past tense
15
1.0
- noun
- /pæst tɛns/
- Specialized
:
tiempo pasado
- In English grammar, the past tense is used to describe actions that have already happened.
- past tense narration
- past tense verbs
- simple past tense
It's not by mistake that Chris Watts used the word was in past tense, OK?
- It's not by mistake that Chris Watts used the word was in past tense, OK?
- What is the past tense of the word cut, Alicia?
- The comparison group stayed in the same retreat, not at the same time, but and talked about the same thing, except they were talking about it in the past tense.
- Fechtant contains the past tense of the word stenia and it means reason.
- I I wanted, wanted, yeah, past tense, past tense.
- It could have been past tense that you've got that you actually puts my.
Examples
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By then, she was already referring to my father in the past tense.
Fiction book (1998) -
Why do you keep referring to her in the past tense?
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OK, so how do we how do we go and make the past tense in English?
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It's all in the past tense.
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Why are you using the past tense?
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For one thing, you just spoke of him in the past tense.
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I really hate it when you talk about him in the past tense.
Fiction book (2000) -
" I'm training myself to use the past tense when I talk about him, but it's hard.
Fiction book (2002) -
What's sad is that now the verb is in the past tense.
Fiction book (1993) -
What is the past tense of the word cut, Alicia?
Synonyms
31
1.0
A verb tense that shows actions finished before now
1
1.6
A verb form that shows an action finished in the past
A verb form that shows an action or state happened and finished in the past
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a verb tense for actions or states that occurred in the past' is directly and compositionally built from 'past' (referring to earlier time) + 'tense' (a verb form indicating time), so a learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning. This is a standard grammatical label found across many languages, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The term past tense comes from simple words: past means 'already happened' and tense means 'time'. That's why the past tense is the verb form we use to talk about actions that happened before now.