dobrar — Portuguese conjugation

to fold

Frequency#267Irregular

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
eudobroI fold
tudobrasyou fold
vocêdobrayou fold
ele/eladobrahe/she/it folds
nósdobramoswe fold
vósdobraisyou (pl.) fold
vocêsdobramyou (pl.) fold
eles/elasdobramthey fold

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
eudobreiI folded
tudobrasteyou folded
vocêdobrouyou folded
ele/eladobrouhe/she/it folded
nósdobramoswe folded
vósdobrastesyou (pl.) folded
vocêsdobraramyou (pl.) folded
eles/elasdobraramthey folded

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
eudobrava
tudobravas
vocêdobrava
ele/eladobrava
nósdobrávamos
vósdobráveis
vocêsdobravam
eles/elasdobravam

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
eudobrariaI would fold
tudobrariasyou would fold
vocêdobrariayou would fold
ele/eladobrariahe/she/it would fold
nósdobraríamoswe would fold
vósdobraríeisyou (pl.) would fold
vocêsdobrariamyou (pl.) would fold
eles/elasdobrariamthey would fold

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
eudobrareiI will fold
tudobrarásyou will fold
vocêdobraráyou will fold
ele/eladobraráhe/she/it will fold
nósdobraremoswe will fold
vósdobrareisyou (pl.) will fold
vocêsdobrarãoyou (pl.) will fold
eles/elasdobrarãothey will fold

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 dobradoI have folded
tutens dobradoyou have folded
vocêtem dobradoyou have folded
ele/elatem dobradohe/she/it has folded
nóstemos dobradowe have folded
vóstendes dobradoyou (pl.) have folded
vocêstêm dobradoyou (pl.) have folded
eles/elastêm dobradothey have folded

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 dobradoI had folded
tutinhas dobradoyou had folded
vocêtinha dobradoyou had folded
ele/elatinha dobradohe/she/it had folded
nóstínhamos dobradowe had folded
vóstínheis dobradoyou (pl.) had folded
vocêstinham dobradoyou (pl.) had folded
eles/elastinham dobradothey had folded

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

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 dobradoI will have folded
tuterás dobradoyou will have folded
vocêterá dobradoyou will have folded
ele/elaterá dobradohe/she/it will have folded
nósteremos dobradowe will have folded
vóstereis dobradoyou (pl.) will have folded
vocêsterão dobradoyou (pl.) will have folded
eles/elasterão dobradothey will have folded

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
eudobre
tudobres
vocêdobre
ele/eladobre
nósdobremos
vósdobreis
vocêsdobrem
eles/elasdobrem

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
eudobrasse
tudobrasses
vocêdobrasse
ele/eladobrasse
nósdobrássemos
vósdobrásseis
vocêsdobrassem
eles/elasdobrassem

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
tudobra
vocêdobre
ele/eladobre
nósdobremos
vósdobrai
vocêsdobrem
eles/elasdobrem

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 dobres
vocênão dobre
ele/elanão dobre
nósnão dobremos
vósnão dobreis
vocêsnão dobrem
eles/elasnão dobrem