dominar — Portuguese conjugation

to dominate

Frequency#502Irregular

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
eudominoI dominate
tudominasyou dominate
vocêdominayou dominate
ele/eladominahe/she/it dominates
nósdominamoswe dominate
vósdominaisyou (pl.) dominate
vocêsdominamyou (pl.) dominate
eles/elasdominamthey dominate

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
eudomineiI dominated
tudominasteyou dominated
vocêdominouyou dominated
ele/eladominouhe/she/it dominated
nósdominamoswe dominated
vósdominastesyou (pl.) dominated
vocêsdominaramyou (pl.) dominated
eles/elasdominaramthey dominated

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
eudominava
tudominavas
vocêdominava
ele/eladominava
nósdominávamos
vósdomináveis
vocêsdominavam
eles/elasdominavam

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
eudominariaI would dominate
tudominariasyou would dominate
vocêdominariayou would dominate
ele/eladominariahe/she/it would dominate
nósdominaríamoswe would dominate
vósdominaríeisyou (pl.) would dominate
vocêsdominariamyou (pl.) would dominate
eles/elasdominariamthey would dominate

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
eudominareiI will dominate
tudominarásyou will dominate
vocêdominaráyou will dominate
ele/eladominaráhe/she/it will dominate
nósdominaremoswe will dominate
vósdominareisyou (pl.) will dominate
vocêsdominarãoyou (pl.) will dominate
eles/elasdominarãothey will dominate

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 dominadoI have dominated
tutens dominadoyou have dominated
vocêtem dominadoyou have dominated
ele/elatem dominadohe/she/it has dominated
nóstemos dominadowe have dominated
vóstendes dominadoyou (pl.) have dominated
vocêstêm dominadoyou (pl.) have dominated
eles/elastêm dominadothey have dominated

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 dominadoI had dominated
tutinhas dominadoyou had dominated
vocêtinha dominadoyou had dominated
ele/elatinha dominadohe/she/it had dominated
nóstínhamos dominadowe had dominated
vóstínheis dominadoyou (pl.) had dominated
vocêstinham dominadoyou (pl.) had dominated
eles/elastinham dominadothey had dominated

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

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 dominadoI will have dominated
tuterás dominadoyou will have dominated
vocêterá dominadoyou will have dominated
ele/elaterá dominadohe/she/it will have dominated
nósteremos dominadowe will have dominated
vóstereis dominadoyou (pl.) will have dominated
vocêsterão dominadoyou (pl.) will have dominated
eles/elasterão dominadothey will have dominated

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
eudomine
tudomines
vocêdomine
ele/eladomine
nósdominemos
vósdomineis
vocêsdominem
eles/elasdominem

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
eudominasse
tudominasses
vocêdominasse
ele/eladominasse
nósdominássemos
vósdominásseis
vocêsdominassem
eles/elasdominassem

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
tudomina
vocêdomine
ele/eladomine
nósdominemos
vósdominai
vocêsdominem
eles/elasdominem

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 domines
vocênão domine
ele/elanão domine
nósnão dominemos
vósnão domineis
vocêsnão dominem
eles/elasnão dominem