the past tensenoun [ S ]
uk/ˌpɑːst ˈtens/us/ˌpæst ˈtens/used to describe verb forms in many languages used for actions that have now finished. It is used by some people to refer to the past simple in English:
Add -ed to all these verbs to put them in the past tense.
I think her husband must be dead - she always talks about him in the past tense.
More examples
- How do you say that in the past tense?
- The perfect form is just one way of forming the past tense in English.
- Some verbs have an irregular past tense.
- 'made' is the past tense of 'make'.
- The past tense of regular verbs is generally formed by adding -ed.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs
- accusative
- arose
- art
- aspect
- began
- bent
- ditransitive
- historic present
- linking verb
- main verb
- passivize
- past participle
- predicate
- progressive
- the future perfect
- the pluperfect
- the present simple
- the third person
- transitive
- wast
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