The preterite is a past-tense form used to describe events that took place or were completed in the past. This lesson introduces the relationship between tense and aspect, then compares how several Romance languages use their preterite forms.
The preterite, also called the preterit, is a verb tense or form that locates an event in the past. It often presents an event as a complete whole, an interpretation called the perfective aspect. Perfective aspect is not the same thing as the perfect tense: the former describes how an event is viewed, while the latter is a grammatical form that can relate a past event to another time.
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What is the preterite?
A grammatical tense or verb form that denotes events occurring or completed in the past. It often presents an event as a whole.
How does perfective aspect differ from the perfect tense?
Perfective aspect presents an event as a complete whole. The perfect is a grammatical tense or construction; the two terms describe different things.
What is the Latin form dūxī an example of?
It is a Latin perfect form that can function as a preterite, meaning “I led” or “I did lead,” and can also mean “I have led” in an appropriate context.
How does French passé simple differ from imparfait?
Passé simple presents a completed past action and is mainly used in written narrative. Imparfait commonly describes repeated, continuous, or habitual past actions.
What is distinctive about Portuguese pretérito perfeito composto?
It commonly expresses an iterative or ongoing activity, such as *tenho corrido* (“I have been running”), rather than simply the meaning “I have run.”
Quiz questions
In Spanish, what does *Corrí cinco millas ayer* present?Answer: A completed event bounded in the past.
How does the Spanish *yo* preterite spelling of *buscar* change?Answer: The *c* changes to *qu*, producing *busqué*.
What is true of the preterite endings for Spanish *-er* and *-ir* verbs?Answer: The two verb groups use identical endings.
Which forms do certain Spanish *-uir*, *-oír*, and *-aer* verbs use in the third person?Answer: *-yó* in the singular and *-yeron* in the plural.
Which Spanish verbs commonly have anomalous stems in the preterite?Answer: Many *-ducir* verbs and verbs irregular in the present-tense *yo* form.
Based on the Wikipedia article Preterite, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.