conservar — Portuguese conjugation

to conserve

Frequency#393Irregular

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
euconservoI conserve
tuconservasyou conserve
vocêconservayou conserve
ele/elaconservahe/she/it conserves
nósconservamoswe conserve
vósconservaisyou (pl.) conserve
vocêsconservamyou (pl.) conserve
eles/elasconservamthey conserve

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
euconserveiI conserved
tuconservasteyou conserved
vocêconservouyou conserved
ele/elaconservouhe/she/it conserved
nósconservamoswe conserved
vósconservastesyou (pl.) conserved
vocêsconservaramyou (pl.) conserved
eles/elasconservaramthey conserved

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
euconservava
tuconservavas
vocêconservava
ele/elaconservava
nósconservávamos
vósconserváveis
vocêsconservavam
eles/elasconservavam

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
euconservariaI would conserve
tuconservariasyou would conserve
vocêconservariayou would conserve
ele/elaconservariahe/she/it would conserve
nósconservaríamoswe would conserve
vósconservaríeisyou (pl.) would conserve
vocêsconservariamyou (pl.) would conserve
eles/elasconservariamthey would conserve

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
euconservareiI will conserve
tuconservarásyou will conserve
vocêconservaráyou will conserve
ele/elaconservaráhe/she/it will conserve
nósconservaremoswe will conserve
vósconservareisyou (pl.) will conserve
vocêsconservarãoyou (pl.) will conserve
eles/elasconservarãothey will conserve

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 conservadoI have conserved
tutens conservadoyou have conserved
vocêtem conservadoyou have conserved
ele/elatem conservadohe/she/it has conserved
nóstemos conservadowe have conserved
vóstendes conservadoyou (pl.) have conserved
vocêstêm conservadoyou (pl.) have conserved
eles/elastêm conservadothey have conserved

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 conservadoI had conserved
tutinhas conservadoyou had conserved
vocêtinha conservadoyou had conserved
ele/elatinha conservadohe/she/it had conserved
nóstínhamos conservadowe had conserved
vóstínheis conservadoyou (pl.) had conserved
vocêstinham conservadoyou (pl.) had conserved
eles/elastinham conservadothey had conserved

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

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 conservadoI will have conserved
tuterás conservadoyou will have conserved
vocêterá conservadoyou will have conserved
ele/elaterá conservadohe/she/it will have conserved
nósteremos conservadowe will have conserved
vóstereis conservadoyou (pl.) will have conserved
vocêsterão conservadoyou (pl.) will have conserved
eles/elasterão conservadothey will have conserved

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
euconserve
tuconserves
vocêconserve
ele/elaconserve
nósconservemos
vósconserveis
vocêsconservem
eles/elasconservem

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
euconservasse
tuconservasses
vocêconservasse
ele/elaconservasse
nósconservássemos
vósconservásseis
vocêsconservassem
eles/elasconservassem

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
tuconserva
vocêconserve
ele/elaconserve
nósconservemos
vósconservai
vocêsconservem
eles/elasconservem

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 conserves
vocênão conserve
ele/elanão conserve
nósnão conservemos
vósnão conserveis
vocêsnão conservem
eles/elasnão conservem