# What's the difference between "got" and "gotten" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661 "2011-10-24T18:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/21 "2011-10-26T00:55:23Z")
Wow, doesn’t anyone read the Master anymore? [Difference between got and gotten](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/258/whats-correct-he-had-got-some-or-he-had-gotten-some) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/22 "2011-10-26T01:03:00Z")
With all due deference to the Master, “In other words, got means you obtained something in the indefinite past, and gotten means you recently acquired it.” isn’t quite on the mark. Among those who use “gotten” as the past participle of “got”, most would never say “He was losing for a while, but he’s got twenty points in the last minute”. But they would be perfectly comfortable saying “He was losing for a while, but he’s gotten twenty points in the last minute”. They would also be perfectly comfortable saying “He had gotten the coat decades ago” and such things. The difference isn’t in terms of how recently the acquisition came. The difference is simply that “got” is the preterite (just like “ate” or “forgot”) and “gotten” is the past participle (just like “eaten” or “forgotten”), with the additional idiosyncratic idiomatic wrinkle that one can use “have got” (and similarly for any of the inflections of “have”) to mean simply “have” in the sense of “possess”. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/23 "2011-10-26T01:44:40Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > In Saskatchewan, there’s also the distinction between “bought” and “boughten”. > > “Boughten” is used almost entirely as an adjective. “That’s boughten bread.” =\> bread bought from the store, because I was too lazy/busy to bake some myself. > > Yes, it’s an implied criticism of the person who takes the easy way of going to the store, instead of the pioneer methods of self-sufficiency. > > Just tonight, the Piper Cub and I were making spaghetti with tomato sauce with tomatoes that he and Mrs Piper grew this summer, and and I caught myself complimenting him by saying “We’re making sauce with your home-grown tomatoes, not boughten tomatoes.” I noticed my girlfriend used “boughten” as a verb today. Her sister: You owe me $7 for that. Her: Hey, I’ve boughten you food lots of times. This is in the Ottawa/Gatineau region. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/24 "2011-10-26T01:49:56Z")
I love gotten candy, whereas my wife prefers Everlasting Got-stoppers. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/25 "2011-10-27T01:35:36Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Okay, that’s half my question. But are there any verbs that have regular past tense with “-ed” and perfect tenses with “-en”? No. In Germanic languages, there is a distinction between “strong” and “weak” verbs. The stem vowel of strong verbs change when you form the past tense, e.g., come, _came_. These vowel changes follow regular patterns that ancient grammarians were well aware of. Sometimes the past tense ends in -en; sometimes it doesn’t. “Weak” verbs are formed by adding a dental suffix, i.e., walk, _walked_. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/26 "2011-10-27T03:44:49Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > In Saskatchewan, there’s also the distinction between “bought” and “boughten”. > > “Boughten” is used almost entirely as an adjective. “That’s boughten bread.” =\> bread bought from the store, because I was too lazy/busy to bake some myself. > [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > I noticed my girlfriend used “boughten” as a verb today. For what it’s worth, it’s always a verb, even in “That’s boughten bread”. It’s just a verb in its past participle form, and thus can be used as a modifier of a noun. Just as one can say “That’s spilled milk” with the verb “spill” or “That’s broken glass” with the verb “break”, or “Those are morchivicated fratzelsnops”, or such things. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/27 "2011-10-27T03:54:27Z")
At least, that’s the way I see it right now… perhaps with more thought I’ll find that to be not the best analysis of the situation. But right now, I’d like to say it’s always a verb, but verbs can be made to function as adjectives, according to certain general rules. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/28 "2011-10-27T11:13:56Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > At least, that’s the way I see it right now… perhaps with more thought I’ll find that to be not the best analysis of the situation. But right now, I’d like to say it’s always a verb, but verbs can be made to function as adjectives, according to certain general rules. I think this is the right analysis. It would make bought one of many verbs whose past participle is not the same as its preterite. ---
**Author:** ![whiteghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e7dd6/32.png) [@whiteghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiteghost)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661/29 "2012-03-17T11:36:31Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > – Can anyone name a verb with past tense “-ed” that does NOT also use “-ed” for the perfect? While there has been a tendency over the past few centuries and in particular over the past few decades to inflect verbs weakly such that “have hewed” and similar are seen around the world: There is hewed/have hewn, similarly showed/have shown, sowed/have sown, sheared/have shorn and shined/have shone. As I recall most or all of these were strong verbs in Old English. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-got-and-gotten/600661.md?page=1)