descansar — Portuguese conjugation

to rest

Frequency#749Irregular

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
eudescansoI rest
tudescansasyou rest
vocêdescansayou rest
ele/eladescansahe/she/it rests
nósdescansamoswe rest
vósdescansaisyou (pl.) rest
vocêsdescansamyou (pl.) rest
eles/elasdescansamthey rest

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
eudescanseiI rested
tudescansasteyou rested
vocêdescansouyou rested
ele/eladescansouhe/she/it rested
nósdescansamoswe rested
vósdescansastesyou (pl.) rested
vocêsdescansaramyou (pl.) rested
eles/elasdescansaramthey rested

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
eudescansava
tudescansavas
vocêdescansava
ele/eladescansava
nósdescansávamos
vósdescansáveis
vocêsdescansavam
eles/elasdescansavam

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
eudescansariaI would rest
tudescansariasyou would rest
vocêdescansariayou would rest
ele/eladescansariahe/she/it would rest
nósdescansaríamoswe would rest
vósdescansaríeisyou (pl.) would rest
vocêsdescansariamyou (pl.) would rest
eles/elasdescansariamthey would rest

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
eudescansareiI will rest
tudescansarásyou will rest
vocêdescansaráyou will rest
ele/eladescansaráhe/she/it will rest
nósdescansaremoswe will rest
vósdescansareisyou (pl.) will rest
vocêsdescansarãoyou (pl.) will rest
eles/elasdescansarãothey will rest

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 descansadoI have rested
tutens descansadoyou have rested
vocêtem descansadoyou have rested
ele/elatem descansadohe/she/it has rested
nóstemos descansadowe have rested
vóstendes descansadoyou (pl.) have rested
vocêstêm descansadoyou (pl.) have rested
eles/elastêm descansadothey have rested

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 descansadoI had rested
tutinhas descansadoyou had rested
vocêtinha descansadoyou had rested
ele/elatinha descansadohe/she/it had rested
nóstínhamos descansadowe had rested
vóstínheis descansadoyou (pl.) had rested
vocêstinham descansadoyou (pl.) had rested
eles/elastinham descansadothey had rested

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

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 descansadoI will have rested
tuterás descansadoyou will have rested
vocêterá descansadoyou will have rested
ele/elaterá descansadohe/she/it will have rested
nósteremos descansadowe will have rested
vóstereis descansadoyou (pl.) will have rested
vocêsterão descansadoyou (pl.) will have rested
eles/elasterão descansadothey will have rested

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
eudescanse
tudescanses
vocêdescanse
ele/eladescanse
nósdescansemos
vósdescanseis
vocêsdescansem
eles/elasdescansem

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
eudescansasse
tudescansasses
vocêdescansasse
ele/eladescansasse
nósdescansássemos
vósdescansásseis
vocêsdescansassem
eles/elasdescansassem

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
tudescansa
vocêdescanse
ele/eladescanse
nósdescansemos
vósdescansai
vocêsdescansem
eles/elasdescansem

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 descanses
vocênão descanse
ele/elanão descanse
nósnão descansemos
vósnão descanseis
vocêsnão descansem
eles/elasnão descansem