comportar — Portuguese conjugation

to behave

Frequency#477Irregular

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
eucomportoI behave
tucomportasyou behave
vocêcomportayou behave
ele/elacomportahe/she/it behaves
nóscomportamoswe behave
vóscomportaisyou (pl.) behave
vocêscomportamyou (pl.) behave
eles/elascomportamthey behave

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
eucomporteiI behaved
tucomportasteyou behaved
vocêcomportouyou behaved
ele/elacomportouhe/she/it behaved
nóscomportamoswe behaved
vóscomportastesyou (pl.) behaved
vocêscomportaramyou (pl.) behaved
eles/elascomportaramthey behaved

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
eucomportava
tucomportavas
vocêcomportava
ele/elacomportava
nóscomportávamos
vóscomportáveis
vocêscomportavam
eles/elascomportavam

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
eucomportariaI would behave
tucomportariasyou would behave
vocêcomportariayou would behave
ele/elacomportariahe/she/it would behave
nóscomportaríamoswe would behave
vóscomportaríeisyou (pl.) would behave
vocêscomportariamyou (pl.) would behave
eles/elascomportariamthey would behave

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
eucomportareiI will behave
tucomportarásyou will behave
vocêcomportaráyou will behave
ele/elacomportaráhe/she/it will behave
nóscomportaremoswe will behave
vóscomportareisyou (pl.) will behave
vocêscomportarãoyou (pl.) will behave
eles/elascomportarãothey will behave

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 comportadoI have behaved
tutens comportadoyou have behaved
vocêtem comportadoyou have behaved
ele/elatem comportadohe/she/it has behaved
nóstemos comportadowe have behaved
vóstendes comportadoyou (pl.) have behaved
vocêstêm comportadoyou (pl.) have behaved
eles/elastêm comportadothey have behaved

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 comportadoI had behaved
tutinhas comportadoyou had behaved
vocêtinha comportadoyou had behaved
ele/elatinha comportadohe/she/it had behaved
nóstínhamos comportadowe had behaved
vóstínheis comportadoyou (pl.) had behaved
vocêstinham comportadoyou (pl.) had behaved
eles/elastinham comportadothey had behaved

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

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 comportadoI will have behaved
tuterás comportadoyou will have behaved
vocêterá comportadoyou will have behaved
ele/elaterá comportadohe/she/it will have behaved
nósteremos comportadowe will have behaved
vóstereis comportadoyou (pl.) will have behaved
vocêsterão comportadoyou (pl.) will have behaved
eles/elasterão comportadothey will have behaved

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
eucomporte
tucomportes
vocêcomporte
ele/elacomporte
nóscomportemos
vóscomporteis
vocêscomportem
eles/elascomportem

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
eucomportasse
tucomportasses
vocêcomportasse
ele/elacomportasse
nóscomportássemos
vóscomportásseis
vocêscomportassem
eles/elascomportassem

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
tucomporta
vocêcomporte
ele/elacomporte
nóscomportemos
vóscomportai
vocêscomportem
eles/elascomportem

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 comportes
vocênão comporte
ele/elanão comporte
nósnão comportemos
vósnão comporteis
vocêsnão comportem
eles/elasnão comportem