Different to, different than or different from? British and American English

How do we use to and than when we’re comparing things?

Now this was a question we had from Sohan Pandy.

Do we say different to or different than?

Or do we say something else?

Let’s find out.

Hi everyone, I’m Vicki.

And I’m Jay.

Jay looks different from normal because he has a moustache today

Oh, do you want one too?

Yes, Here you go.

Did you notice what preposition I used after different?

I said from.

If you’re wondering what preposition to use, say from.

It’s what we normally say.

Different to and different than are also possible and they mean the same thing.

They’re just not very common.

Your moustache is a little bigger.

It’s different to mine.

You mean it’s different than mine.

No.

You see, there’s a British and American difference here.

So British English is different than American No, British English is different to American.

Huh?

‘Different to’ and ‘different than’ mean the same thing.

It’s just we say ‘to’ in British English and ‘than’ in American.

But in both varieties we usually say from.

I’m American and ‘different to’ sounds strange to me.

Yes, it’s more common in British English.

And ‘different than’ sounds wrong to me, because I’m British.

But it’s correct in American.

Except usually we say ‘different from’.

Yes, so say different from. It's what we normally say and you can’t go wrong.

And that's it for this week.

Make sure you tune in next Friday for another English lesson and don't forget to subscribe.