calar — Portuguese conjugation

to silence

Frequency#499Regular

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
eucaloI silence
tucalasyou silence
vocêcalayou silence
ele/elacalahe/she/it silences
nóscalamoswe silence
vóscalaisyou (pl.) silence
vocêscalamyou (pl.) silence
eles/elascalamthey silence

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
eucaleiI silenced
tucalasteyou silenced
vocêcalouyou silenced
ele/elacalouhe/she/it silenced
nóscalamoswe silenced
vóscalastesyou (pl.) silenced
vocêscalaramyou (pl.) silenced
eles/elascalaramthey silenced

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
eucalava
tucalavas
vocêcalava
ele/elacalava
nóscalávamos
vóscaláveis
vocêscalavam
eles/elascalavam

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
eucalariaI would silence
tucalariasyou would silence
vocêcalariayou would silence
ele/elacalariahe/she/it would silence
nóscalaríamoswe would silence
vóscalaríeisyou (pl.) would silence
vocêscalariamyou (pl.) would silence
eles/elascalariamthey would silence

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
eucalareiI will silence
tucalarásyou will silence
vocêcalaráyou will silence
ele/elacalaráhe/she/it will silence
nóscalaremoswe will silence
vóscalareisyou (pl.) will silence
vocêscalarãoyou (pl.) will silence
eles/elascalarãothey will silence

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 caladoI have silenced
tutens caladoyou have silenced
vocêtem caladoyou have silenced
ele/elatem caladohe/she/it has silenced
nóstemos caladowe have silenced
vóstendes caladoyou (pl.) have silenced
vocêstêm caladoyou (pl.) have silenced
eles/elastêm caladothey have silenced

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 caladoI had silenced
tutinhas caladoyou had silenced
vocêtinha caladoyou had silenced
ele/elatinha caladohe/she/it had silenced
nóstínhamos caladowe had silenced
vóstínheis caladoyou (pl.) had silenced
vocêstinham caladoyou (pl.) had silenced
eles/elastinham caladothey had silenced

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

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 caladoI will have silenced
tuterás caladoyou will have silenced
vocêterá caladoyou will have silenced
ele/elaterá caladohe/she/it will have silenced
nósteremos caladowe will have silenced
vóstereis caladoyou (pl.) will have silenced
vocêsterão caladoyou (pl.) will have silenced
eles/elasterão caladothey will have silenced

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
eucale
tucales
vocêcale
ele/elacale
nóscalemos
vóscaleis
vocêscalem
eles/elascalem

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
eucalasse
tucalasses
vocêcalasse
ele/elacalasse
nóscalássemos
vóscalásseis
vocêscalassem
eles/elascalassem

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
tucala
vocêcale
ele/elacale
nóscalemos
vóscalai
vocêscalem
eles/elascalem

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 cales
vocênão cale
ele/elanão cale
nósnão calemos
vósnão caleis
vocêsnão calem
eles/elasnão calem