How does your preschooler described the past tense?

shopgirl78 · November 2011

For my son, everything that happened in the past happened "last night." He was a "baby last night." Even if something happened a week ago, it was "last night" to him. Does your preschooler know yesterday, last week, last month, etc

kellnbri · November 2011

most everything happened yesterday, or the other day

SarahTx5701 · November 2011

last night usually also

Smores730 · November 2011

everything happened yesterday here. It was a busy day

RoxBride · November 2011

If it happened recently, it was yesterday.

If it happened awhile ago, it was last year.

There are no other options. :-)

KathrynMD · November 2011

Yesterday

jsugrin · November 2011

My 4 year old makes a decent attempt at describing time. Things can be anywhere from a few days ago to 4 years ago, he never goes longer than 4 years so he's got that part down at least Smile

. I'd say the most common response is a few days ago or for a long time, as in I've been wanting that toy for a long time.

k8elee03 · November 2011

Yup, "yesterday" was a busy day in our house, too. Sometimes it was "last morning," though that's going away.

And if it's going to happen anytime in the future ever, it'll be "tomorrow."

howleyshell · November 2011

RoxBride:
If it happened recently, it was yesterday.
If it happened awhile ago, it was last year.
There are no other options. :-)

This for us too but with 2 exceptions:

1. Yesterday = yesterday but last night = yesterNight. I can't bring myself to correct him because I think it's the cutest word in the world.

2. A while ago = when I was a baby. Last Christmas = when I was a baby.

schnappycat · November 2011

It's mostly yesterday with us, too. Although he says "when I was 2" quite often, whether it was just a few months ago or when he was an infant. And he talks about the future a lot with "day after tomorrow" for some reason. Or sometimes he'll just randomly pick a day in the future like "on Saturday" to say he's going to do something.

Kids are funny!

jen5-03 · November 2011

Until very very recently, everything was yesterday or "a long long time ago". Pre-k has been working on days/times/sense of chronological order. I think we've added day before yesterday and last week to her time frame.

But she still does stuff a little mixed up - she told me that she hadn't seen her mimi or her friend g in a really really long time. Well, she hadn't see mimi in 6mo but it'd been about a week since she'd seen her friend. But we're getting there.

Aimathy · November 2011

For quite awhile, anything in the past happened "yester-morn" which was so cute, I couldn't bring myself to correct it either. In the past few months, she now just says "yesterday" for anything in the past tense....unless it was over a year ago and then she'll say "when I was a baby".

lmdbww · November 2011

Also yesterday and last night with DD. She remembers quite a bit that happened, even up to a year ago, but she says all of it happened last night or yesterday. lol

GinandTonic · November 2011

Everything was last night with my son. It was kind of cite. DD is a little more accurate, but often says "a couple weeks ago" for anything.

AgrippaRidesAgain · November 2011

Either "before bedtime" or "yesterday". Sometimes he'll also say "a long time ago".

ShanJosh777 · November 2011

Everything used to be "last night." Recently, he's started saying "a long time ago." But he still sometimes uses the two interchangeably.

pea-kay · November 2011

for us, it's "yesterday", but they're finally starting to talk about "last week" (even though it's not necessarily accurate.)

pea-kay · November 2011

I also like when they say, "one day, when I was older, I drive everywhere!" total mash-up of time.

Jaimers375 · November 2011

Either 3 weeks ago for something that happened a while ago, and 3 days ago for something that happened in the recent past.

jason&robin · November 2011

DS usually says last week. he is slowly figuring it out.

KimandRoss0115 · November 2011

He usually says either "last day" or "lasterday". I've been trying to get him to say yesterday, but its usually one of those two.

futrkingsley · November 2011

DS has a crazy good memory and he usually refers to stuff in the past tense by describing the occassion. Like, "That day when we went to the place with the big whale," would be our visit 18 months ago to the aquarium (before he was 2 years old!). He uses yesterday, or a few days ago if it was recent. Future stuff is usually "soon" or in "a few days" or "many days."