compor — Portuguese conjugation

to compose

Frequency#423Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Irregular

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
eucomponhoI compose
tucompõesyou compose
vocêcompõeyou compose
ele/elacompõehe/she/it composes
nóscompomoswe compose
vóscompondesyou (pl.) compose
vocêscompõemyou (pl.) compose
eles/elascompõemthey compose

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
eucompusI composed
tucompusesteyou composed
vocêcompôsyou composed
ele/elacompôshe/she/it composed
nóscompusemoswe composed
vóscompusestesyou (pl.) composed
vocêscompuseramyou (pl.) composed
eles/elascompuseramthey composed

Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito) Irregular

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
eucompunha
tucompunhas
vocêcompunha
ele/elacompunha
nóscompúnhamos
vóscompúnheis
vocêscompunham
eles/elascompunham

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
eucomporiaI would compose
tucomporiasyou would compose
vocêcomporiayou would compose
ele/elacomporiahe/she/it would compose
nóscomporíamoswe would compose
vóscomporíeisyou (pl.) would compose
vocêscomporiamyou (pl.) would compose
eles/elascomporiamthey would compose

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
eucomporeiI will compose
tucomporásyou will compose
vocêcomporáyou will compose
ele/elacomporáhe/she/it will compose
nóscomporemoswe will compose
vóscomporeisyou (pl.) will compose
vocêscomporãoyou (pl.) will compose
eles/elascomporãothey will compose

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 compostoI have composed
tutens compostoyou have composed
vocêtem compostoyou have composed
ele/elatem compostohe/she/it has composed
nóstemos compostowe have composed
vóstendes compostoyou (pl.) have composed
vocêstêm compostoyou (pl.) have composed
eles/elastêm compostothey have composed

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 compostoI had composed
tutinhas compostoyou had composed
vocêtinha compostoyou had composed
ele/elatinha compostohe/she/it had composed
nóstínhamos compostowe had composed
vóstínheis compostoyou (pl.) had composed
vocêstinham compostoyou (pl.) had composed
eles/elastinham compostothey had composed

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

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 compostoI will have composed
tuterás compostoyou will have composed
vocêterá compostoyou will have composed
ele/elaterá compostohe/she/it will have composed
nósteremos compostowe will have composed
vóstereis compostoyou (pl.) will have composed
vocêsterão compostoyou (pl.) will have composed
eles/elasterão compostothey will have composed

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
eucomponha
tucomponhas
vocêcomponha
ele/elacomponha
nóscomponhamos
vóscomponhais
vocêscomponham
eles/elascomponham

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
eucompusesse
tucompusesses
vocêcompusesse
ele/elacompusesse
nóscompuséssemos
vóscompusésseis
vocêscompusessem
eles/elascompusessem

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
tucompõe
vocêcomponha
ele/elacomponha
nóscomponhamos
vóscomponde
vocêscomponham
eles/elascomponham

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 componhas
vocênão componha
ele/elanão componha
nósnão componhamos
vósnão componhais
vocêsnão componham
eles/elasnão componham