dever — Portuguese conjugation

to have to

Frequency#17Regular

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	devo	I have to
tu	deves	you have to
você	deve	you have to
ele/ela	deve	he/she/it has to
nós	devemos	we have to
vós	deveis	you (pl.) have to
vocês	devem	you (pl.) have to
eles/elas	devem	they have to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	devi	I had to
tu	deveste	you had to
você	deveu	you had to
ele/ela	deveu	he/she/it had to
nós	devemos	we had to
vós	devestes	you (pl.) had to
vocês	deveram	you (pl.) had to
eles/elas	deveram	they had to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese
eu	devia
tu	devias
você	devia
ele/ela	devia
nós	devíamos
vós	devíeis
vocês	deviam
eles/elas	deviam

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?

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	deveria	I would have to
tu	deverias	you would have to
você	deveria	you would have to
ele/ela	deveria	he/she/it would have to
nós	deveríamos	we would have to
vós	deveríeis	you (pl.) would have to
vocês	deveriam	you (pl.) would have to
eles/elas	deveriam	they would have to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	deverei	I will have to
tu	deverás	you will have to
você	deverá	you will have to
ele/ela	deverá	he/she/it will have to
nós	deveremos	we will have to
vós	devereis	you (pl.) will have to
vocês	deverão	you (pl.) will have to
eles/elas	deverão	they will have to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	tenho devido	I have had to
tu	tens devido	you have had to
você	tem devido	you have had to
ele/ela	tem devido	he/she/it has had to
nós	temos devido	we have had to
vós	tendes devido	you (pl.) have had to
vocês	têm devido	you (pl.) have had to
eles/elas	têm devido	they have had to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	tinha devido	I had had to
tu	tinhas devido	you had had to
você	tinha devido	you had had to
ele/ela	tinha devido	he/she/it had had to
nós	tínhamos devido	we had had to
vós	tínheis devido	you (pl.) had had to
vocês	tinham devido	you (pl.) had had to
eles/elas	tinham devido	they had had to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese
eu	teria devido
tu	terias devido
você	teria devido
ele/ela	teria devido
nós	teríamos devido
vós	teríeis devido
vocês	teriam devido
eles/elas	teriam devido

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese	English
eu	terei devido	I will have had to
tu	terás devido	you will have had to
você	terá devido	you will have had to
ele/ela	terá devido	he/she/it will have had to
nós	teremos devido	we will have had to
vós	tereis devido	you (pl.) will have had to
vocês	terão devido	you (pl.) will have had to
eles/elas	terão devido	they will have had to

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese
eu	deva
tu	devas
você	deva
ele/ela	deva
nós	devamos
vós	devais
vocês	devam
eles/elas	devam

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese
eu	devesse
tu	devesses
você	devesse
ele/ela	devesse
nós	devêssemos
vós	devêsseis
vocês	devessem
eles/elas	devessem

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese
tu	deve
você	deva
ele/ela	deva
nós	devamos
vós	devei
vocês	devam
eles/elas	devam

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.

Pronoun	Portuguese
tu	não devas
você	não deva
ele/ela	não deva
nós	não devamos
vós	não devais
vocês	não devam
eles/elas	não devam