escalar — Portuguese conjugation

to climb

Frequency#974Irregular

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
euescaloI climb
tuescalasyou climb
vocêescalayou climb
ele/elaescalahe/she/it climbs
nósescalamoswe climb
vósescalaisyou (pl.) climb
vocêsescalamyou (pl.) climb
eles/elasescalamthey climb

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
euescaleiI climbed
tuescalasteyou climbed
vocêescalouyou climbed
ele/elaescalouhe/she/it climbed
nósescalamoswe climbed
vósescalastesyou (pl.) climbed
vocêsescalaramyou (pl.) climbed
eles/elasescalaramthey climbed

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
euescalava
tuescalavas
vocêescalava
ele/elaescalava
nósescalávamos
vósescaláveis
vocêsescalavam
eles/elasescalavam

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
euescalariaI would climb
tuescalariasyou would climb
vocêescalariayou would climb
ele/elaescalariahe/she/it would climb
nósescalaríamoswe would climb
vósescalaríeisyou (pl.) would climb
vocêsescalariamyou (pl.) would climb
eles/elasescalariamthey would climb

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
euescalareiI will climb
tuescalarásyou will climb
vocêescalaráyou will climb
ele/elaescalaráhe/she/it will climb
nósescalaremoswe will climb
vósescalareisyou (pl.) will climb
vocêsescalarãoyou (pl.) will climb
eles/elasescalarãothey will climb

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 escaladoI have climbed
tutens escaladoyou have climbed
vocêtem escaladoyou have climbed
ele/elatem escaladohe/she/it has climbed
nóstemos escaladowe have climbed
vóstendes escaladoyou (pl.) have climbed
vocêstêm escaladoyou (pl.) have climbed
eles/elastêm escaladothey have climbed

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 escaladoI had climbed
tutinhas escaladoyou had climbed
vocêtinha escaladoyou had climbed
ele/elatinha escaladohe/she/it had climbed
nóstínhamos escaladowe had climbed
vóstínheis escaladoyou (pl.) had climbed
vocêstinham escaladoyou (pl.) had climbed
eles/elastinham escaladothey had climbed

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

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 escaladoI will have climbed
tuterás escaladoyou will have climbed
vocêterá escaladoyou will have climbed
ele/elaterá escaladohe/she/it will have climbed
nósteremos escaladowe will have climbed
vóstereis escaladoyou (pl.) will have climbed
vocêsterão escaladoyou (pl.) will have climbed
eles/elasterão escaladothey will have climbed

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
euescale
tuescales
vocêescale
ele/elaescale
nósescalemos
vósescaleis
vocêsescalem
eles/elasescalem

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
euescalasse
tuescalasses
vocêescalasse
ele/elaescalasse
nósescalássemos
vósescalásseis
vocêsescalassem
eles/elasescalassem

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
tuescala
vocêescale
ele/elaescale
nósescalemos
vósescalai
vocêsescalem
eles/elasescalem

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 escales
vocênão escale
ele/elanão escale
nósnão escalemos
vósnão escaleis
vocêsnão escalem
eles/elasnão escalem