encobrir — Portuguese conjugation

to cover up

Frequency#603Irregular

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
euencubroI cover up
tuencobresyou cover up
vocêencobreyou cover up
ele/elaencobrehe/she/it covers up
nósencobrimoswe cover up
vósencobrisyou (pl.) cover up
vocêsencobremyou (pl.) cover up
eles/elasencobremthey cover up

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
euencobriI covered up
tuencobristeyou covered up
vocêencobriuyou covered up
ele/elaencobriuhe/she/it covered up
nósencobrimoswe covered up
vósencobristesyou (pl.) covered up
vocêsencobriramyou (pl.) covered up
eles/elasencobriramthey covered up

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
euencobria
tuencobrias
vocêencobria
ele/elaencobria
nósencobríamos
vósencobríeis
vocêsencobriam
eles/elasencobriam

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
euencobririaI would cover up
tuencobririasyou would cover up
vocêencobririayou would cover up
ele/elaencobririahe/she/it would cover up
nósencobriríamoswe would cover up
vósencobriríeisyou (pl.) would cover up
vocêsencobririamyou (pl.) would cover up
eles/elasencobririamthey would cover up

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
euencobrireiI will cover up
tuencobrirásyou will cover up
vocêencobriráyou will cover up
ele/elaencobriráhe/she/it will cover up
nósencobriremoswe will cover up
vósencobrireisyou (pl.) will cover up
vocêsencobrirãoyou (pl.) will cover up
eles/elasencobrirãothey will cover up

Present perfect (Pretérito perfeito composto) Irregular

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 encobertoI have covered up
tutens encobertoyou have covered up
vocêtem encobertoyou have covered up
ele/elatem encobertohe/she/it has covered up
nóstemos encobertowe have covered up
vóstendes encobertoyou (pl.) have covered up
vocêstêm encobertoyou (pl.) have covered up
eles/elastêm encobertothey have covered up

Pluperfect (Mais-que-perfeito composto) Irregular

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 encobertoI had covered up
tutinhas encobertoyou had covered up
vocêtinha encobertoyou had covered up
ele/elatinha encobertohe/she/it had covered up
nóstínhamos encobertowe had covered up
vóstínheis encobertoyou (pl.) had covered up
vocêstinham encobertoyou (pl.) had covered up
eles/elastinham encobertothey had covered up

Conditional perfect (Condicional composto) Irregular

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

Future perfect (Futuro composto) Irregular

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 encobertoI will have covered up
tuterás encobertoyou will have covered up
vocêterá encobertoyou will have covered up
ele/elaterá encobertohe/she/it will have covered up
nósteremos encobertowe will have covered up
vóstereis encobertoyou (pl.) will have covered up
vocêsterão encobertoyou (pl.) will have covered up
eles/elasterão encobertothey will have covered up

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
euencubra
tuencubras
vocêencubra
ele/elaencubra
nósencubramos
vósencubrais
vocêsencubram
eles/elasencubram

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
euencobrisse
tuencobrisses
vocêencobrisse
ele/elaencobrisse
nósencobríssemos
vósencobrísseis
vocêsencobrissem
eles/elasencobrissem

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
tuencobre
vocêencubra
ele/elaencubra
nósencubramos
vósencobri
vocêsencubram
eles/elasencubram

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 encubras
vocênão encubra
ele/elanão encubra
nósnão encubramos
vósnão encubrais
vocêsnão encubram
eles/elasnão encubram