comer — Portuguese conjugation

to eat

Frequency#105Regular

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
eucomoI eat
tucomesyou eat
vocêcomeyou eat
ele/elacomehe/she/it eats
nóscomemoswe eat
vóscomeisyou (pl.) eat
vocêscomemyou (pl.) eat
eles/elascomemthey eat

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
eucomiI ate
tucomesteyou ate
vocêcomeuyou ate
ele/elacomeuhe/she/it ate
nóscomemoswe ate
vóscomestesyou (pl.) ate
vocêscomeramyou (pl.) ate
eles/elascomeramthey ate

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
eucomia
tucomias
vocêcomia
ele/elacomia
nóscomíamos
vóscomíeis
vocêscomiam
eles/elascomiam

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
eucomeriaI would eat
tucomeriasyou would eat
vocêcomeriayou would eat
ele/elacomeriahe/she/it would eat
nóscomeríamoswe would eat
vóscomeríeisyou (pl.) would eat
vocêscomeriamyou (pl.) would eat
eles/elascomeriamthey would eat

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
eucomereiI will eat
tucomerásyou will eat
vocêcomeráyou will eat
ele/elacomeráhe/she/it will eat
nóscomeremoswe will eat
vóscomereisyou (pl.) will eat
vocêscomerãoyou (pl.) will eat
eles/elascomerãothey will eat

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 comidoI have eaten
tutens comidoyou have eaten
vocêtem comidoyou have eaten
ele/elatem comidohe/she/it has eaten
nóstemos comidowe have eaten
vóstendes comidoyou (pl.) have eaten
vocêstêm comidoyou (pl.) have eaten
eles/elastêm comidothey have eaten

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 comidoI had eaten
tutinhas comidoyou had eaten
vocêtinha comidoyou had eaten
ele/elatinha comidohe/she/it had eaten
nóstínhamos comidowe had eaten
vóstínheis comidoyou (pl.) had eaten
vocêstinham comidoyou (pl.) had eaten
eles/elastinham comidothey had eaten

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

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 comidoI will have eaten
tuterás comidoyou will have eaten
vocêterá comidoyou will have eaten
ele/elaterá comidohe/she/it will have eaten
nósteremos comidowe will have eaten
vóstereis comidoyou (pl.) will have eaten
vocêsterão comidoyou (pl.) will have eaten
eles/elasterão comidothey will have eaten

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
eucoma
tucomas
vocêcoma
ele/elacoma
nóscomamos
vóscomais
vocêscomam
eles/elascomam

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
eucomesse
tucomesses
vocêcomesse
ele/elacomesse
nóscomêssemos
vóscomêsseis
vocêscomessem
eles/elascomessem

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
tucome
vocêcoma
ele/elacoma
nóscomamos
vóscomei
vocêscomam
eles/elascomam

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 comas
vocênão coma
ele/elanão coma
nósnão comamos
vósnão comais
vocêsnão comam
eles/elasnão comam