'Raise' vs 'Rise' - English In A Minute

Hi, I'm Sian for BBC Learning English.

And today, we're going to look at the difference

between raise and rise.

So raise and rise both refer to something going up,

but there's a difference in how we use them.

Raise always needs a direct object

– so if you raise something, you move it up.

For example: I raise my eyebrows when I'm surprised!

And it doesn't have to be literal – so:

The government plan to raise taxes.

Don't forget this is a regular verb, so the

past and past participle are both raised.

But with rise, there's no direct object.

So if something rises, it goes up or increases by itself.

The sun rises at 6 a.m. at the moment.

Careful, this is an irregular verb

so the past is rose and the past participle is risen.