comparar — Portuguese conjugation

to compare

Frequency#461Irregular

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
eucomparoI compare
tucomparasyou compare
vocêcomparayou compare
ele/elacomparahe/she/it compares
nóscomparamoswe compare
vóscomparaisyou (pl.) compare
vocêscomparamyou (pl.) compare
eles/elascomparamthey compare

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
eucompareiI compared
tucomparasteyou compared
vocêcomparouyou compared
ele/elacomparouhe/she/it compared
nóscomparamoswe compared
vóscomparastesyou (pl.) compared
vocêscompararamyou (pl.) compared
eles/elascompararamthey compared

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
eucomparava
tucomparavas
vocêcomparava
ele/elacomparava
nóscomparávamos
vóscomparáveis
vocêscomparavam
eles/elascomparavam

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
eucomparariaI would compare
tucomparariasyou would compare
vocêcomparariayou would compare
ele/elacomparariahe/she/it would compare
nóscompararíamoswe would compare
vóscompararíeisyou (pl.) would compare
vocêscomparariamyou (pl.) would compare
eles/elascomparariamthey would compare

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
eucomparareiI will compare
tucompararásyou will compare
vocêcompararáyou will compare
ele/elacompararáhe/she/it will compare
nóscompararemoswe will compare
vóscomparareisyou (pl.) will compare
vocêscompararãoyou (pl.) will compare
eles/elascompararãothey will compare

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 comparadoI have compared
tutens comparadoyou have compared
vocêtem comparadoyou have compared
ele/elatem comparadohe/she/it has compared
nóstemos comparadowe have compared
vóstendes comparadoyou (pl.) have compared
vocêstêm comparadoyou (pl.) have compared
eles/elastêm comparadothey have compared

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 comparadoI had compared
tutinhas comparadoyou had compared
vocêtinha comparadoyou had compared
ele/elatinha comparadohe/she/it had compared
nóstínhamos comparadowe had compared
vóstínheis comparadoyou (pl.) had compared
vocêstinham comparadoyou (pl.) had compared
eles/elastinham comparadothey had compared

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

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 comparadoI will have compared
tuterás comparadoyou will have compared
vocêterá comparadoyou will have compared
ele/elaterá comparadohe/she/it will have compared
nósteremos comparadowe will have compared
vóstereis comparadoyou (pl.) will have compared
vocêsterão comparadoyou (pl.) will have compared
eles/elasterão comparadothey will have compared

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
eucompare
tucompares
vocêcompare
ele/elacompare
nóscomparemos
vóscompareis
vocêscomparem
eles/elascomparem

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
eucomparasse
tucomparasses
vocêcomparasse
ele/elacomparasse
nóscomparássemos
vóscomparásseis
vocêscomparassem
eles/elascomparassem

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
tucompara
vocêcompare
ele/elacompare
nóscomparemos
vóscomparai
vocêscomparem
eles/elascomparem

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 compares
vocênão compare
ele/elanão compare
nósnão comparemos
vósnão compareis
vocêsnão comparem
eles/elasnão comparem