Past tense

This article is about the tense. For the verb form often referred to as "the past tense (of a verb)" see preterite.

The past tense (/ˈpæs(t) ˈtens/) is an inflected tense found in English and related languages. It is used for expressing an action or state that is distant from the speaker. It is one of two inflected tenses used in English, the other being the present tense.

Meaning

The past tense is used to distance the language.

There is an important distinction to be made between time and inflected tense - the time-tense distinction. The past tense can describe events that occur in past time, present time or future time. This is contrary to its name; more logical suggestions such as "marked tense", “distant tense" exist but are unlikely to catch on.

The past tense is used for distancing, specifically either distancing in vividness, distancing in reality or distancing in directness.

Form

The main features of the form of the present tense are the presence or absence of aspect, and the present or absence of modality.

Aspect

With aspect, we get these:

Aspect(s)	Name(s)	Example
Simple (i.e. none)	Past simple	I did something.
Perfect	Past perfect	I had done something.
Progressive	Past continuous / past progressive	I was doing something.
Perfect and progressive	Past perfect continuous / past perfect progressive	I had been doing something.

Modality

Distinct from aspect, the past tense may express modality using modal verbs. The modal verb preterites are “could,” “might,” “must,” “should,” and “would.” “Ought (to).” “Needed" and “dared" are also (rarely) used as semi-modal verbs:

Present tense modal verb	Preterite
can	could
may	might
must	must
ought (to)	ought (to)
shall	should
will	would

Aspect and modality

When combined, this gives a total of 8 forms, which we can call “modalised aspectual tenses.” In the examples below, “can" is used as an example modal verb.

Aspectual tense	Amodal	Modal
Past simple	Amodal past simple e.g. I did something	Modal past simple e.g. I could do something
Past perfect	Amodal past perfect e.g. I had done something	Modal past perfect e.g. I could have done something
Past progressive	Amodal past progressive e.g. I was doing something	Modal past progressive e.g. I could be doing something
Past perfect progressive	Amodal past perfect progressive e.g. I had been doing something	Modal past perfect progressive e.g. I could have been doing something.

Pedagogy

The past tense is learnt subsequently to the present tense.

Reference

The past simple tense in English