colaborar — Portuguese conjugation

to collaborate

Frequency#638Irregular

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
eucolaboroI collaborate
tucolaborasyou collaborate
vocêcolaborayou collaborate
ele/elacolaborahe/she/it collaborates
nóscolaboramoswe collaborate
vóscolaboraisyou (pl.) collaborate
vocêscolaboramyou (pl.) collaborate
eles/elascolaboramthey collaborate

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
eucolaboreiI collaborated
tucolaborasteyou collaborated
vocêcolaborouyou collaborated
ele/elacolaborouhe/she/it collaborated
nóscolaboramoswe collaborated
vóscolaborastesyou (pl.) collaborated
vocêscolaboraramyou (pl.) collaborated
eles/elascolaboraramthey collaborated

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
eucolaborava
tucolaboravas
vocêcolaborava
ele/elacolaborava
nóscolaborávamos
vóscolaboráveis
vocêscolaboravam
eles/elascolaboravam

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
eucolaborariaI would collaborate
tucolaborariasyou would collaborate
vocêcolaborariayou would collaborate
ele/elacolaborariahe/she/it would collaborate
nóscolaboraríamoswe would collaborate
vóscolaboraríeisyou (pl.) would collaborate
vocêscolaborariamyou (pl.) would collaborate
eles/elascolaborariamthey would collaborate

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
eucolaborareiI will collaborate
tucolaborarásyou will collaborate
vocêcolaboraráyou will collaborate
ele/elacolaboraráhe/she/it will collaborate
nóscolaboraremoswe will collaborate
vóscolaborareisyou (pl.) will collaborate
vocêscolaborarãoyou (pl.) will collaborate
eles/elascolaborarãothey will collaborate

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 colaboradoI have collaborated
tutens colaboradoyou have collaborated
vocêtem colaboradoyou have collaborated
ele/elatem colaboradohe/she/it has collaborated
nóstemos colaboradowe have collaborated
vóstendes colaboradoyou (pl.) have collaborated
vocêstêm colaboradoyou (pl.) have collaborated
eles/elastêm colaboradothey have collaborated

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 colaboradoI had collaborated
tutinhas colaboradoyou had collaborated
vocêtinha colaboradoyou had collaborated
ele/elatinha colaboradohe/she/it had collaborated
nóstínhamos colaboradowe had collaborated
vóstínheis colaboradoyou (pl.) had collaborated
vocêstinham colaboradoyou (pl.) had collaborated
eles/elastinham colaboradothey had collaborated

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

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 colaboradoI will have collaborated
tuterás colaboradoyou will have collaborated
vocêterá colaboradoyou will have collaborated
ele/elaterá colaboradohe/she/it will have collaborated
nósteremos colaboradowe will have collaborated
vóstereis colaboradoyou (pl.) will have collaborated
vocêsterão colaboradoyou (pl.) will have collaborated
eles/elasterão colaboradothey will have collaborated

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
eucolabore
tucolabores
vocêcolabore
ele/elacolabore
nóscolaboremos
vóscolaboreis
vocêscolaborem
eles/elascolaborem

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
eucolaborasse
tucolaborasses
vocêcolaborasse
ele/elacolaborasse
nóscolaborássemos
vóscolaborásseis
vocêscolaborassem
eles/elascolaborassem

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
tucolabora
vocêcolabore
ele/elacolabore
nóscolaboremos
vóscolaborai
vocêscolaborem
eles/elascolaborem

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 colabores
vocênão colabore
ele/elanão colabore
nósnão colaboremos
vósnão colaboreis
vocêsnão colaborem
eles/elasnão colaborem