assustar-se — Portuguese conjugation

to get scared, to take fright

Frequency#1251Irregular

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
euassusto-meI get scared
tuassustas-teyou get scared
vocêassusta-seyou get scared
ele/elaassusta-sehe/she/it gets scared
nósassustamo-noswe get scared
vósassustais-vosyou (pl.) get scared
vocêsassustam-seyou (pl.) get scared
eles/elasassustam-sethey get scared

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
euassustei-meI got scared
tuassustaste-teyou got scared
vocêassustou-seyou got scared
ele/elaassustou-sehe/she/it got scared
nósassustamo-noswe got scared
vósassustastes-vosyou (pl.) got scared
vocêsassustaram-seyou (pl.) got scared
eles/elasassustaram-sethey got scared

Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito) Irregular

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
euassustava-me
tuassustavas-te
vocêassustava-se
ele/elaassustava-se
nósassustávamo-nos
vósassustáveis-vos
vocêsassustavam-se
eles/elasassustavam-se

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
euassustar-me-iaI would get scared
tuassustar-te-iasyou would get scared
vocêassustar-se-iayou would get scared
ele/elaassustar-se-iahe/she/it would get scared
nósassustar-nos-íamoswe would get scared
vósassustar-vos-íeisyou (pl.) would get scared
vocêsassustar-se-iamyou (pl.) would get scared
eles/elasassustar-se-iamthey would get scared

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
euassustar-me-eiI will get scared
tuassustar-te-ásyou will get scared
vocêassustar-se-áyou will get scared
ele/elaassustar-se-áhe/she/it will get scared
nósassustar-nos-emoswe will get scared
vósassustar-vos-eisyou (pl.) will get scared
vocêsassustar-se-ãoyou (pl.) will get scared
eles/elasassustar-se-ãothey will get scared

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 assustadoI have gotten scared
tutens assustadoyou have gotten scared
vocêtem assustadoyou have gotten scared
ele/elatem assustadohe/she/it has gotten scared
nóstemos assustadowe have gotten scared
vóstendes assustadoyou (pl.) have gotten scared
vocêstêm assustadoyou (pl.) have gotten scared
eles/elastêm assustadothey have gotten scared

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 assustadoI had gotten scared
tutinhas assustadoyou had gotten scared
vocêtinha assustadoyou had gotten scared
ele/elatinha assustadohe/she/it had gotten scared
nóstínhamos assustadowe had gotten scared
vóstínheis assustadoyou (pl.) had gotten scared
vocêstinham assustadoyou (pl.) had gotten scared
eles/elastinham assustadothey had gotten scared

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

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 assustadoI will have gotten scared
tuterás assustadoyou will have gotten scared
vocêterá assustadoyou will have gotten scared
ele/elaterá assustadohe/she/it will have gotten scared
nósteremos assustadowe will have gotten scared
vóstereis assustadoyou (pl.) will have gotten scared
vocêsterão assustadoyou (pl.) will have gotten scared
eles/elasterão assustadothey will have gotten scared

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
euassuste-me
tuassustes-te
vocêassuste-se
ele/elaassuste-se
nósassustemo-nos
vósassusteis-vos
vocêsassustem-se
eles/elasassustem-se

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
euassustasse-me
tuassustasses-te
vocêassustasse-se
ele/elaassustasse-se
nósassustássemo-nos
vósassustásseis-vos
vocêsassustassem-se
eles/elasassustassem-se

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
tuassusta-te
vocêassuste-se
ele/elaassuste-se
nósassustemo-nos
vósassustai-vos
vocêsassustem-se
eles/elasassustem-se

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 te assustes
vocênão se assuste
ele/elanão se assuste
nósnão nos assustemos
vósnão vos assusteis
vocêsnão se assustem
eles/elasnão se assustem