culpar — Portuguese conjugation

to blame

Frequency#942Irregular

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
euculpoI blame
tuculpasyou blame
vocêculpayou blame
ele/elaculpahe/she/it blames
nósculpamoswe blame
vósculpaisyou (pl.) blame
vocêsculpamyou (pl.) blame
eles/elasculpamthey blame

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
euculpeiI blamed
tuculpasteyou blamed
vocêculpouyou blamed
ele/elaculpouhe/she/it blamed
nósculpamoswe blamed
vósculpastesyou (pl.) blamed
vocêsculparamyou (pl.) blamed
eles/elasculparamthey blamed

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
euculpava
tuculpavas
vocêculpava
ele/elaculpava
nósculpávamos
vósculpáveis
vocêsculpavam
eles/elasculpavam

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
euculpariaI would blame
tuculpariasyou would blame
vocêculpariayou would blame
ele/elaculpariahe/she/it would blame
nósculparíamoswe would blame
vósculparíeisyou (pl.) would blame
vocêsculpariamyou (pl.) would blame
eles/elasculpariamthey would blame

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
euculpareiI will blame
tuculparásyou will blame
vocêculparáyou will blame
ele/elaculparáhe/she/it will blame
nósculparemoswe will blame
vósculpareisyou (pl.) will blame
vocêsculparãoyou (pl.) will blame
eles/elasculparãothey will blame

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 culpadoI have blamed
tutens culpadoyou have blamed
vocêtem culpadoyou have blamed
ele/elatem culpadohe/she/it has blamed
nóstemos culpadowe have blamed
vóstendes culpadoyou (pl.) have blamed
vocêstêm culpadoyou (pl.) have blamed
eles/elastêm culpadothey have blamed

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 culpadoI had blamed
tutinhas culpadoyou had blamed
vocêtinha culpadoyou had blamed
ele/elatinha culpadohe/she/it had blamed
nóstínhamos culpadowe had blamed
vóstínheis culpadoyou (pl.) had blamed
vocêstinham culpadoyou (pl.) had blamed
eles/elastinham culpadothey had blamed

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

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 culpadoI will have blamed
tuterás culpadoyou will have blamed
vocêterá culpadoyou will have blamed
ele/elaterá culpadohe/she/it will have blamed
nósteremos culpadowe will have blamed
vóstereis culpadoyou (pl.) will have blamed
vocêsterão culpadoyou (pl.) will have blamed
eles/elasterão culpadothey will have blamed

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
euculpe
tuculpes
vocêculpe
ele/elaculpe
nósculpemos
vósculpeis
vocêsculpem
eles/elasculpem

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
euculpasse
tuculpasses
vocêculpasse
ele/elaculpasse
nósculpássemos
vósculpásseis
vocêsculpassem
eles/elasculpassem

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
tuculpa
vocêculpe
ele/elaculpe
nósculpemos
vósculpai
vocêsculpem
eles/elasculpem

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 culpes
vocênão culpe
ele/elanão culpe
nósnão culpemos
vósnão culpeis
vocêsnão culpem
eles/elasnão culpem