combater — Portuguese conjugation

to combat

Frequency#684Regular

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
eucombatoI combat
tucombatesyou combat
vocêcombateyou combat
ele/elacombatehe/she/it combats
nóscombatemoswe combat
vóscombateisyou (pl.) combat
vocêscombatemyou (pl.) combat
eles/elascombatemthey combat

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
eucombatiI combated
tucombatesteyou combated
vocêcombateuyou combated
ele/elacombateuhe/she/it combated
nóscombatemoswe combated
vóscombatestesyou (pl.) combated
vocêscombateramyou (pl.) combated
eles/elascombateramthey combated

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
eucombatia
tucombatias
vocêcombatia
ele/elacombatia
nóscombatíamos
vóscombatíeis
vocêscombatiam
eles/elascombatiam

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
eucombateriaI would combat
tucombateriasyou would combat
vocêcombateriayou would combat
ele/elacombateriahe/she/it would combat
nóscombateríamoswe would combat
vóscombateríeisyou (pl.) would combat
vocêscombateriamyou (pl.) would combat
eles/elascombateriamthey would combat

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
eucombatereiI will combat
tucombaterásyou will combat
vocêcombateráyou will combat
ele/elacombateráhe/she/it will combat
nóscombateremoswe will combat
vóscombatereisyou (pl.) will combat
vocêscombaterãoyou (pl.) will combat
eles/elascombaterãothey will combat

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 combatidoI have combated
tutens combatidoyou have combated
vocêtem combatidoyou have combated
ele/elatem combatidohe/she/it has combated
nóstemos combatidowe have combated
vóstendes combatidoyou (pl.) have combated
vocêstêm combatidoyou (pl.) have combated
eles/elastêm combatidothey have combated

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 combatidoI had combated
tutinhas combatidoyou had combated
vocêtinha combatidoyou had combated
ele/elatinha combatidohe/she/it had combated
nóstínhamos combatidowe had combated
vóstínheis combatidoyou (pl.) had combated
vocêstinham combatidoyou (pl.) had combated
eles/elastinham combatidothey had combated

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

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 combatidoI will have combated
tuterás combatidoyou will have combated
vocêterá combatidoyou will have combated
ele/elaterá combatidohe/she/it will have combated
nósteremos combatidowe will have combated
vóstereis combatidoyou (pl.) will have combated
vocêsterão combatidoyou (pl.) will have combated
eles/elasterão combatidothey will have combated

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
eucombata
tucombatas
vocêcombata
ele/elacombata
nóscombatamos
vóscombatais
vocêscombatam
eles/elascombatam

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
eucombatesse
tucombatesses
vocêcombatesse
ele/elacombatesse
nóscombatêssemos
vóscombatêsseis
vocêscombatessem
eles/elascombatessem

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
tucombate
vocêcombata
ele/elacombata
nóscombatamos
vóscombatei
vocêscombatam
eles/elascombatam

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 combatas
vocênão combata
ele/elanão combata
nósnão combatamos
vósnão combatais
vocêsnão combatam
eles/elasnão combatam