amar — Portuguese conjugation

to love, to have great affection for

Frequency#311IrregularReflexiveamar-se — to cherish oneself

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
euamoI love
tuamasyou love
vocêamayou love
ele/elaamahe/she/it loves
nósamamoswe love
vósamaisyou (pl.) love
vocêsamamyou (pl.) love
eles/elasamamthey love

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
euameiI loved
tuamasteyou loved
vocêamouyou loved
ele/elaamouhe/she/it loved
nósamamoswe loved
vósamastesyou (pl.) loved
vocêsamaramyou (pl.) loved
eles/elasamaramthey loved

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
euamava
tuamavas
vocêamava
ele/elaamava
nósamávamos
vósamáveis
vocêsamavam
eles/elasamavam

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
euamariaI would love
tuamariasyou would love
vocêamariayou would love
ele/elaamariahe/she/it would love
nósamaríamoswe would love
vósamaríeisyou (pl.) would love
vocêsamariamyou (pl.) would love
eles/elasamariamthey would love

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
euamareiI will love
tuamarásyou will love
vocêamaráyou will love
ele/elaamaráhe/she/it will love
nósamaremoswe will love
vósamareisyou (pl.) will love
vocêsamarãoyou (pl.) will love
eles/elasamarãothey will love

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 amadoI have loved
tutens amadoyou have loved
vocêtem amadoyou have loved
ele/elatem amadohe/she/it has loved
nóstemos amadowe have loved
vóstendes amadoyou (pl.) have loved
vocêstêm amadoyou (pl.) have loved
eles/elastêm amadothey have loved

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 amadoI had loved
tutinhas amadoyou had loved
vocêtinha amadoyou had loved
ele/elatinha amadohe/she/it had loved
nóstínhamos amadowe had loved
vóstínheis amadoyou (pl.) had loved
vocêstinham amadoyou (pl.) had loved
eles/elastinham amadothey had loved

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

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 amadoI will have loved
tuterás amadoyou will have loved
vocêterá amadoyou will have loved
ele/elaterá amadohe/she/it will have loved
nósteremos amadowe will have loved
vóstereis amadoyou (pl.) will have loved
vocêsterão amadoyou (pl.) will have loved
eles/elasterão amadothey will have loved

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
euame
tuames
vocêame
ele/elaame
nósamemos
vósameis
vocêsamem
eles/elasamem

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
euamasse
tuamasses
vocêamasse
ele/elaamasse
nósamássemos
vósamásseis
vocêsamassem
eles/elasamassem

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
tuama
vocêame
ele/elaame
nósamemos
vósamai
vocêsamem
eles/elasamem

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 ames
vocênão ame
ele/elanão ame
nósnão amemos
vósnão ameis
vocêsnão amem
eles/elasnão amem