The grammatical tense that indicates actions or events occurred in the past (e.g., the past tense in English); languages mark it in different ways.
英語の過去時制は規則動詞と不規則動詞で形が変わる。
English past tense forms change for regular and irregular verbs.
日本語では明確な過去時制の語尾がない場合もあり、文脈で過去時制を判断することが多い。
In Japanese there are cases without a clear past tense ending, and past tense is often determined from context.
レポートを書くときは、実験の手順や結果を過去時制で記述するのが一般的だ。
When writing a report, it's common to describe experimental procedures and results in the past tense.