comprar — Portuguese conjugation

to buy

Frequency#97IrregularReflexivecomprar-se — to buy oneself

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
eucomproI buy
tucomprasyou buy
vocêcomprayou buy
ele/elacomprahe/she/it buys
nóscompramoswe buy
vóscompraisyou (pl.) buy
vocêscompramyou (pl.) buy
eles/elascompramthey buy

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
eucompreiI bought
tucomprasteyou bought
vocêcomprouyou bought
ele/elacomprouhe/she/it bought
nóscompramoswe bought
vóscomprastesyou (pl.) bought
vocêscompraramyou (pl.) bought
eles/elascompraramthey bought

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
eucomprava
tucompravas
vocêcomprava
ele/elacomprava
nóscomprávamos
vóscompráveis
vocêscompravam
eles/elascompravam

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
eucomprariaI would buy
tucomprariasyou would buy
vocêcomprariayou would buy
ele/elacomprariahe/she/it would buy
nóscompraríamoswe would buy
vóscompraríeisyou (pl.) would buy
vocêscomprariamyou (pl.) would buy
eles/elascomprariamthey would buy

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
eucomprareiI will buy
tucomprarásyou will buy
vocêcompraráyou will buy
ele/elacompraráhe/she/it will buy
nóscompraremoswe will buy
vóscomprareisyou (pl.) will buy
vocêscomprarãoyou (pl.) will buy
eles/elascomprarãothey will buy

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 compradoI have bought
tutens compradoyou have bought
vocêtem compradoyou have bought
ele/elatem compradohe/she/it has bought
nóstemos compradowe have bought
vóstendes compradoyou (pl.) have bought
vocêstêm compradoyou (pl.) have bought
eles/elastêm compradothey have bought

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 compradoI had bought
tutinhas compradoyou had bought
vocêtinha compradoyou had bought
ele/elatinha compradohe/she/it had bought
nóstínhamos compradowe had bought
vóstínheis compradoyou (pl.) had bought
vocêstinham compradoyou (pl.) had bought
eles/elastinham compradothey had bought

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

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 compradoI will have bought
tuterás compradoyou will have bought
vocêterá compradoyou will have bought
ele/elaterá compradohe/she/it will have bought
nósteremos compradowe will have bought
vóstereis compradoyou (pl.) will have bought
vocêsterão compradoyou (pl.) will have bought
eles/elasterão compradothey will have bought

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
eucompre
tucompres
vocêcompre
ele/elacompre
nóscompremos
vóscompreis
vocêscomprem
eles/elascomprem

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
eucomprasse
tucomprasses
vocêcomprasse
ele/elacomprasse
nóscomprássemos
vóscomprásseis
vocêscomprassem
eles/elascomprassem

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
tucompra
vocêcompre
ele/elacompre
nóscompremos
vóscomprai
vocêscomprem
eles/elascomprem

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 compres
vocênão compre
ele/elanão compre
nósnão compremos
vósnão compreis
vocêsnão comprem
eles/elasnão comprem