Past tense

For other uses, seePast tense (disambiguation).

Thepast tenseis agrammatical tensewhose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples ofverbsin the past tense include the English verbssang,wentandwashed.Most languages have a past tense, with some having several types in order to indicate how far back the action took place. Some languages have a compound past tense which uses auxiliary verbs as well as an imperfect tense which expresses continuous or repetitive events or actions. Some languages inflect the verb, which changes the ending to indicate the past tense, while non-inflected languages may use other words meaning, for example, "yesterday" or "last week" to indicate that something took place in the past.

Introduction

In some languages, the grammatical expression of past tense is combined with the expression of othercategoriessuch asgrammatical aspect(seetense–aspect). Thus a language may have several types of past tense form, their use depending on what aspectual or other additional information is to be encoded.French,for example, has a compound past(passé composé)for expressing completed events, andimperfectfor continuous or repetitive events.

Some languages that grammaticalise for past tense do so byinflectingthe verb, while others do soperiphrasticallyusingauxiliary verbs,also known as "verbal operators" (and some do both, as in the example of French given above). Not all languages grammaticalise verbs for past tense –Mandarin Chinese,for example, mainly uses lexical means (words like "yesterday" or "last week" ) to indicate that something took place in the past, although use can also be made of thetense/aspect markersleandguo.

The "past time" to which the past tense refers generally means the past relative to the moment of speaking, although in contexts whererelative tenseis employed (as in some instances ofindirect speech) it may mean the past relative to some other time being under discussion.A language's past tense may also have other uses besides referring to past time; for example, in English and certain other languages, the past tense is sometimes used in referring to hypothetical situations, such as incondition clauseslikeIf you loved me...,where the past tenselovedis used even though there may be no connection with past time.

Some languages grammatically distinguish the recent past from remote past with separate tenses. There may be more than two distinctions.

In some languages, certain past tenses can carry an implication that the result of the action in question no longer holds. For example, in the Bantu languageChichewa,use of the remote past tenseánáamwalíra"he died" would be surprising since it would imply that the person was no longer dead.This kind of past tense is known asdiscontinuous past.Similarly certain imperfective past tenses (such as the English "used to" ) can carry an implication that the action referred to no longer takes place.

A general past tense can be indicated with theglossing abbreviationPST.

Indo-European languages

The European continent is heavily dominated byIndo-European languages,all of which have a past tense. In some cases the tense is formedinflectionallyas in Englishsee/saworwalks/walkedand as in theFrenchimperfectform, and sometimes it is formedperiphrastically,as in the Frenchpassé composéform. Further, all of the non-Indo-European languages in Europe, such asBasque,Hungarian,andFinnish,also have a past tense.

Germanic languages

English

In English, the past tense (orpreterite) is one of theinflectedforms of a verb. The past tense ofregular verbsis made by adding-dor-edto the base form of the verb, while those ofirregular verbsare formed in various ways (such assee→saw,go→went,be→was/were). With regular and some irregular verbs, the past tense form also serves as apast participle.For full details of past tense formation, seeEnglish verbs.

Past events are often referred to using thepresent perfectconstruction, as inI have finished(also known aspresent in past). However this is not regarded as an instance of the past tense; instead it is viewed as a combination ofpresent tensewith perfectaspect,specifying a present state that results from past action.(It can be made into a past tense form by replacing the auxiliaryhavewithhad;see below.)

Various multi-word constructions exist for combining past tense withprogressive(continuous) aspect, which denotes ongoing action; with perfect aspect; and with progressive and perfect aspects together. These and other common past tense constructions are listed below.

• Thesimple pastconsists of just the past tense (preterite) form of the verb (he walked,they flew,etc.), although when it is negated, emphasized orinvertedit is sometimes necessary to unfuse the verb, using aperiphrasticconstruction withdid(as indid he walk?etc.) – seedo-support.The simple past is used for describingsingle occurrencesorhabitual occurrencesin the past, and sometimes for states existing in the past with no connection to the present (or where such connection is irrelevant), and sometimes for states and sensual perceptions existing in the past.
• Thepast progressive(past continuous) is formed using the simple past ofbe(wasorwere) withpresent participle(sometimes referred to as the -ing form) of the main verb:He was going.This form indicates that an action was ongoing at the past time under consideration, often interrupted by another past action (as in I was having a shower when you called).
• Thepast perfectcombineshad(the simple past ofhave) with thepast participleof the main verb:We had shouted.This denotes that an action occurred before a specified time in the past, and therefore has similar function to thepluperfectfound in some languages.
• Thepast perfect progressive(sometimes referred to as the past perfect continuous) combineshad(the simple past ofhave) withbeen(the past participle ofbe) and the present participle of the main verb:You had been waiting.It is used to refer to an ongoing action that continued up to the past time of reference.
• The expressionused to(with theinfinitiveof the main verb) denotes a pasthabitualsituation (I used to play football when I was young), although with astative verbit can just indicate that a state was continuously in effect (I used to belong to that club). It is often used to emphasize that something happened a long time ago and is no longer the case. Another way of referring to past habitual action is to usewould,as inAs a child I would play the piano every day,although this auxiliary has other uses as well. For further details seeEnglish modal verbs.

For details of the usage of the various constructions used to refer to the past, seeUses of English verb forms.The past tense is also used in referring to some hypothetical situations, not necessarily connected with past time, as inif I triedorI wish I knew.(For the possible use ofwerein place ofwasin such instances, seeEnglish subjunctive.)

German

Germanuses three forms for the past tense.

• The preterite (Präteritum) (called the "imperfect" in older grammar books, but this, a borrowing from Latin terminology, ill describes it.)
• The perfect (Perfekt)
• The past perfect (Plusquamperfekt)

In southernGermany,AustriaandSwitzerland,thepreteriteis 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 asYiddishand Swiss German, have no preterite (with the exception ofseinandwollen), but only perfect constructs.

In certain regions, a few specific verbs are used in the preterite, for instance the modal verbs and the verbshaben(have) andsein(be).

• Esgabeinmal ein kleines Mädchen, das Rotkäppchenhieß.(Therewasonce a small girl whowas calledLittle Red Riding Hood.)

In speech and informal writing, thePerfektis used (e.g., Ichhabedies und dasgesagt.(I said this and that)).

However, in the oral mode of North Germany, there is still a very important difference between the preterite and theperfect,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 is somewhat similar to the English usage of the preterite and the present perfect.

• Preterite: "Heute frühkammein Freund. "(my friend came early in the morning, and he is being talked about strictly in the past)
• Perfect: "Heute frühistmein Freundgekommen."(my friend came early in the morning, but he is being talked about in the present)

The past perfect is used in every German speaking country and it is used to place an action in the past before another action in the past. It is formed with an auxiliary (haben/sein) and a past participle that is placed at the end of the clause.

Dutch

Dutchmainly uses these two past tenses:

• onvoltooid verleden tijd,which matches the English simple past and the German preterite, for example:Gisterenwasik daar( "I was there yesterday" ).
• voltooid tegenwoordige tijd,a present tense with the meaning of perfect. This form is made by combining a form ofzijn( "to be" ) orhebben( "to have" ) with the notional verb, for example:Gisterenbenik daargeweest.This also means "I was there yesterday", but just as it is the case for English constructions with the present perfect simple, this kind of formulation puts more emphasis on the "being finished" -aspect.

Less common is thevoltooid verleden tijd,which corresponds to the English past perfect. It is formed by combining anonvoltooid verledenform ofzijn( "to be" ) orhebben( "to have" ) with the notional verb, for example:Ikwasdaar voor gisteren algeweest.This means "I had been there before yesterday." This tense is used to indicate that one action in the past occurred before another past action, and that the action was fully finished before the second action took place.

Other groups

In non-GermanicIndo-European languages,past marking is typically combined with a distinction betweenperfectiveandimperfectiveaspect, with the former reserved for single completed actions in the past.Frenchfor instance, has an imperfect tense form similar to that of German but used only for past habitual or past progressive contexts like "I used to..." or "I was doing...". Similar patterns extend across most languages of the Indo-European family right through to theIndic languages.

Unlike other Indo-European languages, inSlavic languagestense is independent ofaspect,withimperfectiveandperfectiveaspects being indicated instead by means of prefixes, stem changes, orsuppletion.In manyWest SlavicandEast Slaviclanguages, theearly Slavicpast tenses have largely merged into a single past tense. In both West and East Slavic, verbs in the past tense are conjugated forgender(masculine, feminine, neuter) andnumber(singular, plural).

Romance

French

Further information:French verbs

Frenchhas numerous forms of the past tense including but not limited to:

• Past perfective (passé composé) e.g.J'ai mangé(I ateorI have eaten,using the form but usually not the meaning ofI have eaten)
• Past imperfective (imparfait) e.g.Je mangeais(I was eating)
• Past historic or Simple past (passé simple) e.g.Je mangeai(I ate) (literary only)
• Pluperfect (Plus que parfait) e.g.J'avais mangé(I had eaten[before another event in the past])
• Recent past (passé recent) e.g.Je viens de manger(I just ateorI have just eaten)

Spanish and Portuguese

Further information:Spanish verb conjugationandPortuguese verb conjugation

SpanishandPortuguesehave several forms of the past tense, which include but are not limited to:

• Preterite tense (préterito, pretérito) e.g.Yo comíandEu comi(I ateorI have eaten)
• Past imperfective (imperfecto, imperfeito) e.g.Yo comíaandEu comia(I was eating)
• Pluperfect (pluperfecto, mais-que-perfeito) e.g.Yo había comidoorYo hube comidoandEu comeraorEu tinha comido(I had eaten[before another event in the past])

A difference in the pluperfect occurs between Spanish and Portuguese; in the latter, a synthetic pluperfect exists which follows the imperfect conjugations, but -ra replaces the -va seen in the verb endings.

African languages

While inSemitic languagestripartite non-past/past imperfective/past perfective systems similar to those of most Indo-European languages are found, in the rest of Africa past tenses have very different forms from those found in European languages.Berber languageshave only the perfective/imperfective distinction and lack a past imperfect.

Many non-BantuNiger–Congo languagesof West Africa do not mark past tense at all but instead have a form ofperfectderived from a word meaning "to finish". Others, such asEwe,distinguish only betweenfutureandnon-future.

In complete contrast,Bantu languagessuch asZuluhave not only a past tense, but also a less remoteproximal tensewhich is used for very recent past events and is never interchangeable with the ordinary past form. These languages also differ substantially from European languages in coding tense withprefixesinstead of such suffixes as English-ed.

Other, smaller language families of Africa follow quite regional patterns. Thus theSudanic languagesof East Africa and adjacent Afro-Asiatic families are part of the same area with inflectional past-marking that extends into Europe, whereas more westerly Nilo-Saharan languages often do not have past tense.

Asian languages

Past tenses are found in a variety of Asian languages. These include the Indo-European languagesRussianin North Asia andPersian,Urdu,NepaliandHindiin Southwest and South Asia; theTurkic languagesTurkish,Turkmen,Kazakh,andUyghurof Southwest and Central Asia;ArabicandHebrewin Southwest Asia;Japanese;theDravidian languagesof India; theUralic languagesof Russia;Mongolic;andKorean.Languages inEast AsiaandSoutheast Asiatypically do not distinguish tense; inMandarin Chinese,for example, the particle liễulewhen used immediately after a verb instead indicatesperfective aspect.

In parts of islands in Southeast Asia, even less distinction is made, for instance inIndonesianand some otherAustronesian languages.Past tenses, do, however, exist in mostOceanic languages.

The Americas

AmongNative American languagesthere is a split between complete absence of past marking (especially common in Mesoamerica and the Pacific Northwest) and very complex tense marking with numerous specialised remoteness distinctions, as found for instance inAthabaskan languagesand a few languages of the Amazon Basin. Some of these tenses can have specialised mythological significance and uses.

A number of Native American languages like Northern Paiute stand in contrast to European notions of tense because they always userelative tense,which means time relative to a reference point that may not coincide with the time an utterance is made.

New Guinea

Papuan languagesof New Guinea almost always have remoteness distinctions in the past tense (though none are as elaborate as some Native American languages), whilstindigenous Australian languagesusually have a single past tense without remoteness distinctions.

Creole languages

Creole languagestend to make tense marking optional, and when tense is marked invariant pre-verbal markers are used.

Belizean Creole

InBelizean Creole,past tense marking is optional and is rarely used if a semantic temporal marker such asyestudeh"yesterday" is present.

Singaporean English Creole

Singaporean English Creole (Singlish) optionally marks the past tense, most often in irregular verbs (e.g.,go→went) and regular verbs likeacceptwhich require an extra syllable for the past tense suffix -ed.

Hawaiian Creole English

Hawaiian Creole Englishoptionally marks the past tense with the invariant pre-verbal markerwenorbin(especially older speakers) orhaed(especially on the island Kauai). (Ai wen si om"I saw him";Ai bin klin ap mai ples for da halade"I cleaned up my place for the holiday";De haed plei BYU laes wik"They played BYU last week" ). The past habitual marker isyustu(Yo mada yustu tink so"Your mother used to think so" ).

Haitian Creole

Haitian Creolecan indicate past tense with the pre-verbal markerte(Li te vini"He (past) come", "He came" ).