agir — Portuguese conjugation

to act

Frequency#228Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Irregular

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.

PronounPortugueseEnglish
euajoI act
tuagesyou act
vocêageyou act
ele/elaagehe/she/it acts
nósagimoswe act
vósagisyou (pl.) act
vocêsagemyou (pl.) act
eles/elasagemthey act

Preterite (Pretérito perfeito simples) Regular

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.

PronounPortugueseEnglish
euagiI acted
tuagisteyou acted
vocêagiuyou acted
ele/elaagiuhe/she/it acted
nósagimoswe acted
vósagistesyou (pl.) acted
vocêsagiramyou (pl.) acted
eles/elasagiramthey acted

Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito) Regular

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.

PronounPortuguese
euagia
tuagias
vocêagia
ele/elaagia
nósagíamos
vósagíeis
vocêsagiam
eles/elasagiam

Conditional (Condicional) Regular

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?

PronounPortugueseEnglish
euagiriaI would act
tuagiriasyou would act
vocêagiriayou would act
ele/elaagiriahe/she/it would act
nósagiríamoswe would act
vósagiríeisyou (pl.) would act
vocêsagiriamyou (pl.) would act
eles/elasagiriamthey would act

Future (Futuro do presente) Regular

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.

PronounPortugueseEnglish
euagireiI will act
tuagirásyou will act
vocêagiráyou will act
ele/elaagiráhe/she/it will act
nósagiremoswe will act
vósagireisyou (pl.) will act
vocêsagirãoyou (pl.) will act
eles/elasagirãothey will act

Present perfect (Pretérito perfeito composto) Regular

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.

PronounPortugueseEnglish
eutenho agidoI have acted
tutens agidoyou have acted
vocêtem agidoyou have acted
ele/elatem agidohe/she/it has acted
nóstemos agidowe have acted
vóstendes agidoyou (pl.) have acted
vocêstêm agidoyou (pl.) have acted
eles/elastêm agidothey have acted

Pluperfect (Mais-que-perfeito composto) Regular

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.

PronounPortugueseEnglish
eutinha agidoI had acted
tutinhas agidoyou had acted
vocêtinha agidoyou had acted
ele/elatinha agidohe/she/it had acted
nóstínhamos agidowe had acted
vóstínheis agidoyou (pl.) had acted
vocêstinham agidoyou (pl.) had acted
eles/elastinham agidothey had acted

Conditional perfect (Condicional composto) Regular

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.

PronounPortuguese
euteria agido
tuterias agido
vocêteria agido
ele/elateria agido
nósteríamos agido
vósteríeis agido
vocêsteriam agido
eles/elasteriam agido

Future perfect (Futuro composto) Regular

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.

PronounPortugueseEnglish
euterei agidoI will have acted
tuterás agidoyou will have acted
vocêterá agidoyou will have acted
ele/elaterá agidohe/she/it will have acted
nósteremos agidowe will have acted
vóstereis agidoyou (pl.) will have acted
vocêsterão agidoyou (pl.) will have acted
eles/elasterão agidothey will have acted

Subjunctive

Present subjunctive (Conjuntivo presente) Regular

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.

PronounPortuguese
euaja
tuajas
vocêaja
ele/elaaja
nósajamos
vósajais
vocêsajam
eles/elasajam

Imperfect subjunctive (Conjuntivo pretérito imperf.) Regular

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.

PronounPortuguese
euagisse
tuagisses
vocêagisse
ele/elaagisse
nósagíssemos
vósagísseis
vocêsagissem
eles/elasagissem

Other forms

Imperative (affirmative) (Imperativo afirmativo) Regular

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.

PronounPortuguese
tuage
vocêaja
ele/elaaja
nósajamos
vósagi
vocêsajam
eles/elasajam

Imperative (negative) (Imperativo negativo) Regular

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.

PronounPortuguese
tunão ajas
vocênão aja
ele/elanão aja
nósnão ajamos
vósnão ajais
vocêsnão ajam
eles/elasnão ajam