» This article's about the grammatical term. To see the article relating to eschatology and the Book of Revelation, see Preterism. The preterite (also praeterite, in American English also preterit, simple past, past indicative, or past historic)'s the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place in the past. It's similar to the aorist in languages such as Greek. Preterites in Germanic languages English English's preterite — usually called its simple past or, somewhat loosely, its… (More on Preterit)