1.
past tense — the grammatical form used to describe events or states in the past
The grammatical form that places an action or state in the past. In Japanese grammar, this typically refers to the ~た}-form of verbs and adjectives (e.g., {食べた, 寒かった) and {~でした} for polite noun/na-adjective predicates. The term is also used for the past tenses of English and other foreign languages in language-teaching contexts.
動詞の過去形を覚える。
To memorize the past tense of verbs.
「食べる」の過去形は「食べた」です。
The past tense of 'taberu' is 'tabeta.'
英語の不規則動詞の過去形は覚えるのが大変だ。
The past tense of English irregular verbs is hard to memorize.
この文は現在形で書くべきで、過去形は使いません。
This sentence should be written in the present tense; the past tense is not used.
Compound of 過去 ('past') and 形 ('form, shape'). Literally 'past form.'
USAGE:
- Primarily a grammatical term used in language teaching, grammar explanations, and linguistic analysis.
- For Japanese verbs, refers to the plain {~た}-form and polite {~ました}-form; for i-adjectives, to the {~かった}-form; for な-adjectives and nouns, to {~だった}/{~でした}.
- Often contrasted explicitly with 現在形 ('present/non-past tense') and 未来形 ('future tense,' mainly for discussions of other languages — Japanese has no dedicated future tense).
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 過去形にする: to put into the past tense
- 過去形で書く: to write in the past tense
- 過去形を使う: to use the past tense
- 動詞の過去形: the past tense of a verb
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 現在形: present tense (form) — the direct contrast.
- た{形|たけい}: ta-form — a more specifically Japanese-grammar term for the past form of verbs.
- 過去: the past (as a noun) — the time period itself, not the grammatical form.
- 時制: tense — the broader grammatical category that includes both past and present forms.