The preterite (abbreviated pret or prt, in American English also preterit; aorist, simple past, past indicative, or past historic) is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past. In general, it is the perfective aspect of the past tense (not to be confused with the similarly named perfect aspect) and may thus be more precisely called the perfective past. But, in English, which does not have an inflection for perfective aspect, the term is used for the simple-past tense.
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In Latin, the perfect tense most commonly functions as the preterite, and refers to an action completed in the past. If the past action were not completed, one would use the imperfect. The perfect in Latin also functions in other circumstances as a present perfect.
Typical conjugation:
| dūcō, dūcere, dūxī, ductus | |
|---|---|
| ego | -ī (dūxī) |
| tū | -istī (dūxistī) |
| is, ea, id | -it (dūxit) |
| nōs | -imus (dūximus) |
| vōs | -istis (dūxistis) |
| eī | -ērunt (dūxērunt) |
Dūxī can be translated as (preterite) "I led," "I did lead" or (present perfect) "I have led."
A pronoun subject is often omitted, and usually used for emphasis.
In French, the preterite is known as le passé simple (the simple past). It is a past tense that indicates an action taken once in the past that was completed at some point in the past (translated: "verbed"). This is as opposed to the imperfect (l'imparfait), used in expressing repeated, continual, or habitual past actions (often corresponding to English's past continuous was/were <verb>ing). In the oral language, the compound tense known as le passé composé ("the compound past") began to compete with it from the 12th century AD onwards, and has since replaced it almost entirely.[1] French simple past is mostly used in a narrative way to tell stories and describe successive actions. Novelists use it very commonly; it brings more suspense, as the sentence can be short without any time reference needed. In the oral language, the simple past is rarely used except with story telling. Therefore, it would be atypical to hear it in a standard discussion.
Typical conjugations:
| -er verbs (aimer) | -ir verbs (finir) | -re verbs (rendre) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | -ai (aimai) | -es (finis) | -is (rendis) |
| tu | -as (aimas) | -is (finis) | -is (rendis) |
| il/elle/on | -a (aima) | -it (finit) | -it (rendit) |
| nous | -âmes (aimâmes) | -îmes (finîmes) | -îmes (rendîmes) |
| vous | -âtes (aimâtes) | -îtes (finîtes) | -îtes (rendîtes) |
| ils/elles | -èrent (aimèrent) | -irent (finirent) | -irent (rendirent) |
In Romanian, the preterite is known as perfectul simplu (literally, the simple past or simple perfect). The preterite indicates a past accomplished action (translated: "verbed"), however this tense is not frequent in the official language and not frequent in the standard speech (not used in Republic of Moldova and not used in the Romanian regions of Transylvania, Muntenia and Moldova). The general tendency is to use the compound past (perfectul compus) to express a past action that is perceived as completed at the moment of speaking. Simple past is still actively used in current speech in the southwestern part of Romania, especially in Oltenia, but also in Banat mostly in rural areas. Usage of the preterite is very frequent in written narrative discourse, the simple past of the speech verbs being generally after a dialogue line in narration:
When used in everyday speech in standard Romanian, the preterite indicates an action completed recently:
The second person is often used in questions about finishing an action in progress that is supposed to be over, giving the question a more informal tone:
The forms of the simple perfect are made of an unstressed stem of the infinitive, a stressed suffix that is different in each group of verbs, and the endings -i, -şi, -Ø, -răm, -răţi, -ră,[2] which are the same for all the verbs:
| -a verbs (a intra) | -ea verbs (a tăcea) | -e verbs (a cere) | -e verbs (a merge) | -i verbs (a dormi) | -î verbs (a coborî) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| suffix a | suffix u | suffix u | suffix se | suffix i | suffix â/î | |
| eu | -ai (intrai) | -ui (tăcui) | -ui (cerui) | -sei (mersei) | -ii (dormii) | -âi (coborâi) |
| tu | -aşi (intraşi) | -uşi (tăcuşi) | -uşi (ceruşi) | -seşi (merseşi) | -işi (dormişi) | -âşi (coborâşi) |
| el/ea | -ă (intră) | -u (tăcu) | -u (ceru) | -se (merse) | -i (dormi) | -î coborî |
| noi | -arăm (intrarăm) | -urăm (tăcurăm) | -urăm (cerurăm) | -serăm (merserăm) | -irăm (dormirăm) | -ârăm (coborârăm) |
| voi | -arăţi (intrarăţi) | -urăţi (tăcurăţi) | -urăţi (cerurăţi) | -serăţi (merserăţi) | -irăţi (dormirăţi) | -ârăţi (coborârăţi) |
| ei/ele | -ară (intrară) | -ură (tăcură) | -ură (cerură) | -seră (merseră) | -iră (dormiră) | -âră (coborâră) |
In Italian, the preterite is called passato remoto (literally "remote past"). It is a past tense that indicates an action taken once and completed far in the past (mangiai, "I ate"). This is opposed to the imperfetto tense, which refers to a repeated, continuous, or habitual past action (mangiavo, "I was eating" or "I used to eat") and to the passato prossimo (literally "close past"), which refers to an action completed recently (ho mangiato, "I have eaten").
In colloquial usage, the use of the passato remoto becomes more prevalent going from North to South of Italy. While Northern speakers tend to use passato prossimo in any perfective situation, Southern ones tend to use passato remoto even for recent events.
Typical conjugations:
| -are verbs (parlare) | [Regular] -ere verbs (credere)* | [Irregular] -ere verbs (prendere)* | -ire verbs (finire) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| io | -ai (parlai) | -ei (credei) | -i (presi) | -ii (finii) |
| tu | -asti (parlasti) | -esti (credesti) | -esti (prendesti) | -isti (finisti) |
| lui | -ò (parlò) | -é (credé) | -e (prese) | -ì (finì) |
| noi | -ammo (parlammo) | -emmo (credemmo) | -emmo (prendemmo) | -immo (finimmo) |
| voi | -aste (parlaste) | -este (credeste) | -este (prendeste) | -iste (finiste) |
| loro | -arono (parlarono) | -erono (crederono) | -ero (presero) | -irono (finirono) |
*Many -ere verbs in Italian have stem alternations in the 1st person singular, 3rd person singular and 3rd person plural. Some verbs (with d/t in their stem, including credere) also have endings -etti (1st person singular), -ette (3rd person singular), and -ettero (3rd person plural).
In Portuguese, the preterite is the pretérito perfeito. The Portuguese preterite has the same form as the Spanish preterite, but the meaning is like the "composed past" of French and Italian in that it e.g. corri means both "I ran" and "I have run". As in other Romance Languages, it is opposed to the pretérito imperfeito (imperfect). Note that there does exist a pretérito perfeito composto (present perfect) but its meaning is not that of a perfect but instead it shows an iterative aspect. For example, tenho corrido does not mean "I have run" but instead means "I have run and I'm still running".
Typical conjugations:
| -ar verbs (amar) | -er verbs (correr) | -ir verbs (partir) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | -ei (amei) | -i (corri) | -i (parti) |
| tu | -aste (amaste) | -este (correste) | -iste (partiste) |
| ele | -ou (amou) | -eu (correu) | -iu (partiu) |
| nós | -ámos (amámos)1 | -emos (corremos) | -imos (partimos) |
| vós | -astes (amastes) | -estes (correstes) | -istes (partistes) |
| eles | -aram (amaram) | -eram (correram) | -iram (partiram) |
1 Without the acute accent in Brazilian Portuguese.
In Spanish, the preterite (pretérito) is a verb tense that indicates that an action taken once in the past was completed at a specific point in time in the past. Usually, a definite start time or end time for the action is stated. This is opposed to the imperfect, which refers to any repeated, continuous, or habitual past action. Thus, "I ran five miles yesterday" would use the first-person preterite form of ran, corrí, whereas "I ran five miles every morning" would use the first-person imperfect form, corría. This distinction is actually one of perfective vs. imperfective aspect.
The special conjugations for the "yo" form of the preterite are (the accent mark goes over the 'e'): -gar verbs: -gue (jugar>jugué) -car verbs: -que (buscar>busqué) -zar verbs: -ce (almorzar>almorcé)
In most Spanish Mainland Spanish and, to a lesser extent, Mexican Spanish, there is still a strong distinction between the preterite and the present perfect. As the preterite denotes an action that began and ended in the past, while the present perfect denotes an action that began in the past and is over, thus:
In most other variants of Spanish, such as in the Americas and in the Canary Islands, this distinction has tended to fade, with the preterite being used even for actions in the immediate pre-present with continuing relevance. Coincidentally, British Mainland English present perfect forms are sometimes replaced with simple pasts by Irish and North American English speakers , an exactly parallel development.
Typical conjugations:
| -ar verbs (hablar) | -er verbs (comer) | -ir verbs (Vivir) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -é (hablé) | -í (comí) | -í (viví) |
| tú | -aste (hablaste) | -iste (comiste) | -iste (viviste) |
| él | -ó (habló) | -ió (comió) | -ió (vivió) |
| nosotros | -amos (hablamos) | -imos (comimos) | -imos (vivimos) |
| vosotros | -asteis (hablasteis) | -isteis (comisteis) | -isteis (vivisteis) |
| ellos | -aron (hablaron) | -ieron (comieron) | -ieron (vivieron) |
In Germanic languages, the term "preterite" is sometimes used for the past tense.
English's preterite — usually called its simple past or just past tense — is generally formed by adding -ed or -t to the verb's plain form (bare infinitive), sometimes with some spelling modifications:
A number of English verbs form their preterites irregularly, often by changing an interior vowel:
With the exception of "to be" and auxiliary and modal verbs, interrogative and negative clauses do not use their main verb's preterites; if their declarative or positive counterpart does not use any auxiliary or modal verb, then the auxiliary verb did (the preterite of do) is inserted and the main verb appears in its plain form, as an infinitive:
German has a grammatical distinction between preterite (Präteritum) and perfect (Perfekt). (Older grammar books sometimes use Imperfekt instead of Präteritum, an unsuitable borrowing from Latin terminology.) Originally the distinction was as in English: The Präteritum was the standard, most neutral form for past actions, and could also express an event in the remote past, contrasting with the Perfekt, which expressed an event that has consequences reaching into the present.[3]
In modern German, however, these tenses are used very differently. The Präteritum now has the meaning of a narrative tense, i.e. a tense used primarily for describing connected past actions (e.g. as part of a story), and is used almost solely in formal writing.[4] Use in speech is regarded as snobbish and thus very uncommon. However, this applies only to regularly formed preterite in cases an English simple past is appropriate; ich stand in the sense of "I was standing" remains common. Furthermore, in spoken Upper German (in South Germany, Austria and Switzerland), the Präteritum has vanished entirely except for the verb sein (to be) and wollen (to want), if not re-borrowed from Standard German (irregular forms only), but is still productive in producing the subjunctive.[5] Yiddish has gone even farther and has no preterite at all. Rather, there is only one past tense, which is formed using what was originally the perfect.
Semitic languages, including Hebrew and the Akkadian language feature the preterite. It is used to describe past or present events, and contrasts with other, more temporally specific tenses.