deter — Portuguese conjugation

to deter

Frequency#184Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Irregular

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
eudetenhoI deter
tudeténsyou deter
vocêdetémyou deter
ele/eladetémhe/she/it deters
nósdetemoswe deter
vósdetendesyou (pl.) deter
vocêsdetêmyou (pl.) deter
eles/elasdetêmthey deter

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
eudetiveI deterred
tudetivesteyou deterred
vocêdeteveyou deterred
ele/eladetevehe/she/it deterred
nósdetivemoswe deterred
vósdetivestesyou (pl.) deterred
vocêsdetiveramyou (pl.) deterred
eles/elasdetiveramthey deterred

Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito) Irregular

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
eudetinha
tudetinhas
vocêdetinha
ele/eladetinha
nósdetínhamos
vósdetínheis
vocêsdetinham
eles/elasdetinham

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
eudeteriaI would deter
tudeteriasyou would deter
vocêdeteriayou would deter
ele/eladeteriahe/she/it would deter
nósdeteríamoswe would deter
vósdeteríeisyou (pl.) would deter
vocêsdeteriamyou (pl.) would deter
eles/elasdeteriamthey would deter

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
eudetereiI will deter
tudeterásyou will deter
vocêdeteráyou will deter
ele/eladeteráhe/she/it will deter
nósdeteremoswe will deter
vósdetereisyou (pl.) will deter
vocêsdeterãoyou (pl.) will deter
eles/elasdeterãothey will deter

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 detidoI have deterred
tutens detidoyou have deterred
vocêtem detidoyou have deterred
ele/elatem detidohe/she/it has deterred
nóstemos detidowe have deterred
vóstendes detidoyou (pl.) have deterred
vocêstêm detidoyou (pl.) have deterred
eles/elastêm detidothey have deterred

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 detidoI had deterred
tutinhas detidoyou had deterred
vocêtinha detidoyou had deterred
ele/elatinha detidohe/she/it had deterred
nóstínhamos detidowe had deterred
vóstínheis detidoyou (pl.) had deterred
vocêstinham detidoyou (pl.) had deterred
eles/elastinham detidothey had deterred

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

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 detidoI will have deterred
tuterás detidoyou will have deterred
vocêterá detidoyou will have deterred
ele/elaterá detidohe/she/it will have deterred
nósteremos detidowe will have deterred
vóstereis detidoyou (pl.) will have deterred
vocêsterão detidoyou (pl.) will have deterred
eles/elasterão detidothey will have deterred

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
eudetenha
tudetenhas
vocêdetenha
ele/eladetenha
nósdetenhamos
vósdetenhais
vocêsdetenham
eles/elasdetenham

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
eudetivesse
tudetivesses
vocêdetivesse
ele/eladetivesse
nósdetivéssemos
vósdetivésseis
vocêsdetivessem
eles/elasdetivessem

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
tudetém
vocêdetenha
ele/eladetenha
nósdetenhamos
vósdetende
vocêsdetenham
eles/elasdetenham

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 detenhas
vocênão detenha
ele/elanão detenha
nósnão detenhamos
vósnão detenhais
vocêsnão detenham
eles/elasnão detenham