diminuir — Portuguese conjugation

to diminish

Frequency#524Irregular

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
eudiminuoI diminish
tudiminuisyou diminish
vocêdiminuiyou diminish
ele/eladiminuihe/she/it diminishes
nósdiminuímoswe diminish
vósdiminuísyou (pl.) diminish
vocêsdiminuemyou (pl.) diminish
eles/elasdiminuemthey diminish

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
eudiminuíI diminished
tudiminuísteyou diminished
vocêdiminuiuyou diminished
ele/eladiminuiuhe/she/it diminished
nósdiminuímoswe diminished
vósdiminuístesyou (pl.) diminished
vocêsdiminuíramyou (pl.) diminished
eles/elasdiminuíramthey diminished

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
eudiminuía
tudiminuías
vocêdiminuía
ele/eladiminuía
nósdiminuíamos
vósdiminuíeis
vocêsdiminuíam
eles/elasdiminuíam

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
eudiminuiriaI would diminish
tudiminuiriasyou would diminish
vocêdiminuiriayou would diminish
ele/eladiminuiriahe/she/it would diminish
nósdiminuiríamoswe would diminish
vósdiminuiríeisyou (pl.) would diminish
vocêsdiminuiriamyou (pl.) would diminish
eles/elasdiminuiriamthey would diminish

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
eudiminuireiI will diminish
tudiminuirásyou will diminish
vocêdiminuiráyou will diminish
ele/eladiminuiráhe/she/it will diminish
nósdiminuiremoswe will diminish
vósdiminuireisyou (pl.) will diminish
vocêsdiminuirãoyou (pl.) will diminish
eles/elasdiminuirãothey will diminish

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 diminuídoI have diminished
tutens diminuídoyou have diminished
vocêtem diminuídoyou have diminished
ele/elatem diminuídohe/she/it has diminished
nóstemos diminuídowe have diminished
vóstendes diminuídoyou (pl.) have diminished
vocêstêm diminuídoyou (pl.) have diminished
eles/elastêm diminuídothey have diminished

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 diminuídoI had diminished
tutinhas diminuídoyou had diminished
vocêtinha diminuídoyou had diminished
ele/elatinha diminuídohe/she/it had diminished
nóstínhamos diminuídowe had diminished
vóstínheis diminuídoyou (pl.) had diminished
vocêstinham diminuídoyou (pl.) had diminished
eles/elastinham diminuídothey had diminished

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

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 diminuídoI will have diminished
tuterás diminuídoyou will have diminished
vocêterá diminuídoyou will have diminished
ele/elaterá diminuídohe/she/it will have diminished
nósteremos diminuídowe will have diminished
vóstereis diminuídoyou (pl.) will have diminished
vocêsterão diminuídoyou (pl.) will have diminished
eles/elasterão diminuídothey will have diminished

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
eudiminua
tudiminuas
vocêdiminua
ele/eladiminua
nósdiminuamos
vósdiminuais
vocêsdiminuam
eles/elasdiminuam

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
eudiminuísse
tudiminuísses
vocêdiminuísse
ele/eladiminuísse
nósdiminuíssemos
vósdiminuísseis
vocêsdiminuíssem
eles/elasdiminuíssem

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
tudiminui
vocêdiminua
ele/eladiminua
nósdiminuamos
vósdiminuí
vocêsdiminuam
eles/elasdiminuam

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 diminuas
vocênão diminua
ele/elanão diminua
nósnão diminuamos
vósnão diminuais
vocêsnão diminuam
eles/elasnão diminuam