How Do You Say Coughed in English? The Past Tense of Catching a Cold ，Uncover the grammatical intricacies of expressing a cold in the past tense in English. Find out how to say "I had a cough" or "She caught a cold yesterday."
When it comes to talking about a past episode of , the verb catch is what we re after. Here s how to handle the past tense in English:
Catching the Cold
If you re referring to the act of getting sick, you would use the past tense of catch, which is caught. So, if you want to say "I got a cold," you d say, "I caught a cold." If you re sharing a story from the past, you might say, "Last week, I caught a severe cold."
The Physical Act of Coughing
The verb cough in its past tense is coughed. So, if you re narrating a symptom, you d say, "My throat was sore, and I coughed a lot." Or, "Yesterday, I coughed up phlegm after waking up." Remember, the -ed ending is what differentiates it from the present tense cough.
Other Phrasings
To describe the aftermath of a cold, you might use expressions like "I was coughing up congestion" or "After a few days, my cough finally subsided." And for a more colloquial touch, you could say, "I had a hacking cough that lasted for weeks!"
Preventing Misunderstandings
While it s common to simply say "I coughed" or "I had a cold" without specifying the past tense, using the correct tense adds clarity to your communication, especially when discussing medical history or describing events in the past.
In summary, when it comes to the past tense of catching a cold in English, remember to use caught for the illness and coughed for the act of coughing. Now, go forth and share your flu-fighting tales with confidence!