What does "simple past" mean?

A tense used to describe something that happened in the past, formed by the inflection of a single word, without any auxiliary verb such as be or have.

What is a synonym for "simple past"?

Common synonyms include: aorist, aoristic, past simple, past tense, preterit, preterite.

Simple past

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A tense used to describe something that happened in the past, formed by the inflection of a single word, without any auxiliary verb such as be or have.
2
the form of a verb used to describe an action that happened before the present time and is no longer happening. wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

aorist aoristic past simple past tense preterit preterite

Antonyms

All antonyms

pluperfect pluperfects present perfect

Etymology

“Simple” because the tense is formed without any auxiliary verb.

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