preterite tense
preterite tense noun: a verb tense indicating action in the past and marked by verb inflection; the preterite.
Noun
preterite tense (plural preterite tenses)
- A verb tense indicating action in the past and marked by verb inflection; the preterite.
- The relation between tense and time in English, however, is by no means straightforward, as we saw in Ch. 1, §3, and it is important to be aware that preterite tense does not always signal past time.2005, Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey Pullum, A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, page 30
- There are two past tense aspects and forms in Spanish: the preterite and the imperfect. This chapter provides a clear explanation of the preterite tense.2011, Jill Rodriguez, Ken Stewart, CliffsNotes Spanish 1 Quick Review, page 118
Forms of preterite tense
| plural | preterite tenses |
|---|
Origin of preterite tense
See preterite.
Questions about preterite tense
- What does preterite tense mean?
- Preterite tense means a verb tense indicating action in the past and marked by verb inflection; the preterite.
- What part of speech is preterite tense?
- Preterite tense is a noun.
- What is the plural of preterite tense?
- The plural of preterite tense is preterite tenses.
Words near preterite tense in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: preterite tense (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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