aguardar — Portuguese conjugation

to wait

Frequency#907Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Regular

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
euaguardoI wait
tuaguardasyou wait
vocêaguardayou wait
ele/elaaguardahe/she/it waits
nósaguardamoswe wait
vósaguardaisyou (pl.) wait
vocêsaguardamyou (pl.) wait
eles/elasaguardamthey wait

Preterite (Pretérito perfeito simples) Irregular

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
euaguardeiI waited
tuaguardasteyou waited
vocêaguardouyou waited
ele/elaaguardouhe/she/it waited
nósaguardamoswe waited
vósaguardastesyou (pl.) waited
vocêsaguardaramyou (pl.) waited
eles/elasaguardaramthey waited

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
euaguardava
tuaguardavas
vocêaguardava
ele/elaaguardava
nósaguardávamos
vósaguardáveis
vocêsaguardavam
eles/elasaguardavam

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
euaguardariaI would wait
tuaguardariasyou would wait
vocêaguardariayou would wait
ele/elaaguardariahe/she/it would wait
nósaguardaríamoswe would wait
vósaguardaríeisyou (pl.) would wait
vocêsaguardariamyou (pl.) would wait
eles/elasaguardariamthey would wait

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
euaguardareiI will wait
tuaguardarásyou will wait
vocêaguardaráyou will wait
ele/elaaguardaráhe/she/it will wait
nósaguardaremoswe will wait
vósaguardareisyou (pl.) will wait
vocêsaguardarãoyou (pl.) will wait
eles/elasaguardarãothey will wait

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 aguardadoI have waited
tutens aguardadoyou have waited
vocêtem aguardadoyou have waited
ele/elatem aguardadohe/she/it has waited
nóstemos aguardadowe have waited
vóstendes aguardadoyou (pl.) have waited
vocêstêm aguardadoyou (pl.) have waited
eles/elastêm aguardadothey have waited

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 aguardadoI had waited
tutinhas aguardadoyou had waited
vocêtinha aguardadoyou had waited
ele/elatinha aguardadohe/she/it had waited
nóstínhamos aguardadowe had waited
vóstínheis aguardadoyou (pl.) had waited
vocêstinham aguardadoyou (pl.) had waited
eles/elastinham aguardadothey had waited

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 aguardado
tuterias aguardado
vocêteria aguardado
ele/elateria aguardado
nósteríamos aguardado
vósteríeis aguardado
vocêsteriam aguardado
eles/elasteriam aguardado

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 aguardadoI will have waited
tuterás aguardadoyou will have waited
vocêterá aguardadoyou will have waited
ele/elaterá aguardadohe/she/it will have waited
nósteremos aguardadowe will have waited
vóstereis aguardadoyou (pl.) will have waited
vocêsterão aguardadoyou (pl.) will have waited
eles/elasterão aguardadothey will have waited

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
euaguarde
tuaguardes
vocêaguarde
ele/elaaguarde
nósaguardemos
vósaguardeis
vocêsaguardem
eles/elasaguardem

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
euaguardasse
tuaguardasses
vocêaguardasse
ele/elaaguardasse
nósaguardássemos
vósaguardásseis
vocêsaguardassem
eles/elasaguardassem

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
tuaguarda
vocêaguarde
ele/elaaguarde
nósaguardemos
vósaguardai
vocêsaguardem
eles/elasaguardem

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 aguardes
vocênão aguarde
ele/elanão aguarde
nósnão aguardemos
vósnão aguardeis
vocêsnão aguardem
eles/elasnão aguardem