especular — Portuguese conjugation

to speculate

Frequency#978Irregular

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
euespeculoI speculate
tuespeculasyou speculate
vocêespeculayou speculate
ele/elaespeculahe/she/it speculates
nósespeculamoswe speculate
vósespeculaisyou (pl.) speculate
vocêsespeculamyou (pl.) speculate
eles/elasespeculamthey speculate

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
euespeculeiI speculated
tuespeculasteyou speculated
vocêespeculouyou speculated
ele/elaespeculouhe/she/it speculated
nósespeculamoswe speculated
vósespeculastesyou (pl.) speculated
vocêsespecularamyou (pl.) speculated
eles/elasespecularamthey speculated

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
euespeculava
tuespeculavas
vocêespeculava
ele/elaespeculava
nósespeculávamos
vósespeculáveis
vocêsespeculavam
eles/elasespeculavam

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
euespeculariaI would speculate
tuespeculariasyou would speculate
vocêespeculariayou would speculate
ele/elaespeculariahe/she/it would speculate
nósespecularíamoswe would speculate
vósespecularíeisyou (pl.) would speculate
vocêsespeculariamyou (pl.) would speculate
eles/elasespeculariamthey would speculate

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
euespeculareiI will speculate
tuespecularásyou will speculate
vocêespecularáyou will speculate
ele/elaespecularáhe/she/it will speculate
nósespecularemoswe will speculate
vósespeculareisyou (pl.) will speculate
vocêsespecularãoyou (pl.) will speculate
eles/elasespecularãothey will speculate

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 especuladoI have speculated
tutens especuladoyou have speculated
vocêtem especuladoyou have speculated
ele/elatem especuladohe/she/it has speculated
nóstemos especuladowe have speculated
vóstendes especuladoyou (pl.) have speculated
vocêstêm especuladoyou (pl.) have speculated
eles/elastêm especuladothey have speculated

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 especuladoI had speculated
tutinhas especuladoyou had speculated
vocêtinha especuladoyou had speculated
ele/elatinha especuladohe/she/it had speculated
nóstínhamos especuladowe had speculated
vóstínheis especuladoyou (pl.) had speculated
vocêstinham especuladoyou (pl.) had speculated
eles/elastinham especuladothey had speculated

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

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 especuladoI will have speculated
tuterás especuladoyou will have speculated
vocêterá especuladoyou will have speculated
ele/elaterá especuladohe/she/it will have speculated
nósteremos especuladowe will have speculated
vóstereis especuladoyou (pl.) will have speculated
vocêsterão especuladoyou (pl.) will have speculated
eles/elasterão especuladothey will have speculated

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
euespecule
tuespecules
vocêespecule
ele/elaespecule
nósespeculemos
vósespeculeis
vocêsespeculem
eles/elasespeculem

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
euespeculasse
tuespeculasses
vocêespeculasse
ele/elaespeculasse
nósespeculássemos
vósespeculásseis
vocêsespeculassem
eles/elasespeculassem

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
tuespecula
vocêespecule
ele/elaespecule
nósespeculemos
vósespeculai
vocêsespeculem
eles/elasespeculem

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 especules
vocênão especule
ele/elanão especule
nósnão especulemos
vósnão especuleis
vocêsnão especulem
eles/elasnão especulem