', which means to cause something or someone to come toward the speaker or to a place. 'Carried' focuses on physically holding something while moving, but does not imply a destination — you can carry groceries without bringing them home. 'Fetched' adds the idea of going somewhere first and then bringing something back ('She fetched water from the well'). 'Delivered' suggests a formal handover, often as part of a service ('The mail carrier delivered a package'). 'Took' is the opposite direction — it means moving something away from the speaker ('He took the empty bottles to the recycling centre'). Learners commonly confuse 'brought' with 'bought' (past of 'buy') because the two sound similar.

carriedfetcheddeliveredtook ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • brought to light
  • brought to an end
  • brought to mind
  • brought to life

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

'Brought' comes from Old English 'brōhte', which was the past tense of 'bringan' (to bring, to carry, to take). The same Germanic root gave rise to similar past forms in other Germanic languages. The unusual vowel change (i → ou) is a remnant of an ancient grammatical pattern that affected certain Old English verbs, and it has survived as the standard past form for over a thousand years.