Now that practically everyone I know has a cell phone, it is very common to hear people say "I text you a message yesterday," where something that sounds like "text" is being used as the past tense.  I’ve never heard anyone say "I texted you."  That sounds ridiculous to English ears.  So, I supposed the new verb "to text" is going to fall in a category similar to "to input", where "inputted" sounds bogus as a past tense form.  The difference, though, is that "put" is the same in the present and past tense, whereas there is no past history of "text" up to now being used as a verb, as far as I know.

Any further thoughts on this?

Interesting, I wasn’t aware of that.  Almost as if the verb were tex and the past/past participle texed, pronounced text, just like vexed, pronounced vext.

Brazilian dude

"texted" or "SMSed" (pronounced as though spelled essemmessed) are the usual past tense forms of the verb "to text" in this country at any rate.

I’m not overly fond of "texted", as it sounds wrong, but it still sounds better than "I text you yesterday".

Azh

I’ve only heard ‘texted’ as the past tense here in Charlotte, NC.

-Tim

It won’t be long, Tim, until we hear "texted" everywhere.  "Text-messaged" is bound to be shortened!

But I agree with shoe-shoe, that "texted" is awkward, and that soon "text" will become the definitively "correct" past tense of "to text".

Sitran

I’ve seen it written most commonly as txt and txted. But, like BD says, i hear texed a lot more than just tex. Hope that made sense… It’s easier than having a convo in some situations…

J

Obviously, it will become part of the English lexicon as well as that of French, e.g., "Je t’ai texté hier". (Copycats.)

VB

i say texted, and i don’t think it sounds awkward - i think people sound ignorant and lazy when they say ‘i tex you yesterday’, which is what i usually hear

I think the secret to this is that in the younger person’s mind, "text" is primarily a verb, and is conjugated like any regular verb.

To the older person (such as myself) text is primarily a noun, and therefore to hear it verbified is somewhat unsettling

Indeed, if text is to be used as a verb, then "texted" would be the most logical past tense.

Alternatively, one could attempt to turn it into an irregular verb, perhaps taking the form "tuxt" as a past participle.

"I tuxt you a message."
"You tuxt me earlier today."
"He/She/It/They tuxt one another frequently while making his/her/their holiday reservations."
"We tuxt one another for months on the subject."
"You tuxt one another all the time, but left me out!"

Azh

-

"I tuxt you a message."
"You tuxt me earlier today."
"He/She/It/They tuxt one another frequently while making his/her/their holiday reservations."
"We tuxt one another for months on the subject."
"You tuxt one another all the time, but left me out!"


Azh

haha, nice. That’s all we need, to start inventing more irregular verbs.

I believe it’ll stay regular, b/c they’re really no phonetic problems there…
we’ll have to wait and see.

-j

shoe-shoe - 13 January 2006 07:51 AM

Now that practically everyone I know has a cell phone, it is very common to hear people say "I text you a message yesterday," where something that sounds like "text" is being used as the past tense.  I’ve never heard anyone say "I texted you."  That sounds ridiculous to English ears.  So, I supposed the new verb "to text" is going to fall in a category similar to "to input", where "inputted" sounds bogus as a past tense form.  The difference, though, is that "put" is the same in the present and past tense, whereas there is no past history of "text" up to now being used as a verb, as far as I know.

Any further thoughts on this?

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defining “text” and “SMS”,

verb to send a message to sb by SMS (syn text, text message [vn]):  He SMSed me every day. * [v] If you have any comments, just email or SMS. * She spends her time chatting and SMSing.

‘text-message (also text) verb: [vn] I text-messaged him to say we were waiting in the pub. [also v] ’text-messaging (also text•ing) noun [U]: Too much text-messaging can cause serious injury to the hands.

Merriam Webster Dictionary, however, insists that the past tense of the verb “text” is “text”:

Main Entry: text
Function: verb
Date: 1998

transitive verb: to send a text message from one cell phone to another intransitive verb : to communicate by text messaging.

Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition], disagreeing with Webster, says that the word can be used with an “ed”: transitive verb (past and past participle text·ed, present participle text·ing, 3rd person present singular texts) Definition: send text message to somebody: to send a text message to somebody on his or her cell phone or pager

I don’t text.
I call you on my cell phone…