depender — Portuguese conjugation

to depend

Frequency#169RegularReflexivedepender-se — to depend on 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
eudependoI depend
tudependesyou depend
vocêdependeyou depend
ele/eladependehe/she/it depends
nósdependemoswe depend
vósdependeisyou (pl.) depend
vocêsdependemyou (pl.) depend
eles/elasdependemthey depend

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
eudependiI depended
tudependesteyou depended
vocêdependeuyou depended
ele/eladependeuhe/she/it depended
nósdependemoswe depended
vósdependestesyou (pl.) depended
vocêsdependeramyou (pl.) depended
eles/elasdependeramthey depended

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
eudependia
tudependias
vocêdependia
ele/eladependia
nósdependíamos
vósdependíeis
vocêsdependiam
eles/elasdependiam

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
eudependeriaI would depend
tudependeriasyou would depend
vocêdependeriayou would depend
ele/eladependeriahe/she/it would depend
nósdependeríamoswe would depend
vósdependeríeisyou (pl.) would depend
vocêsdependeriamyou (pl.) would depend
eles/elasdependeriamthey would depend

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
eudependereiI will depend
tudependerásyou will depend
vocêdependeráyou will depend
ele/eladependeráhe/she/it will depend
nósdependeremoswe will depend
vósdependereisyou (pl.) will depend
vocêsdependerãoyou (pl.) will depend
eles/elasdependerãothey will depend

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 dependidoI have depended
tutens dependidoyou have depended
vocêtem dependidoyou have depended
ele/elatem dependidohe/she/it has depended
nóstemos dependidowe have depended
vóstendes dependidoyou (pl.) have depended
vocêstêm dependidoyou (pl.) have depended
eles/elastêm dependidothey have depended

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 dependidoI had depended
tutinhas dependidoyou had depended
vocêtinha dependidoyou had depended
ele/elatinha dependidohe/she/it had depended
nóstínhamos dependidowe had depended
vóstínheis dependidoyou (pl.) had depended
vocêstinham dependidoyou (pl.) had depended
eles/elastinham dependidothey had depended

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

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 dependidoI will have depended
tuterás dependidoyou will have depended
vocêterá dependidoyou will have depended
ele/elaterá dependidohe/she/it will have depended
nósteremos dependidowe will have depended
vóstereis dependidoyou (pl.) will have depended
vocêsterão dependidoyou (pl.) will have depended
eles/elasterão dependidothey will have depended

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
eudependa
tudependas
vocêdependa
ele/eladependa
nósdependamos
vósdependais
vocêsdependam
eles/elasdependam

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
eudependesse
tudependesses
vocêdependesse
ele/eladependesse
nósdependêssemos
vósdependêsseis
vocêsdependessem
eles/elasdependessem

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
tudepende
vocêdependa
ele/eladependa
nósdependamos
vósdependei
vocêsdependam
eles/elasdependam

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 dependas
vocênão dependa
ele/elanão dependa
nósnão dependamos
vósnão dependais
vocêsnão dependam
eles/elasnão dependam