demonstrar — Portuguese conjugation

to demonstrate

Frequency#225Irregular

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
eudemonstroI demonstrate
tudemonstrasyou demonstrate
vocêdemonstrayou demonstrate
ele/elademonstrahe/she/it demonstrates
nósdemonstramoswe demonstrate
vósdemonstraisyou (pl.) demonstrate
vocêsdemonstramyou (pl.) demonstrate
eles/elasdemonstramthey demonstrate

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
eudemonstreiI demonstrated
tudemonstrasteyou demonstrated
vocêdemonstrouyou demonstrated
ele/elademonstrouhe/she/it demonstrated
nósdemonstramoswe demonstrated
vósdemonstrastesyou (pl.) demonstrated
vocêsdemonstraramyou (pl.) demonstrated
eles/elasdemonstraramthey demonstrated

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
eudemonstrava
tudemonstravas
vocêdemonstrava
ele/elademonstrava
nósdemonstrávamos
vósdemonstráveis
vocêsdemonstravam
eles/elasdemonstravam

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
eudemonstrariaI would demonstrate
tudemonstrariasyou would demonstrate
vocêdemonstrariayou would demonstrate
ele/elademonstrariahe/she/it would demonstrate
nósdemonstraríamoswe would demonstrate
vósdemonstraríeisyou (pl.) would demonstrate
vocêsdemonstrariamyou (pl.) would demonstrate
eles/elasdemonstrariamthey would demonstrate

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
eudemonstrareiI will demonstrate
tudemonstrarásyou will demonstrate
vocêdemonstraráyou will demonstrate
ele/elademonstraráhe/she/it will demonstrate
nósdemonstraremoswe will demonstrate
vósdemonstrareisyou (pl.) will demonstrate
vocêsdemonstrarãoyou (pl.) will demonstrate
eles/elasdemonstrarãothey will demonstrate

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 demonstradoI have demonstrated
tutens demonstradoyou have demonstrated
vocêtem demonstradoyou have demonstrated
ele/elatem demonstradohe/she/it has demonstrated
nóstemos demonstradowe have demonstrated
vóstendes demonstradoyou (pl.) have demonstrated
vocêstêm demonstradoyou (pl.) have demonstrated
eles/elastêm demonstradothey have demonstrated

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 demonstradoI had demonstrated
tutinhas demonstradoyou had demonstrated
vocêtinha demonstradoyou had demonstrated
ele/elatinha demonstradohe/she/it had demonstrated
nóstínhamos demonstradowe had demonstrated
vóstínheis demonstradoyou (pl.) had demonstrated
vocêstinham demonstradoyou (pl.) had demonstrated
eles/elastinham demonstradothey had demonstrated

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

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 demonstradoI will have demonstrated
tuterás demonstradoyou will have demonstrated
vocêterá demonstradoyou will have demonstrated
ele/elaterá demonstradohe/she/it will have demonstrated
nósteremos demonstradowe will have demonstrated
vóstereis demonstradoyou (pl.) will have demonstrated
vocêsterão demonstradoyou (pl.) will have demonstrated
eles/elasterão demonstradothey will have demonstrated

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
eudemonstre
tudemonstres
vocêdemonstre
ele/elademonstre
nósdemonstremos
vósdemonstreis
vocêsdemonstrem
eles/elasdemonstrem

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
eudemonstrasse
tudemonstrasses
vocêdemonstrasse
ele/elademonstrasse
nósdemonstrássemos
vósdemonstrásseis
vocêsdemonstrassem
eles/elasdemonstrassem

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
tudemonstra
vocêdemonstre
ele/elademonstre
nósdemonstremos
vósdemonstrai
vocêsdemonstrem
eles/elasdemonstrem

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 demonstres
vocênão demonstre
ele/elanão demonstre
nósnão demonstremos
vósnão demonstreis
vocêsnão demonstrem
eles/elasnão demonstrem