Portuguese verb conjugation
1,480 Portuguese verbs with full conjugation tables — every tense and pronoun.
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Most common Portuguese verbs
- ser to be (essence, identity)
- estar to be (state, location)
- ter to have
- haver to have (auxiliary)
- fazer to do; to make
- ir to go
- poder to be able; can
- dizer to say
- querer to want
- saber to know (facts, how to)
- ver to see
- dar to give
- pôr to put
- vir to come
- chegar to arrive
- passar to pass
- dever to have to
- ficar to stay
- achar to find, to think
- falar to speak
- levar to take
- deixar to leave
- seguir to follow
- encontrar to find
- chamar to call
- sair to leave
- voltar to return
- tomar to take
- conhecer to know (people, places)
- viver to live
- sentir to feel
- tratar to treat
- olhar to look
- contar to count
- começar to begin
- esperar to wait
- procurar to search
- entrar to enter
- trabalhar to work
- escrever to write
- perder to lose
- entender to understand, to grasp, to comprehend
- pedir to ask for
- receber to receive
- lembrar to remember
- acreditar to believe
- terminar to finish
- permitir to allow
- aparecer to appear
- conseguir to achieve
Portuguese tenses explained
Present (Presente)
The presente covers routines, states, and immediate future with adverbs like hoje or amanhã. One present form covers both English simple and progressive readings in most situations.
Ela estuda português todas as noites.
Present subjunctive (Conjuntivo presente)
The present subjunctive appears after want, hope, fear, and impersonal triggers, and typically requires a new subject in the subordinate clause, just as in the other main Romance languages.
Espero que encontres o caminho fácil.
Imperative (affirmative) (Imperativo afirmativo)
The affirmative imperative in Portuguese is built with tu, você, nós, vós, and vocês forms; Brazilian norms favour você/vocês with third-person present verb shapes.
Diga a verdade, por favor.
Preterite (Pretérito perfeito simples)
The pretérito perfeito simples is a sharp, completed past. In European Portuguese it is the standard story-telling past; Brazilian usage often prefers the compound form in speech while keeping the simple for narrative and writing.
Ontem escreveu a carta inteira de uma vez.
Imperfect subjunctive (Conjuntivo pretérito imperf.)
The imperfect subjunctive in se + subjunctive → condicional is the classic “if I were a rich man” line in European Portuguese, parallel to the Spanish -ra form.
Se tivesse mais tempo, aprenderia outro idioma.
Imperative (negative) (Imperativo negativo)
Negative commands require não plus the present subjunctive for each person, which is a distinctive feature compared to other Romance systems that reuse present indicative in some slots.
Não falemos com pressa, está tudo calmo.
Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito)
The imperfeito describes past background, repeated actions, and how things used to be. Contrast it with the simple preterite for the “main event” line of a story.
Quando era criança, brincava na praia.
Conditional (Condicional)
The condicional is for polite offers, soft questions, and hypothetical “would” outcomes, and it often closes a se + imperfeito do subjuntivo chain in formal style.
Você poderia me explicar outra vez?
Future (Futuro do presente)
The futuro do presente states future facts; in everyday conversation you will often hear ir + infinitive or even the present with a time adverb instead of the synthetic future.
Amanhã faremos a reunião mais cedo.
Present perfect (Pretérito perfeito composto)
The pretérito perfeito composto uses ter or haver plus the participle for a past that still touches the present or happens repeatedly up to now — a “have done” perfect with strong links to European norms.
Tenho pensado nisso há semanas.
Pluperfect (Mais-que-perfeito composto)
The mais-que-perfeito composto is the pluperfect: an action was already finished before another past reference. It mirrors the English “had already”.
Já tinham saído quando chegámos.
Conditional perfect (Condicional composto)
The condicional composto expresses a counterfactual “would have” and appears with the right kind of if-clause in the subjunctive past for unreal conditions.
Teria aceite se tiveses avisado com antecedência.
Future perfect (Futuro composto)
The futuro composto is the future-in-the-future: something will be finished before a later time. It is less frequent than the simple future but still useful for deadlines.
Até sexta, teremos lido tudo o relatório.