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Preterite
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the grammatical term. To see the article relating to eschatology and the Book of Revelation, see Preterism.
The preterite (also praeterite, in American English also preterit, simple past, or past historic) is the grammatical tense expressing actions which took place in the past. It is similar to the aorist in languages such as Greek.
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English's preterite — usually called its simple past or, somewhat loosely, its past-tense form — is generally formed by adding -ed or -d to the verb's plain form (bare infinitive), sometimes with some spelling modifications:
- He planted corn and oats.
- They studied grammar.
A number of verbs form their preterites irregularly, often by changing an interior vowel:
- She went to the cinema.
- I ate breakfast late this morning.
- He ran to the store.
Interrogative and negative clauses do not use their main verb's preterites; rather, 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:
- Did he plant corn and oats?
- She did not go to the cinema.
In German, the Präteritum is used for past actions. (Older grammar books sometimes call it the "imperfect", an unsuitable borrowing from Latin terminology.) In South Germany, Austria and Switzerland, it is mostly used solely in writing, for example in stories. Use in speech is regarded as snobbish and thus very uncommon. South German dialects, such as the Bavarian dialect, as well as Yiddish, have no preterite, but only perfect constructs.
In certain regions, a few specific verbs are used in the preterite, for instance the modal verbs and the verbs haben (have) and sein (be).
- Es gab einmal ein kleines Mädchen, das Rotkäppchen hieß. (There was once a small girl who was called Little Red Riding Hood.)
In speech and informal writing, the Perfekt is used (eg, Ich habe dies und das gesagt. (I said this and that)).
However, in the colloquial language of North Germany, there is still a very important difference between the preterite and the perfect, and both tenses are consequently very common. The preterite is used for past actions when the focus is on the action, whilst the present perfect is used for past actions when the focus is on the present state of the subject as a result of a previous action. This corresponds to the English usage of the preterite and the present perfect.
- Preterite: "Heute früh kam mein Freund." (my friend came early in the morning, and he's being talked about strictly in the past)
- Perfect: "Heute früh ist mein Freund gekommen." (my friend came early in the morning, but he's being talked about in the present)
In Latin, the perfect tense most commonly functions as the preterite, and refers to an action completed in the past. If the past action wasn't completed, one would use the imperfect tense. The perfect tense in Latin also functions in other circumstances as a present perfect tense.
Typical conjugation:
| Dūcō, Dūcere, Dūxī, Ductus | |
|---|---|
| ego | -ī (dūxī) |
| tū | -isti (dūxisti) |
| is | -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."
In French, the preterite is known as le passé simple ("the simple past"). As in Spanish, 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 tense (l'imparfait), used in expressing repeated, continuous, or habitual past actions (often corresponding to English's past continuous was/were
Typical conjugations:
| -er verbs (aimer) | -ir verbs (finir) | -re verbs (rendre) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | -ai (aimai) | -is (finis) | -is (rendis) |
| tu | -as (aimas) | -is (finis) | -is (rendis) |
| il | -a (aima) | -it (finit) | -it (rendit) |
| nous | -âmes (aimâmes) | -îmes (finîmes) | -îmes (rendîmes) |
| vous | -âtes (aimâtes) | -îtes (finîtes) | -îtes (rendîtes) |
| ils | -èrent (aimèrent) | -irent (finirent) | -irent (rendirent) |
In Italian, the preterite is usually called Passato Remoto (simple past or past absolute, literally "remote past"). Like in Spanish and French, it is a past tense that indicates an action taken once in the past that was completed at some point in the past (mangiai, "I ate"). This is as opposed to the imperfetto tense, which refers to any repeated, continuous, or habitual past action (mangiavo, "I ate" or "I was eating" or "I used to eat"). In the spoken language of most of Italy (a notable exception is in Sicily), the passato remoto is not normally used, the compound passato prossimo tense taking its place (ho mangiato, "I have eaten" but also "I ate"). An exception to this is where there is emphasis on the remoteness of an action (i.e. Marco Polo andò in Cina nel 1264 (Marco Polo went to China in 1264) would be more proper than Marco Polo è andato in Cina nel 1264).
Typical conjugations:
| -are verbs (parlare) | -ere verbs (credere)* | -ire verbs (finire) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| io | -ai (parlai) | -ei (credei) | -ii (finii) |
| tu | -asti (parlasti) | -esti (credesti) | -isti (finisti) |
| lui | -ò (parlò) | -è (credè) | -ì (finì) |
| noi | -ammo (parlammo) | -emmo (credemmo) | -immo (finimmo) |
| voi | -aste (parlaste) | -este (credeste) | -iste (finiste) |
| loro | -arono (parlarono) | -erono (crederono) | -irono (finirono) |
*some verbs, 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. As in other Romance Languages, it denotes an isolated event initiated in the past, and completed before the present. It contrasts with the pretérito imperfeito (imperfect) and with the pretérito perfeito composto (present perfect).
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 some point in the past. This is opposed to the imperfect tense, 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 tense form, corría. This distinction is actually one of perfective vs. imperfective aspect.
In some variants of Spanish, such as 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 still going on, thus:
- Comí todo el dia. (I ate all day long, but its over now)
- He comido todo el dia (I have been eating all day and I plan on keep doing so)
In European Spanish and some other variants of Spanish, this distinction is quickly fading. For a some Spaniards the preterite expresses an action that happened in the remote past and the present perfect stands for an action in the near past. In some parts of Spain even this distinction has disappeared.
Typical conjugation:
| -ar verbs (hablar) | -er verbs (comer) and -ir verbs (vivir) | |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -é (hablé) | -í (comí) (viví) |
| tú | -aste (hablaste) | -iste (comiste) (viviste) |
| él | -ó (habló) | -ió (comió) (vivió) |
| nosotros | -amos (hablamos) | -imos (comimos) (vivimos) |
| vosotros | -asteis (hablasteis) | -isteis (comisteis) (vivisteis) |
| ustedes | -aron (hablaron) | -ieron (comieron) (vivieron) |
| ellos | -aron (hablaron) | -ieron (comieron) (vivieron) |
In Ladino, the preterite indicates that an action taken once in the past was also completed at some point in the past. This is as opposed to the imperfect tense which refers to any continuous, habitual, unfinished or repetitive past action. Thus, "I ate falafel yesterday" would use the first-person preterite form of eat, comí, whereas "When I lived in Izmir, I ran five miles every evening" would use the first-person imperfect tense form, koría. Though some of the morphology has changed, usage is just as in normative Castilian.
Typical conjugation:
| -ar verbs (avlar) | -er verbs (komer) and -ir verbs (bivir) | |
|---|---|---|
| yo | -í (avlí) | -í (komí) (biví) |
| tu | -ates (avlates) | -ites (komites) (bivites) |
| el eya | -ó (avló) | -yó (komyó) (bivyó) |
| mozotros | -amos (avlamos) | -imos (komimos) (bivimos) |
| vozotros | -atesh (avlatesh) | -itesh (komitesh) (bivitesh) |
| eyos | -aron (avlaron) | -yeron (komyeron) (bivyeron) |