falir — Portuguese conjugation
to fail
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| nós | falimos | we fail |
| vós | falis | you (pl.) fail |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | fali | I failed |
| tu | faliste | you failed |
| você | faliu | you failed |
| ele/ela | faliu | he/she/it failed |
| nós | falimos | we failed |
| vós | falistes | you (pl.) failed |
| vocês | faliram | you (pl.) failed |
| eles/elas | faliram | they failed |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | falia |
| tu | falias |
| você | falia |
| ele/ela | falia |
| nós | falíamos |
| vós | falíeis |
| vocês | faliam |
| eles/elas | faliam |
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?
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | faliria | I would fail |
| tu | falirias | you would fail |
| você | faliria | you would fail |
| ele/ela | faliria | he/she/it would fail |
| nós | faliríamos | we would fail |
| vós | faliríeis | you (pl.) would fail |
| vocês | faliriam | you (pl.) would fail |
| eles/elas | faliriam | they would fail |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | falirei | I will fail |
| tu | falirás | you will fail |
| você | falirá | you will fail |
| ele/ela | falirá | he/she/it will fail |
| nós | faliremos | we will fail |
| vós | falireis | you (pl.) will fail |
| vocês | falirão | you (pl.) will fail |
| eles/elas | falirão | they will fail |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | tenho falido | I have failed |
| tu | tens falido | you have failed |
| você | tem falido | you have failed |
| ele/ela | tem falido | he/she/it has failed |
| nós | temos falido | we have failed |
| vós | tendes falido | you (pl.) have failed |
| vocês | têm falido | you (pl.) have failed |
| eles/elas | têm falido | they have failed |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | tinha falido | I had failed |
| tu | tinhas falido | you had failed |
| você | tinha falido | you had failed |
| ele/ela | tinha falido | he/she/it had failed |
| nós | tínhamos falido | we had failed |
| vós | tínheis falido | you (pl.) had failed |
| vocês | tinham falido | you (pl.) had failed |
| eles/elas | tinham falido | they had failed |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | teria falido |
| tu | terias falido |
| você | teria falido |
| ele/ela | teria falido |
| nós | teríamos falido |
| vós | teríeis falido |
| vocês | teriam falido |
| eles/elas | teriam falido |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | terei falido | I will have failed |
| tu | terás falido | you will have failed |
| você | terá falido | you will have failed |
| ele/ela | terá falido | he/she/it will have failed |
| nós | teremos falido | we will have failed |
| vós | tereis falido | you (pl.) will have failed |
| vocês | terão falido | you (pl.) will have failed |
| eles/elas | terão falido | they will have failed |
Subjunctive
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | falisse |
| tu | falisses |
| você | falisse |
| ele/ela | falisse |
| nós | falíssemos |
| vós | falísseis |
| vocês | falissem |
| eles/elas | falissem |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| vós | fali |