Word · CEFR A1 · Frequency #1116
past
过去；昔日
The time before now; events and experiences that have already happened.
- 1.
The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
过去。
- 2.
the time that has elapsed
已经过去的时间
- 3.
The past tense.
过去时态。
- 4.
a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret)
某人过去的秘密经历
- 5.
a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past
表示过去动作或状态的动词时态
过去时；往事；不光彩的经历；过去。；已经过去的时间；过去时态。
In use
We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it.
She refused to talk about her past with anyone.
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
forget the past
reporters dug into the candidate's past
Connections
Collocations
- in the past
- 在过去
- In the past, people wrote letters by hand.在过去，人们用手写信。
- a thing of the past
- 已成往事；过时的事物
- Film cameras are a thing of the past.胶片相机已成为过去。
- dwell on the past
- 沉湎于过去
- Don't dwell on the past; look ahead.不要沉湎于过去，要向前看。
- a man with a past
- 有过去（多指不光彩经历）的人
- She discovered her husband was a man with a past.她发现丈夫过去有过不光彩的经历。
- the distant past
- 遥远的过去
- These ruins date from the distant past.这些废墟可以追溯到遥远的过去。
Idioms & figurative uses
Learner notes
Memory Tip
past 与 passed 同音，'已过去(的时间)'即 past；把 passed 想成 pass 的过去式，记住 past 指'过去'。
Context & Register
语域：neutral 常见场景：日常对话中谈论往事、语法课上讲解过去时态、书面叙事或历史介绍 作为名词表示“过去”时，属于中性常用词，口语和书面语都适用；在语法教学里也可指“过去时态”。通常不带强烈语体色彩，多用于一般交流或正式叙述。
Grammar Note
通常与定冠词the连用（the past）；表示'某人过去的秘密经历'时可用不定冠词a（a past）
Pronunciation & Spelling
Words ending in -ast (cast, fast, last, vast) rhyme with 'past' in American English: /æst/. 'Passed' is a homophone of 'past' but is spelled with -assed. Beware of 'paste' (/peɪst/), which looks similar but has a different vowel sound.
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 5，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from DICTIONARY_API_DEV, ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.