entreter — Portuguese conjugation

to entertain

Frequency#440Irregular

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
euentretenhoI entertain
tuentreténsyou entertain
vocêentretémyou entertain
ele/elaentretémhe/she/it entertains
nósentretemoswe entertain
vósentretendesyou (pl.) entertain
vocêsentretêmyou (pl.) entertain
eles/elasentretêmthey entertain

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
euentretiveI entertained
tuentretivesteyou entertained
vocêentreteveyou entertained
ele/elaentretevehe/she/it entertained
nósentretivemoswe entertained
vósentretivestesyou (pl.) entertained
vocêsentretiveramyou (pl.) entertained
eles/elasentretiveramthey entertained

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
euentretinha
tuentretinhas
vocêentretinha
ele/elaentretinha
nósentretínhamos
vósentretínheis
vocêsentretinham
eles/elasentretinham

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
euentreteriaI would entertain
tuentreteriasyou would entertain
vocêentreteriayou would entertain
ele/elaentreteriahe/she/it would entertain
nósentreteríamoswe would entertain
vósentreteríeisyou (pl.) would entertain
vocêsentreteriamyou (pl.) would entertain
eles/elasentreteriamthey would entertain

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
euentretereiI will entertain
tuentreterásyou will entertain
vocêentreteráyou will entertain
ele/elaentreteráhe/she/it will entertain
nósentreteremoswe will entertain
vósentretereisyou (pl.) will entertain
vocêsentreterãoyou (pl.) will entertain
eles/elasentreterãothey will entertain

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 entretidoI have entertained
tutens entretidoyou have entertained
vocêtem entretidoyou have entertained
ele/elatem entretidohe/she/it has entertained
nóstemos entretidowe have entertained
vóstendes entretidoyou (pl.) have entertained
vocêstêm entretidoyou (pl.) have entertained
eles/elastêm entretidothey have entertained

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 entretidoI had entertained
tutinhas entretidoyou had entertained
vocêtinha entretidoyou had entertained
ele/elatinha entretidohe/she/it had entertained
nóstínhamos entretidowe had entertained
vóstínheis entretidoyou (pl.) had entertained
vocêstinham entretidoyou (pl.) had entertained
eles/elastinham entretidothey had entertained

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

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 entretidoI will have entertained
tuterás entretidoyou will have entertained
vocêterá entretidoyou will have entertained
ele/elaterá entretidohe/she/it will have entertained
nósteremos entretidowe will have entertained
vóstereis entretidoyou (pl.) will have entertained
vocêsterão entretidoyou (pl.) will have entertained
eles/elasterão entretidothey will have entertained

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
euentretenha
tuentretenhas
vocêentretenha
ele/elaentretenha
nósentretenhamos
vósentretenhais
vocêsentretenham
eles/elasentretenham

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
euentretivesse
tuentretivesses
vocêentretivesse
ele/elaentretivesse
nósentretivéssemos
vósentretivésseis
vocêsentretivessem
eles/elasentretivessem

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
tuentretém
vocêentretenha
ele/elaentretenha
nósentretenhamos
vósentretende
vocêsentretenham
eles/elasentretenham

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 entretenhas
vocênão entretenha
ele/elanão entretenha
nósnão entretenhamos
vósnão entretenhais
vocêsnão entretenham
eles/elasnão entretenham