haver — Portuguese conjugation

to have (auxiliary)

Frequency#4Irregular

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
euheiI have
tuhásyou have
vocêyou have
ele/elahe/she/it has
nóshavemoswe have
vóshaveisyou (pl.) have
vocêshãoyou (pl.) have
eles/elashãothey have

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
euhouveI had
tuhouvesteyou had
vocêhouveyou had
ele/elahouvehe/she/it had
nóshouvemoswe had
vóshouvestesyou (pl.) had
vocêshouveramyou (pl.) had
eles/elashouveramthey had

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
euhavia
tuhavias
vocêhavia
ele/elahavia
nóshavíamos
vóshavíeis
vocêshaviam
eles/elashaviam

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
euhaveriaI would have
tuhaveriasyou would have
vocêhaveriayou would have
ele/elahaveriahe/she/it would have
nóshaveríamoswe would have
vóshaveríeisyou (pl.) would have
vocêshaveriamyou (pl.) would have
eles/elashaveriamthey would have

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
euhavereiI will have
tuhaverásyou will have
vocêhaveráyou will have
ele/elahaveráhe/she/it will have
nóshaveremoswe will have
vóshavereisyou (pl.) will have
vocêshaverãoyou (pl.) will have
eles/elashaverãothey will have

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 havidoI have had
tutens havidoyou have had
vocêtem havidoyou have had
ele/elatem havidohe/she/it has had
nóstemos havidowe have had
vóstendes havidoyou (pl.) have had
vocêstêm havidoyou (pl.) have had
eles/elastêm havidothey have had

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 havidoI had had
tutinhas havidoyou had had
vocêtinha havidoyou had had
ele/elatinha havidohe/she/it had had
nóstínhamos havidowe had had
vóstínheis havidoyou (pl.) had had
vocêstinham havidoyou (pl.) had had
eles/elastinham havidothey had had

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

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 havidoI will have had
tuterás havidoyou will have had
vocêterá havidoyou will have had
ele/elaterá havidohe/she/it will have had
nósteremos havidowe will have had
vóstereis havidoyou (pl.) will have had
vocêsterão havidoyou (pl.) will have had
eles/elasterão havidothey will have had

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
euhaja
tuhajas
vocêhaja
ele/elahaja
nóshajamos
vóshajais
vocêshajam
eles/elashajam

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
euhouvesse
tuhouvesses
vocêhouvesse
ele/elahouvesse
nóshouvéssemos
vóshouvésseis
vocêshouvessem
eles/elashouvessem

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
tu
vocêhaja
ele/elahaja
nóshajamos
vóshavei
vocêshajam
eles/elashajam

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 hajas
vocênão haja
ele/elanão haja
nósnão hajamos
vósnão hajais
vocêsnão hajam
eles/elasnão hajam