chover — Portuguese conjugation

to rain

Frequency#317Irregular

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
vocêchoveyou rain
ele/elachovehe/she/it rains
vocêschovemyou (pl.) rain
eles/elaschovemthey rain

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
vocêchoveuyou rained
ele/elachoveuhe/she/it rained
vocêschoveramyou (pl.) rained
eles/elaschoveramthey rained

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
vocêchovia
ele/elachovia
vocêschoviam
eles/elaschoviam

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
vocêchoveriayou would rain
ele/elachoveriahe/she/it would rain
vocêschoveriamyou (pl.) would rain
eles/elaschoveriamthey would rain

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
vocêchoveráyou will rain
ele/elachoveráhe/she/it will rain
vocêschoverãoyou (pl.) will rain
eles/elaschoverãothey will rain

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
vocêtem chovidoyou have rained
ele/elatem chovidohe/she/it has rained
vocêstêm chovidoyou (pl.) have rained
eles/elastêm chovidothey have rained

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
vocêtinha chovidoyou had rained
ele/elatinha chovidohe/she/it had rained
vocêstinham chovidoyou (pl.) had rained
eles/elastinham chovidothey had rained

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
vocêteria chovido
ele/elateria chovido
vocêsteriam chovido
eles/elasteriam chovido

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
vocêterá chovidoyou will have rained
ele/elaterá chovidohe/she/it will have rained
vocêsterão chovidoyou (pl.) will have rained
eles/elasterão chovidothey will have rained

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
vocêchova
ele/elachova
vocêschovam
eles/elaschovam

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
vocêchovesse
ele/elachovesse
vocêschovessem
eles/elaschovessem

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
vocêchova
ele/elachova
vocêschovam
eles/elaschovam

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
vocênão chova
ele/elanão chova
vocêsnão chovam
eles/elasnão chovam