decretar — Portuguese conjugation

to decree

Frequency#856Irregular

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
eudecretoI decree
tudecretasyou decree
vocêdecretayou decree
ele/eladecretahe/she/it decrees
nósdecretamoswe decree
vósdecretaisyou (pl.) decree
vocêsdecretamyou (pl.) decree
eles/elasdecretamthey decree

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
eudecreteiI decreed
tudecretasteyou decreed
vocêdecretouyou decreed
ele/eladecretouhe/she/it decreed
nósdecretamoswe decreed
vósdecretastesyou (pl.) decreed
vocêsdecretaramyou (pl.) decreed
eles/elasdecretaramthey decreed

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
eudecretava
tudecretavas
vocêdecretava
ele/eladecretava
nósdecretávamos
vósdecretáveis
vocêsdecretavam
eles/elasdecretavam

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
eudecretariaI would decree
tudecretariasyou would decree
vocêdecretariayou would decree
ele/eladecretariahe/she/it would decree
nósdecretaríamoswe would decree
vósdecretaríeisyou (pl.) would decree
vocêsdecretariamyou (pl.) would decree
eles/elasdecretariamthey would decree

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
eudecretareiI will decree
tudecretarásyou will decree
vocêdecretaráyou will decree
ele/eladecretaráhe/she/it will decree
nósdecretaremoswe will decree
vósdecretareisyou (pl.) will decree
vocêsdecretarãoyou (pl.) will decree
eles/elasdecretarãothey will decree

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 decretadoI have decreed
tutens decretadoyou have decreed
vocêtem decretadoyou have decreed
ele/elatem decretadohe/she/it has decreed
nóstemos decretadowe have decreed
vóstendes decretadoyou (pl.) have decreed
vocêstêm decretadoyou (pl.) have decreed
eles/elastêm decretadothey have decreed

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 decretadoI had decreed
tutinhas decretadoyou had decreed
vocêtinha decretadoyou had decreed
ele/elatinha decretadohe/she/it had decreed
nóstínhamos decretadowe had decreed
vóstínheis decretadoyou (pl.) had decreed
vocêstinham decretadoyou (pl.) had decreed
eles/elastinham decretadothey had decreed

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

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 decretadoI will have decreed
tuterás decretadoyou will have decreed
vocêterá decretadoyou will have decreed
ele/elaterá decretadohe/she/it will have decreed
nósteremos decretadowe will have decreed
vóstereis decretadoyou (pl.) will have decreed
vocêsterão decretadoyou (pl.) will have decreed
eles/elasterão decretadothey will have decreed

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
eudecrete
tudecretes
vocêdecrete
ele/eladecrete
nósdecretemos
vósdecreteis
vocêsdecretem
eles/elasdecretem

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
eudecretasse
tudecretasses
vocêdecretasse
ele/eladecretasse
nósdecretássemos
vósdecretásseis
vocêsdecretassem
eles/elasdecretassem

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
tudecreta
vocêdecrete
ele/eladecrete
nósdecretemos
vósdecretai
vocêsdecretem
eles/elasdecretem

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 decretes
vocênão decrete
ele/elanão decrete
nósnão decretemos
vósnão decreteis
vocêsnão decretem
eles/elasnão decretem