assinar — Portuguese conjugation

to sign

Frequency#411Irregular

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
euassinoI sign
tuassinasyou sign
vocêassinayou sign
ele/elaassinahe/she/it signs
nósassinamoswe sign
vósassinaisyou (pl.) sign
vocêsassinamyou (pl.) sign
eles/elasassinamthey sign

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
euassineiI signed
tuassinasteyou signed
vocêassinouyou signed
ele/elaassinouhe/she/it signed
nósassinamoswe signed
vósassinastesyou (pl.) signed
vocêsassinaramyou (pl.) signed
eles/elasassinaramthey signed

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
euassinava
tuassinavas
vocêassinava
ele/elaassinava
nósassinávamos
vósassináveis
vocêsassinavam
eles/elasassinavam

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
euassinariaI would sign
tuassinariasyou would sign
vocêassinariayou would sign
ele/elaassinariahe/she/it would sign
nósassinaríamoswe would sign
vósassinaríeisyou (pl.) would sign
vocêsassinariamyou (pl.) would sign
eles/elasassinariamthey would sign

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
euassinareiI will sign
tuassinarásyou will sign
vocêassinaráyou will sign
ele/elaassinaráhe/she/it will sign
nósassinaremoswe will sign
vósassinareisyou (pl.) will sign
vocêsassinarãoyou (pl.) will sign
eles/elasassinarãothey will sign

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 assinadoI have signed
tutens assinadoyou have signed
vocêtem assinadoyou have signed
ele/elatem assinadohe/she/it has signed
nóstemos assinadowe have signed
vóstendes assinadoyou (pl.) have signed
vocêstêm assinadoyou (pl.) have signed
eles/elastêm assinadothey have signed

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 assinadoI had signed
tutinhas assinadoyou had signed
vocêtinha assinadoyou had signed
ele/elatinha assinadohe/she/it had signed
nóstínhamos assinadowe had signed
vóstínheis assinadoyou (pl.) had signed
vocêstinham assinadoyou (pl.) had signed
eles/elastinham assinadothey had signed

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

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 assinadoI will have signed
tuterás assinadoyou will have signed
vocêterá assinadoyou will have signed
ele/elaterá assinadohe/she/it will have signed
nósteremos assinadowe will have signed
vóstereis assinadoyou (pl.) will have signed
vocêsterão assinadoyou (pl.) will have signed
eles/elasterão assinadothey will have signed

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
euassine
tuassines
vocêassine
ele/elaassine
nósassinemos
vósassineis
vocêsassinem
eles/elasassinem

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
euassinasse
tuassinasses
vocêassinasse
ele/elaassinasse
nósassinássemos
vósassinásseis
vocêsassinassem
eles/elasassinassem

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
tuassina
vocêassine
ele/elaassine
nósassinemos
vósassinai
vocêsassinem
eles/elasassinem

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 assines
vocênão assine
ele/elanão assine
nósnão assinemos
vósnão assineis
vocêsnão assinem
eles/elasnão assinem