Le prétérit

1) son utilisation

Le prétérit est employé pour parler de faits passés. Il est souvent accompagné de repères

temporels comme :

==> yesterday

==> last +... (last Christmas,...)

==> in + date passée (in 1960,...)

==> when + événement passé (When I was 6,...)

2) sa construction pour les verbes réguliers

Forme affirmative	Forme interrogative	Forme négative
Sujet + base verbale + « ed » ou « d » si le verbe se termine par un « E »	Did + sujet + base verbale (aux « Did » prétérit de « do »)	Sujet + didn't + base verbale
I You he/she/it               worked we You They	Did I Did You Did he/she/it            work ? Did we Did you Did they	I You he/she/it        didn't work we You They

3) sa prononciation

        Le « ED » du prétérit se prononce de trois façons différentes. Voici quelques exemples de

        verbes :

« t »	« d »	« id »
worked	travelled	painted
stopped	composed	started
danced	listened	recorded
looked	played	added
liked	opened	decorated

4) Les verbes irréguliers au prétérit

Cas de « to be » et « to have » :

To be	To have
I was You were He/she/it was We were You were They were	I had You had He/she/it had We had You had They had

Il existe de nombreux autres verbes irréguliers (tableau suivant). Pour eux, la forme du

prétérit est la même à toutes les personnes.

Infinitif	Prétérit	Participe passé	Traduction
To bet	I bet	bet	parier
To break	I broke	broken	casser
To bring	I brought	brought	apporter
To build	I built	built	construire
To burn	I burnt	burnt	brûler
To buy	I bought	bought	acheter
To catch	I caught	caught	attraper
To come	I came	come	venir
To cost	It cost	cost	coûter
To cut	I cut	cut	couper
To do	I did	done	faire
To dream	I dreamt	dreamt	rêver
To drink	I drank	drunk	boire
To drive	I drove	driven	conduire
To eat	I ate	eaten	manger
To fall	I fell	fallen	tomber
To feel	I felt	felt	sentir
To fight	I fought	fought	Se battre, combattre
To find	I found	found	trouver
To fly	I flew	flown	Voler (ds les airs)
To forget	I forgot	forgotten	oublier
To get	I got	got	Devenir, obtenir
To give	I gave	given	donner
To go	I went	gone	aller
To grow	I grew	grown	grandir
To hear	I heard	heard	entendre
To keep	I kept	kept	garder
To know	I knew	known	savoir
To learn	I learnt	learnt	apprendre
To leave	I left	left	quitter
To lend	I lent	lent	prêter
Infinitif	Prétérit	Participe passé	Traduction
To make	I made	made	faire
To mean	I meant	meant	signifier
To meet	I met	met	rencontrer
To pay	I paid	paid	payer
To put	I put	put	poser
To read	I read	read	lire
To ride	I rode	ridden	Monter à ch, faire du vélo
To ring	I rang	rung	Sonner, téléphoner
To run	I ran	run	courir
To say	I said	said	dire
To see	I saw	seen	voir
To sell	I sold	sold	vendre
To send	I sent	sent	envoyer
To shut	I shut	Shut	fermer
To sing	I sang	sung	chanter
To sit	I sat	sat	Être assis
To sleep	I slept	slept	dormir
To smell	I smelt	smelt	Sentir (odeur)
To speak	I spoke	spoken	parler
To spend	I spent	spent	Dépenser (argent, temps)
To stand	I stood	stood	Être debout
To stick	I stuck	stuck	coller
To sting	I stung	stung	piquer
To swear	I swore	sworn	jurer
To swim	I swam	swum	nager
To take	I took	taken	prendre
To teach	I taught	taught	enseigner
To tell	I told	told	Dire, raconter
To think	I thought	thought	Penser, croire
To understand	I understood	understood	comprendre
To wear	I wore	worn	Porter (un vêtement)
To write	I wrote	written	écrire

Le Prétérit

L'expression “ago” indique le temps écoulé depuis un évènement. Il est toujours

utilisé avec le prétérit et se place toujours après l'expression de temps.

I bought my car two weeks ago.

J'ai acheté ma voiture il y a 2 semaines.