determinar — Portuguese conjugation

to determine

Frequency#627Regular

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
eudeterminoI determine
tudeterminasyou determine
vocêdeterminayou determine
ele/eladeterminahe/she/it determines
nósdeterminamoswe determine
vósdeterminaisyou (pl.) determine
vocêsdeterminamyou (pl.) determine
eles/elasdeterminamthey determine

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
eudetermineiI determined
tudeterminasteyou determined
vocêdeterminouyou determined
ele/eladeterminouhe/she/it determined
nósdeterminamoswe determined
vósdeterminastesyou (pl.) determined
vocêsdeterminaramyou (pl.) determined
eles/elasdeterminaramthey determined

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
eudeterminava
tudeterminavas
vocêdeterminava
ele/eladeterminava
nósdeterminávamos
vósdetermináveis
vocêsdeterminavam
eles/elasdeterminavam

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
eudeterminariaI would determine
tudeterminariasyou would determine
vocêdeterminariayou would determine
ele/eladeterminariahe/she/it would determine
nósdeterminaríamoswe would determine
vósdeterminaríeisyou (pl.) would determine
vocêsdeterminariamyou (pl.) would determine
eles/elasdeterminariamthey would determine

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
eudeterminareiI will determine
tudeterminarásyou will determine
vocêdeterminaráyou will determine
ele/eladeterminaráhe/she/it will determine
nósdeterminaremoswe will determine
vósdeterminareisyou (pl.) will determine
vocêsdeterminarãoyou (pl.) will determine
eles/elasdeterminarãothey will determine

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 determinadoI have determined
tutens determinadoyou have determined
vocêtem determinadoyou have determined
ele/elatem determinadohe/she/it has determined
nóstemos determinadowe have determined
vóstendes determinadoyou (pl.) have determined
vocêstêm determinadoyou (pl.) have determined
eles/elastêm determinadothey have determined

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 determinadoI had determined
tutinhas determinadoyou had determined
vocêtinha determinadoyou had determined
ele/elatinha determinadohe/she/it had determined
nóstínhamos determinadowe had determined
vóstínheis determinadoyou (pl.) had determined
vocêstinham determinadoyou (pl.) had determined
eles/elastinham determinadothey had determined

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

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 determinadoI will have determined
tuterás determinadoyou will have determined
vocêterá determinadoyou will have determined
ele/elaterá determinadohe/she/it will have determined
nósteremos determinadowe will have determined
vóstereis determinadoyou (pl.) will have determined
vocêsterão determinadoyou (pl.) will have determined
eles/elasterão determinadothey will have determined

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
eudetermine
tudetermines
vocêdetermine
ele/eladetermine
nósdeterminemos
vósdetermineis
vocêsdeterminem
eles/elasdeterminem

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
eudeterminasse
tudeterminasses
vocêdeterminasse
ele/eladeterminasse
nósdeterminássemos
vósdeterminásseis
vocêsdeterminassem
eles/elasdeterminassem

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
tudetermina
vocêdetermine
ele/eladetermine
nósdeterminemos
vósdeterminai
vocêsdeterminem
eles/elasdeterminem

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 determines
vocênão determine
ele/elanão determine
nósnão determinemos
vósnão determineis
vocêsnão determinem
eles/elasnão determinem