exercer — Portuguese conjugation

to exercise

Frequency#378Regular

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
euexerçoI exercise
tuexercesyou exercise
vocêexerceyou exercise
ele/elaexercehe/she/it exercises
nósexercemoswe exercise
vósexerceisyou (pl.) exercise
vocêsexercemyou (pl.) exercise
eles/elasexercemthey exercise

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
euexerciI exercised
tuexercesteyou exercised
vocêexerceuyou exercised
ele/elaexerceuhe/she/it exercised
nósexercemoswe exercised
vósexercestesyou (pl.) exercised
vocêsexerceramyou (pl.) exercised
eles/elasexerceramthey exercised

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
euexercia
tuexercias
vocêexercia
ele/elaexercia
nósexercíamos
vósexercíeis
vocêsexerciam
eles/elasexerciam

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
euexerceriaI would exercise
tuexerceriasyou would exercise
vocêexerceriayou would exercise
ele/elaexerceriahe/she/it would exercise
nósexerceríamoswe would exercise
vósexerceríeisyou (pl.) would exercise
vocêsexerceriamyou (pl.) would exercise
eles/elasexerceriamthey would exercise

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
euexercereiI will exercise
tuexercerásyou will exercise
vocêexerceráyou will exercise
ele/elaexerceráhe/she/it will exercise
nósexerceremoswe will exercise
vósexercereisyou (pl.) will exercise
vocêsexercerãoyou (pl.) will exercise
eles/elasexercerãothey will exercise

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 exercidoI have exercised
tutens exercidoyou have exercised
vocêtem exercidoyou have exercised
ele/elatem exercidohe/she/it has exercised
nóstemos exercidowe have exercised
vóstendes exercidoyou (pl.) have exercised
vocêstêm exercidoyou (pl.) have exercised
eles/elastêm exercidothey have exercised

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 exercidoI had exercised
tutinhas exercidoyou had exercised
vocêtinha exercidoyou had exercised
ele/elatinha exercidohe/she/it had exercised
nóstínhamos exercidowe had exercised
vóstínheis exercidoyou (pl.) had exercised
vocêstinham exercidoyou (pl.) had exercised
eles/elastinham exercidothey had exercised

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

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 exercidoI will have exercised
tuterás exercidoyou will have exercised
vocêterá exercidoyou will have exercised
ele/elaterá exercidohe/she/it will have exercised
nósteremos exercidowe will have exercised
vóstereis exercidoyou (pl.) will have exercised
vocêsterão exercidoyou (pl.) will have exercised
eles/elasterão exercidothey will have exercised

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
euexerça
tuexerças
vocêexerça
ele/elaexerça
nósexerçamos
vósexerçais
vocêsexerçam
eles/elasexerçam

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
euexercesse
tuexercesses
vocêexercesse
ele/elaexercesse
nósexercêssemos
vósexercêsseis
vocêsexercessem
eles/elasexercessem

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
tuexerce
vocêexerça
ele/elaexerça
nósexerçamos
vósexercei
vocêsexerçam
eles/elasexerçam

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 exerças
vocênão exerça
ele/elanão exerça
nósnão exerçamos
vósnão exerçais
vocêsnão exerçam
eles/elasnão exerçam