Most verbs have past tense with "ed."
Why "quit" has no past tense?
Why "quited" is wrong?
2007-01-16 08:58:54 · 9 answers · asked by area52 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
"Quit" was borrowed from French as a past particple. For centuries, the form "quit" was interpreted as a past participle form and was never used as a full verb in sentences such as, "I was quit of him," "He was declared quit of the debt," etc. The use of "quit" as a verb was a back formation, so there never was a verb form to model it on and the past participle form was simply adopted as the verb form, as in, "He quit his job". Since the past participle usage was the older, and since most past participles are identical with the past tenses, "quit" was the past tense form, but since there was no -ed to delete to form the present tense ("quitting" is NOT the present tense form, but the present participle form), then the past tense form was simply used for the present tense "Mr. Harrison, I quit!" This is helped by the fact that "quit" is a momentaneous action so the very act of quitting makes it over and done with and a thing of the past the moment it occurs.
2007-01-16 09:26:56 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
"to quit" doesn´t change in the past tense, in this sense it´s an irregular verb (ie: doesn´t take the "-ed" ending which, as you´ve said, is the normal ending for the past tense), so there is a past tense, it´s just the same as the present tense, the same as "to put" or "to cut" or "to hurt": try - "listen, you put the letter in the box" or "yesterday you put the letter in the box", same sound, different tense, you can do the same trick with cut, hurt and some other verbs too
2007-01-16 09:31:07 · answer #2 · answered by alexsuricata 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It does. The past tense of quit is quit.
I'm going to quit tomorrow...
I quit yesterday.
Just because it doesn't end in ed doesn't make it not past tense.
2007-01-16 09:04:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Quit is past tense.
2007-01-16 09:08:47 · answer #4 · answered by mld m 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's an irregular verb whose past tense is the same as the present, e.g "He quit last week and ran off to Buenos Aires with an ageing Tango dancer".
2007-01-16 09:04:40 · answer #5 · answered by Sophie G 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Some can't leave well enough alone. Even though 'quit' works quite well as a past participle, the Brits use 'quitted', and that my be creeping this way. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary shows 'quitted' as an alternate. One place I was sure it was used is in American Contract Bridge League rules. In there, you will find Law 66 C., 'Quitted Tricks'.
2007-01-17 02:57:31 · answer #6 · answered by dollhaus 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Honey, quit is the past tense of quitting. You can't make it any more "past tense" than it already is.
2007-01-16 09:04:32 · answer #7 · answered by Hollynfaith 6 · 1⤊ 4⤋
I believe that it is an imperfect verb...
2007-01-16 09:03:16 · answer #8 · answered by techteach03 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
quitted is also correct.
2007-01-16 09:05:42 · answer #9 · answered by Jack C 5 · 1⤊ 4⤋