What's the difference between then and than?

[Valstrax]

I feel like a fucking retard asking this.

 

[Niggernerd]

If only you knew this back then
rather than asking now and feeling like a retard.

 

[Valstrax]

If only you knew this back then
rather than asking now and feeling like a retard.

Goddamn you!... you're right.

 

[3MMA]

Then usually is used in present & future tense:

“She’s at the store, then is going to come home.”

Or lists/ directions;

“Add milk, butter, then eggs.”

“Go one mile, then turn left at the stop sign.”

Than is most often used to compare before & after:

“She is much more beautiful with that new haircut than before.”

Tricksy Difference; Description of passage of time differences:

“If I knew then ( past tense) what I know know, I’d be better off than (comparison) most people at that age.”

This is most of what I can think of, off the top.
(Eta: answered as I was typing,.)

 

[Justtocheck]

Not gonna insult you personally OP, but I'm still amazed people managed to get to adulthood without this knowledge. How little did they read to get to that point?

 

[Tom Myers]

A upper-class upbringing plus a faggotry need to be be fucked

 

[Ozul]

I still see 80% of people online use the word 'loose' in place of 'lose' and it drives me bonkers

 

[Book Thief]

Not gonna insult you personally OP, but I'm still amazed people managed to get to adulthood without this knowledge. How little did they read to get to that point?

Perhaps English isn't OP's native language?

 

[Justtocheck]

Perhaps English isn't OP's native language?

Ehh... maybe. But if you use a coloquialism like "I feel like a fucking retard asking this." which is pretty advanced, than you should have had the tools to know the difference.

 

[Nonconsentual Pronouns]

If someone needs to ask this, then I know I've got better English reading and writing comprehension than them.
then; if and when
than; comparison

But it could be worse. You could be one of those fucking people who types "alot". I've seen those people also write "alittle", I shit you not. Do they also sometimes write "abit", "acabbage" or "adog"? I can honestly see why it would be a good idea to make it official similarly to the way we add a letter onto the words themselves when pluralizing. But since that's not how it's done, it's absolutely maddening to see.

The English language is so fucking retarded due to the lack of consistency caused by a lack of standardization for over a thousand years. Fucking anglos.

 

[Valstrax]

Perhaps English isn't OP's native language?

It actually is, it's just that I sometimes fuck up then and than. Kinda rarely though.

 

[Suburban Bastard]

The letters A and E.