controlar — Portuguese conjugation

to control

Frequency#204Irregular

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
eucontroloI control
tucontrolasyou control
vocêcontrolayou control
ele/elacontrolahe/she/it controls
nóscontrolamoswe control
vóscontrolaisyou (pl.) control
vocêscontrolamyou (pl.) control
eles/elascontrolamthey control

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
eucontroleiI controlled
tucontrolasteyou controlled
vocêcontrolouyou controlled
ele/elacontrolouhe/she/it controlled
nóscontrolamoswe controlled
vóscontrolastesyou (pl.) controlled
vocêscontrolaramyou (pl.) controlled
eles/elascontrolaramthey controlled

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
eucontrolava
tucontrolavas
vocêcontrolava
ele/elacontrolava
nóscontrolávamos
vóscontroláveis
vocêscontrolavam
eles/elascontrolavam

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
eucontrolariaI would control
tucontrolariasyou would control
vocêcontrolariayou would control
ele/elacontrolariahe/she/it would control
nóscontrolaríamoswe would control
vóscontrolaríeisyou (pl.) would control
vocêscontrolariamyou (pl.) would control
eles/elascontrolariamthey would control

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
eucontrolareiI will control
tucontrolarásyou will control
vocêcontrolaráyou will control
ele/elacontrolaráhe/she/it will control
nóscontrolaremoswe will control
vóscontrolareisyou (pl.) will control
vocêscontrolarãoyou (pl.) will control
eles/elascontrolarãothey will control

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 controladoI have controlled
tutens controladoyou have controlled
vocêtem controladoyou have controlled
ele/elatem controladohe/she/it has controlled
nóstemos controladowe have controlled
vóstendes controladoyou (pl.) have controlled
vocêstêm controladoyou (pl.) have controlled
eles/elastêm controladothey have controlled

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 controladoI had controlled
tutinhas controladoyou had controlled
vocêtinha controladoyou had controlled
ele/elatinha controladohe/she/it had controlled
nóstínhamos controladowe had controlled
vóstínheis controladoyou (pl.) had controlled
vocêstinham controladoyou (pl.) had controlled
eles/elastinham controladothey had controlled

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

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 controladoI will have controlled
tuterás controladoyou will have controlled
vocêterá controladoyou will have controlled
ele/elaterá controladohe/she/it will have controlled
nósteremos controladowe will have controlled
vóstereis controladoyou (pl.) will have controlled
vocêsterão controladoyou (pl.) will have controlled
eles/elasterão controladothey will have controlled

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
eucontrole
tucontroles
vocêcontrole
ele/elacontrole
nóscontrolemos
vóscontroleis
vocêscontrolem
eles/elascontrolem

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
eucontrolasse
tucontrolasses
vocêcontrolasse
ele/elacontrolasse
nóscontrolássemos
vóscontrolásseis
vocêscontrolassem
eles/elascontrolassem

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
tucontrola
vocêcontrole
ele/elacontrole
nóscontrolemos
vóscontrolai
vocêscontrolem
eles/elascontrolem

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 controles
vocênão controle
ele/elanão controle
nósnão controlemos
vósnão controleis
vocêsnão controlem
eles/elasnão controlem