Preteriti

Preteriti is a linguistic term used to refer to verb forms that mark past or completed past actions in a language. In scholarly writing, the plural form preteriti may be used to denote the set of preterite forms across languages or paradigms. The concept is widely discussed in historical and comparative linguistics, where researchers group together the tense forms that are traditionally labeled as the preterite in various languages.

Etymology and scope: The term derives from Latin praeteritus, meaning "gone by," from the verb praeterire, "to go past." While preterite is a common label in many grammars, its exact realization differs by language. Some grammars treat the preterite as a specific past tense, while others use related terms such as aorist, simple past, or past definite. The plural preteriti appears primarily in multilingual or comparative contexts rather than in everyday descriptions of a single language’s grammar.

Usage across languages: In Spanish, the pretérito indefinido (often called pretérito simple) corresponds to a completed past action. In German, Präteritum serves as the simple past. Italian and Portuguese have their own past tenses that traditional grammars sometimes group under a broader “preterite” heading. In English, the term preterite is used less as a formal category and more as a synonym for the simple past in some older or descriptive grammars; modern terminology often prefers “past simple” or “past tense.”

Relation to other past tenses: The preterite is typically contrasted with the imperfect (ongoing or habitual past), the perfect (relevance to the present or completed past with relevance), or other aspectual distinctions, depending on the language. See also: preterite, past tense, imperfect, perfect.