Each mood has but three tenses which have distinct forms; these are preterit, present, and future.
Voi is the root of a verb which has a preterit in voita 'he was old.'
In this Latinism the preterit denotes that a thing or condition that once existed no longer exists.
Its preterit is saiguitta and its gerund in Do is saiguitte.
The present, preterit, and future participles are formed by adding the particles fito or mono to the indicative.
In life, as in (that for him more truly actual thing) literature, it was always the preterit that enthralled him.
Caita qi means 'a written book' and caita is the preterit of the verb caqi,u I write.'
We have also atlaça, to combat or be in agony; it means likewise to hurl or dart from the water, and in the preterit makes atlaz.
The verbal forms in-ara and-iera were used then as now as the equivalent of the pluperfect or the preterit indicative.
Our verbs are observed by Dr. Wallis to be irregular only in the formation of the preterit, and its participle.
