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The preterite or preterit (/ ˈ p r ɛ t ər ɪ t / PRET-ər-it; abbreviated PRET or PRT) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple past tense.
The imperfect (abbreviated IMPERF) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to walk". It contrasts with preterite forms, which refer to a single completed event in the past.
Present: dūcor 'I am led, I am being led' Future: dūcar 'I will be led, I will be being led' Imperfect: dūcēbar 'I was being led, I used to be led' (b) Perfectum tenses Perfect: ductus sum (ductus fuī) 'I was led, I have been led' Future Perfect: ductus erō (ductus fuerō) 'I will have been led' Pluperfect: ductus eram (ductus fueram) 'I ...
The preterite and past participle forms of irregular verbs follow certain patterns. These include ending in -t (e.g. build , bend , send ), stem changes (whether it is a vowel, such as in sit , win or hold , or a consonant, such as in teach and seek , that changes), or adding the [ n ] suffix to the past participle form (e.g. drive , show , rise ).
Both aorist and imperfect verbs can represent a past event: through contrast, the imperfect verb often implies a longer duration (e.g. 'they urged him' vs. 'they persuaded him'). The aorist participle represents the first event of a two-event sequence and the present participle represents an ongoing event at the time of another event. [25]
Other terms for the contrast lexical vs. grammatical include: situation vs. viewpoint and inner vs. outer. [10] [11] Lexical aspect, also known as Aktionsart, is an inherent property of a verb or verb-complement phrase, and is not marked formally. The distinctions made as part of lexical aspect are different from those of grammatical aspect.
The other inflected parts of the verb – the third person singular present indicative in -[e]s, and the present participle and gerund form in -ing – are formed regularly in most cases. There are a few exceptions: the verb be has irregular forms throughout the present tense; the verbs have , do , and say have irregular -[e]s forms; and ...
Thus present progressive (present continuous) constructions take forms like am writing, is writing, are writing, while the past progressive (past continuous, also called imperfect) forms are was writing, were writing. There is a progressive infinitive (to) be writing and a progressive subjunctive be writing.