cobrar — Portuguese conjugation

to charge

Frequency#176Irregular

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
eucobroI charge
tucobrasyou charge
vocêcobrayou charge
ele/elacobrahe/she/it charges
nóscobramoswe charge
vóscobraisyou (pl.) charge
vocêscobramyou (pl.) charge
eles/elascobramthey charge

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
eucobreiI charged
tucobrasteyou charged
vocêcobrouyou charged
ele/elacobrouhe/she/it charged
nóscobramoswe charged
vóscobrastesyou (pl.) charged
vocêscobraramyou (pl.) charged
eles/elascobraramthey charged

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
eucobrava
tucobravas
vocêcobrava
ele/elacobrava
nóscobrávamos
vóscobráveis
vocêscobravam
eles/elascobravam

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
eucobrariaI would charge
tucobrariasyou would charge
vocêcobrariayou would charge
ele/elacobrariahe/she/it would charge
nóscobraríamoswe would charge
vóscobraríeisyou (pl.) would charge
vocêscobrariamyou (pl.) would charge
eles/elascobrariamthey would charge

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
eucobrareiI will charge
tucobrarásyou will charge
vocêcobraráyou will charge
ele/elacobraráhe/she/it will charge
nóscobraremoswe will charge
vóscobrareisyou (pl.) will charge
vocêscobrarãoyou (pl.) will charge
eles/elascobrarãothey will charge

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 cobradoI have charged
tutens cobradoyou have charged
vocêtem cobradoyou have charged
ele/elatem cobradohe/she/it has charged
nóstemos cobradowe have charged
vóstendes cobradoyou (pl.) have charged
vocêstêm cobradoyou (pl.) have charged
eles/elastêm cobradothey have charged

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 cobradoI had charged
tutinhas cobradoyou had charged
vocêtinha cobradoyou had charged
ele/elatinha cobradohe/she/it had charged
nóstínhamos cobradowe had charged
vóstínheis cobradoyou (pl.) had charged
vocêstinham cobradoyou (pl.) had charged
eles/elastinham cobradothey had charged

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

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 cobradoI will have charged
tuterás cobradoyou will have charged
vocêterá cobradoyou will have charged
ele/elaterá cobradohe/she/it will have charged
nósteremos cobradowe will have charged
vóstereis cobradoyou (pl.) will have charged
vocêsterão cobradoyou (pl.) will have charged
eles/elasterão cobradothey will have charged

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
eucobre
tucobres
vocêcobre
ele/elacobre
nóscobremos
vóscobreis
vocêscobrem
eles/elascobrem

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
eucobrasse
tucobrasses
vocêcobrasse
ele/elacobrasse
nóscobrássemos
vóscobrásseis
vocêscobrassem
eles/elascobrassem

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
tucobra
vocêcobre
ele/elacobre
nóscobremos
vóscobrai
vocêscobrem
eles/elascobrem

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 cobres
vocênão cobre
ele/elanão cobre
nósnão cobremos
vósnão cobreis
vocêsnão cobrem
eles/elasnão cobrem