decidir — Portuguese conjugation

to decide

Frequency#93RegularReflexivedecidir-se — to conclude 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
eudecidoI decide
tudecidesyou decide
vocêdecideyou decide
ele/eladecidehe/she/it decides
nósdecidimoswe decide
vósdecidisyou (pl.) decide
vocêsdecidemyou (pl.) decide
eles/elasdecidemthey decide

Preterite (Pretérito perfeito simples) Regular

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
eudecidiI decided
tudecidisteyou decided
vocêdecidiuyou decided
ele/eladecidiuhe/she/it decided
nósdecidimoswe decided
vósdecidistesyou (pl.) decided
vocêsdecidiramyou (pl.) decided
eles/elasdecidiramthey decided

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
eudecidia
tudecidias
vocêdecidia
ele/eladecidia
nósdecidíamos
vósdecidíeis
vocêsdecidiam
eles/elasdecidiam

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
eudecidiriaI would decide
tudecidiriasyou would decide
vocêdecidiriayou would decide
ele/eladecidiriahe/she/it would decide
nósdecidiríamoswe would decide
vósdecidiríeisyou (pl.) would decide
vocêsdecidiriamyou (pl.) would decide
eles/elasdecidiriamthey would decide

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
eudecidireiI will decide
tudecidirásyou will decide
vocêdecidiráyou will decide
ele/eladecidiráhe/she/it will decide
nósdecidiremoswe will decide
vósdecidireisyou (pl.) will decide
vocêsdecidirãoyou (pl.) will decide
eles/elasdecidirãothey will decide

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 decididoI have decided
tutens decididoyou have decided
vocêtem decididoyou have decided
ele/elatem decididohe/she/it has decided
nóstemos decididowe have decided
vóstendes decididoyou (pl.) have decided
vocêstêm decididoyou (pl.) have decided
eles/elastêm decididothey have decided

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 decididoI had decided
tutinhas decididoyou had decided
vocêtinha decididoyou had decided
ele/elatinha decididohe/she/it had decided
nóstínhamos decididowe had decided
vóstínheis decididoyou (pl.) had decided
vocêstinham decididoyou (pl.) had decided
eles/elastinham decididothey had decided

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

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 decididoI will have decided
tuterás decididoyou will have decided
vocêterá decididoyou will have decided
ele/elaterá decididohe/she/it will have decided
nósteremos decididowe will have decided
vóstereis decididoyou (pl.) will have decided
vocêsterão decididoyou (pl.) will have decided
eles/elasterão decididothey will have decided

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
eudecida
tudecidas
vocêdecida
ele/eladecida
nósdecidamos
vósdecidais
vocêsdecidam
eles/elasdecidam

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
eudecidisse
tudecidisses
vocêdecidisse
ele/eladecidisse
nósdecidíssemos
vósdecidísseis
vocêsdecidissem
eles/elasdecidissem

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
tudecide
vocêdecida
ele/eladecida
nósdecidamos
vósdecidi
vocêsdecidam
eles/elasdecidam

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 decidas
vocênão decida
ele/elanão decida
nósnão decidamos
vósnão decidais
vocêsnão decidam
eles/elasnão decidam