cancelar — Portuguese conjugation

to cancel

Frequency#446Irregular

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
eucanceloI cancel
tucancelasyou cancel
vocêcancelayou cancel
ele/elacancelahe/she/it cancels
nóscancelamoswe cancel
vóscancelaisyou (pl.) cancel
vocêscancelamyou (pl.) cancel
eles/elascancelamthey cancel

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
eucanceleiI cancelled
tucancelasteyou cancelled
vocêcancelouyou cancelled
ele/elacancelouhe/she/it cancelled
nóscancelamoswe cancelled
vóscancelastesyou (pl.) cancelled
vocêscancelaramyou (pl.) cancelled
eles/elascancelaramthey cancelled

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
eucancelava
tucancelavas
vocêcancelava
ele/elacancelava
nóscancelávamos
vóscanceláveis
vocêscancelavam
eles/elascancelavam

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
eucancelariaI would cancel
tucancelariasyou would cancel
vocêcancelariayou would cancel
ele/elacancelariahe/she/it would cancel
nóscancelaríamoswe would cancel
vóscancelaríeisyou (pl.) would cancel
vocêscancelariamyou (pl.) would cancel
eles/elascancelariamthey would cancel

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
eucancelareiI will cancel
tucancelarásyou will cancel
vocêcancelaráyou will cancel
ele/elacancelaráhe/she/it will cancel
nóscancelaremoswe will cancel
vóscancelareisyou (pl.) will cancel
vocêscancelarãoyou (pl.) will cancel
eles/elascancelarãothey will cancel

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 canceladoI have cancelled
tutens canceladoyou have cancelled
vocêtem canceladoyou have cancelled
ele/elatem canceladohe/she/it has cancelled
nóstemos canceladowe have cancelled
vóstendes canceladoyou (pl.) have cancelled
vocêstêm canceladoyou (pl.) have cancelled
eles/elastêm canceladothey have cancelled

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 canceladoI had cancelled
tutinhas canceladoyou had cancelled
vocêtinha canceladoyou had cancelled
ele/elatinha canceladohe/she/it had cancelled
nóstínhamos canceladowe had cancelled
vóstínheis canceladoyou (pl.) had cancelled
vocêstinham canceladoyou (pl.) had cancelled
eles/elastinham canceladothey had cancelled

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

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 canceladoI will have cancelled
tuterás canceladoyou will have cancelled
vocêterá canceladoyou will have cancelled
ele/elaterá canceladohe/she/it will have cancelled
nósteremos canceladowe will have cancelled
vóstereis canceladoyou (pl.) will have cancelled
vocêsterão canceladoyou (pl.) will have cancelled
eles/elasterão canceladothey will have cancelled

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
eucancele
tucanceles
vocêcancele
ele/elacancele
nóscancelemos
vóscanceleis
vocêscancelem
eles/elascancelem

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
eucancelasse
tucancelasses
vocêcancelasse
ele/elacancelasse
nóscancelássemos
vóscancelásseis
vocêscancelassem
eles/elascancelassem

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
tucancela
vocêcancele
ele/elacancele
nóscancelemos
vóscancelai
vocêscancelem
eles/elascancelem

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 canceles
vocênão cancele
ele/elanão cancele
nósnão cancelemos
vósnão canceleis
vocêsnão cancelem
eles/elasnão cancelem