Thepreterite orpreterit (/ˈprɛtərɪt/PRET-ər-it;abbreviatedPRET orPRT) is agrammatical tense orverb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to thesimple past tense. In general, it combines theperfective aspect (event viewed as a single whole; it is not to be confused with the similarly namedperfect) with thepast tense and may thus also be termed theperfective past. In grammars of particular languages the preterite is sometimes called thepast historic, or (particularly in theGreek grammatical tradition) theaorist.When the term "preterite" is used in relation to specific languages, it may not correspond precisely to this definition. In English it can be used to refer to the simple past verb form, which sometimes (but not always) expresses perfective aspect. The case ofGerman is similar: thePräteritum is the simple (non-compound) past tense, which does not always imply perfective aspect, and is anyway often replaced by thePerfekt (compound past) even in perfective past meanings.
Preterite may be denoted by theglossing abbreviationPRET orPRT. The word derives from the Latinpraeteritum (theperfectiveparticiple ofpraetereo), meaning "passed by" or "past."
InLatin, theperfect tense most commonly functions as thepreterite, and refers to an actioncompleted in the past. If the past action was not completed, one would use the imperfect. The perfect in Latin also functions in other circumstances as apresent 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, eae, ea | -ērunt (dūxērunt) |
Dūxī can be translated as (preterite) "I led", "I did lead", or (in the present perfect) "I have led."
A pronoun subject is often omitted, and usually used for emphasis.
InFrench, the preterite is known asle 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: "<verb>ed"). This is as opposed to the imperfect (l'imparfait), used in expressing repeated, continual, or habitual past actions (often corresponding to English's pastcontinuouswas/were <verb>ing orhabitualused to <verb>). In the spoken language, the compound tense known asle passé composé ("the compound past") began to compete with it from the 12th century 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 commonly: it brings more suspense, as the sentence can be short without any temporal reference needed. In oral language, the simple past is rarely used except while telling a story; therefore, it would be atypical to hear it in a standard discussion.
Typical conjugations:
| -er verbs (aimer) | -ir verbs (finir) | -re verbs (rendre) | -oir(e) verbs1 (vouloir) (croire) | Irregular (tenir)2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | -ai (aimai) | -is (finis) | -is (rendis) | -us (crus) | tins |
| tu | -as (aimas) | -is (finis) | -is (rendis) | -us (crus) | tins |
| il/elle/on | -a (aima) | -it (finit) | -it (rendit) | -ut (crut) | tint |
| nous | -âmes (aimâmes) | -îmes (finîmes) | -îmes (rendîmes) | -ûmes (crûmes) | tînmes |
| vous | -âtes (aimâtes) | -îtes (finîtes) | -îtes (rendîtes) | -ûtes (crûtes) | tîntes |
| ils/elles | -èrent (aimèrent) | -irent (finirent) | -irent (rendirent) | -urent (crurent) | tinrent |
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InRomanian, the preterite is known asperfectul 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 inOltenia, but also inBanat, Crișana and Maramureș, 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 is used with the value of recent past, a recently completed action:
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 theinfinitive, a stressed suffix that is different in each group of verbs, and the endings-i, -și, -∅, -răm, -răți, -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) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| suffixa | suffixu | suffixu | suffixse | suffixi | suffixâ/î | |
| eu | -ai (intrai) | -ui (tăcui) | -ui (cerui) | -sei (mersei) | -ii (dormii) | -âi (coborâi) |
| tu | -ași (intrași) | -uși (tăcuși) | -uși (ceruși) | -seși (merseși) | -iși (dormiși) | -âși (coborâși) |
| 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/dumneavoastră | -arăți (intrarăți) | -urăți (tăcurăți) | -urăți (cerurăți) | -serăți (merserăți) | -irăți (dormirăți) | -ârăți (coborârăți) |
| ei/ele | -ară (intrară) | -ură (tăcură) | -ură (cerură) | -seră (merseră) | -iră (dormiră) | -âră (coborâră) |
InItalian, the preterite is calledpassato 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 theimperfetto tense, which refers to a repeated, continuous, or habitual past action (mangiavo, "I was eating" or "I used to eat") and to thepassato prossimo (literally "close past"), which refers to an action completed recently (ho mangiato, "I have eaten").
In colloquial usage, the use of thepassato remoto becomes more prevalent going from theNorth to theSouth of Italy. While Northern Italians andSardinians usepassato prossimo in any perfective situation, Southern Italians will usepassato remoto even for recent events.
Typical conjugations:
| -are verbs (parlare) | [Regular] -ere verbs (credere)* | [Irregular] -ere verbs (prendere)* | -ire verbs (finire) | essere | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| io | -ai (parlai) | -ei (credei) / -etti (credetti) | -i (presi) | -ii (finii) | fui |
| tu | -asti (parlasti) | -esti (credesti) | -esti (prendesti) | -isti (finisti) | fosti |
| lui | -ò (parlò) | -é (credé) / -ette (credette) | -e (prese) | -ì (finì) | fu |
| noi | -ammo (parlammo) | -emmo (credemmo) | -emmo (prendemmo) | -immo (finimmo) | fummo |
| voi | -aste (parlaste) | -este (credeste) | -este (prendeste) | -iste (finiste) | foste |
| loro | -arono (parlarono) | -erono (crederono) / -ettero (credettero) | -ero (presero) | -irono (finirono) | furono |
*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). Additionally, unlike in most languages, the third person plural is stressed on the irregular root. (Posero is stressed on the first syllable (POH-se-ro), not the second syllable (poh-SEH-ro).)
In a few remarkable cases, all three options exist for a single verb, although usage of each of these forms may vary. Forperdere for example, the first person singular can occur aspersi (irregular and most correct form),perdei orperdetti (compare to the past participle which can beperso (irregular, most correct) orperduto (regular)).
InPortuguese, the preterite is thepretérito 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, for example,corri means both "I ran" and "I have run." As in other Romance languages, it is opposed to thepretérito imperfeito (imperfect). Note that there does exist apretérito perfeito composto (present perfect) but its meaning is not that of aperfect; instead it shows aniterative aspect. For example,tenho corrido doesnot mean "I have run" but rather "I've been running."
Typical conjugations:
| -ar verbs (amar) | -er verbs (correr) | -ir verbs (partir) | most irregular verbs (saber as an example) | ser/ir | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eu | -ei (amei) | -i (corri) | -i (parti) | -e (soube) | fui |
| tu | -aste (amaste) | -este (correste) | -iste (partiste) | -este (soubeste) | foste |
| ele | -ou (amou) | -eu (correu) | -iu (partiu) | -e (soube) | foi |
| nós | -ámos, -amos (amámos, amamos) | -emos (corremos) | -imos (partimos) | -emos (soubemos) | fomos |
| vós | -astes (amastes) | -estes (correstes) | -istes (partistes) | -estes (soubestes) | fostes |
| eles | -aram (amaram) | -eram (correram) | -iram (partiram) | -eram (souberam) | foram |
Some verbs change the stressed vowel in their preterite root in the third person singular to prevent confusion between it and the first person singular, liketer (eu tive versusvocê/ele/ela teve) andpoder (eu pude versusvocê/ele/ela pôde). Certain other verbs also use only the root in the first and third person singulars, such aspôr (eu pus,você/ele/ela pôs).
InSpanish, the preterite (pretérito perfecto simple, orpretérito indefinido) is averbtense that indicates that an action taken once in the past was completed at a specific point in time in the past. (Traditional Spanish terminology calls all past tensespretéritos, irrespective of whether they express completed or incomplete actions or events.) Usually, a definite start time or end time for the action is stated. This is opposed to theimperfect, which refers to any repeated, continuous, or habitual past action. Thus, "I ran five miles yesterday" would use thefirst-person preterite form of ran,corrí, whereas "I ran five miles every morning" would use the first-personimperfect form,corría. This distinction is actually one ofperfective vs. imperfective aspect.
The special spellings for the "yo" form of the preterite are listed below (the accent mark goes over the 'e'); these are needed to keep their respective sounds.
The endings for -er and -ir verbs are identical.[3]
The third person singular and plural forms of all verbs ending in -uir and -oír, as well as some verbs ending in -aer (excluding traer), end in -yó and -yeron, respectively; these are needed to keep their respective sounds.
Examples of verbs that haveanomalous stems in the preterite include most verbs ending in -ducir as well as most verbs that are irregular in the "yo" form of the present tense (including traer).
In most Iberian Mainland Spanish and, to a lesser extent,Mexican Spanish, there is still a strong distinction between the preterite and thepresent perfect. The preterite denotes an action that began and ended in the past, while thepresent 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.[4]
Typical conjugations:
| -ar verbs (hablar) | -er verbs (comer) | -ir verbs (vivir) | most irregular verbs | ser/ir | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | -é (hablé) | -í (comí) | -í (viví) | -e (puse) | fui |
| tú | -aste (hablaste) | -iste (comiste) | -iste (viviste) | -iste (pusiste) | fuiste |
| él/ella usted | -ó (habló) | -ió (comió) | -ió (vivió) | -o (puso) | fue |
| nosotros | -amos (hablamos) | -imos (comimos) | -imos (vivimos) | -imos (pusimos) | fuimos |
| vosotros | -asteis (hablasteis) | -isteis (comisteis) | -isteis (vivisteis) | -isteis (pusisteis) | fuisteis |
| ellos/as ustedes | -aron (hablaron) | -ieron (comieron) | -ieron (vivieron) | -ieron (pusieron) | fueron |
InGermanic languages, the term "preterite" is sometimes used for thepast tense.
The majority ofEnglish's preterites (often calledsimple past or justpast tense) are formed by adding-ed or-d to the verb's plain form (bare infinitive), sometimes with spelling modifications. This is the result of the conjugation system ofweak verbs, already in the majority inOld English, being raised to paradigmatic status and eventaking over earlier conjugations of some old strong verbs. As a result, all newly introduced verbs have the weak conjugation. Examples:
A number of English verbs form their preterites bysuppletion, a result of eitherablaut, a regular set of sound changes (to an interior vowel) in the conjugation of astrong verb, or because the verb conjugations are the remains of a more complex system of tenses inirregular verbs:
With the exception of "to be" andauxiliary andmodal verbs,interrogative and negative clauses do not use their main verbs' preterites; if theirdeclarative or positive counterpart does not use any auxiliary or modal verb, then the auxiliary verbdid (the preterite ofdo) isinserted and the main verb appears in its plain form, as aninfinitive:
For more details, seeEnglish verbs,Simple past, andUses of English verb forms.
German has a grammatical distinction between preterite (Präteritum) and perfect (Perfekt). (Older grammar books sometimes useImperfekt instead ofPräteritum, a borrowing from Latin terminology.) Originally the distinction was as strong 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 thePerfekt, which expressed an event that has consequences reaching into the present.[5]
In modern German, however, these tenses no longer reflect any distinction in aspect ("Es hat geregnet" means both rained/was raining), which parallels this lack of distinction in the present, which has no separate verb form for the present progressive ("Es regnet": It rains, it is raining). The Präteritum now has the meaning of anarrative tense, i.e. a tense used primarily for describing connected past actions (e.g. as part of a story), and is used most often in formal writing and in literature.[6]
Typical conjugations with the wordsein (be) are:
| Ind. Präsens | Ind. Präteritum | Konj. Präsens | Konj. Präteritum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ich | bin | war | sei | wäre |
| du | bist | warst | seist | wärest |
| er/sie/es | ist | war | sei | wäre |
| wir | sind | waren | seien | wären |
| ihr | seid | wart | seiet | wäret |
| sie | sind | waren | seien | wären |
For example, in spokenUpper German (in SouthGermany,Austria andSwitzerland), beyond the auxiliary verbssein (to be),werden (to become),können (to be able),wollen (to want),haben (to have), the Präteritum is rarely used in the spoken language and informal writing, though the grammatical form is fundamental to producing thesubjunctive and conditional forms, while compound verb conjugations are used instead.[7]Yiddish has gone even further and has no preterite at all. Rather, there is only one past tense, which is formed using what was originally perfect.[8] The dialect of German spoken in North America known asPennsylvania German has also undergone this change with the exception of the verbto be, which still retains a simple past.[9]
TheAlemannic German has also largely lost the preterite form. The only exception were the speakers of the isolatedHighest AlemannicSaleytitsch dialect which disappeared around 1963/64.[10]
Conjugations with the wordsiin (be) were:
| Ind. Präsens | Ind. Präteritum | Konj. Präsens | Konj. Präteritum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ich | bìn | wass | siigì | weijì |
| du | bìscht | wasscht | siigìscht | weijìscht |
| är/schi/äs | ìscht | wass | siigì | weijì |
| wier | sin | wassùn/wan | siigì | weijì |
| ier | siit | wassùt | siigìt | weijìt |
| schi | sìn | wassùn/wan | siigì | weijì |
The preterite was a common Semitic form, well attested in theAkkadian language, where the preterite almost always referred to the past and was often interchangeable with the perfect.[11] In the course of time the preterite fell into disuse in allWest Semitic languages, leaving traces such as the "imperfect withwaw-consecutive" in Hebrew and "imperfect with lam" in Arabic.[12]
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