improvisar — Portuguese conjugation

to improvise

Frequency#557Irregular

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
euimprovisoI improvise
tuimprovisasyou improvise
vocêimprovisayou improvise
ele/elaimprovisahe/she/it improvises
nósimprovisamoswe improvise
vósimprovisaisyou (pl.) improvise
vocêsimprovisamyou (pl.) improvise
eles/elasimprovisamthey improvise

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
euimproviseiI improvised
tuimprovisasteyou improvised
vocêimprovisouyou improvised
ele/elaimprovisouhe/she/it improvised
nósimprovisamoswe improvised
vósimprovisastesyou (pl.) improvised
vocêsimprovisaramyou (pl.) improvised
eles/elasimprovisaramthey improvised

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
euimprovisava
tuimprovisavas
vocêimprovisava
ele/elaimprovisava
nósimprovisávamos
vósimprovisáveis
vocêsimprovisavam
eles/elasimprovisavam

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
euimprovisariaI would improvise
tuimprovisariasyou would improvise
vocêimprovisariayou would improvise
ele/elaimprovisariahe/she/it would improvise
nósimprovisaríamoswe would improvise
vósimprovisaríeisyou (pl.) would improvise
vocêsimprovisariamyou (pl.) would improvise
eles/elasimprovisariamthey would improvise

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
euimprovisareiI will improvise
tuimprovisarásyou will improvise
vocêimprovisaráyou will improvise
ele/elaimprovisaráhe/she/it will improvise
nósimprovisaremoswe will improvise
vósimprovisareisyou (pl.) will improvise
vocêsimprovisarãoyou (pl.) will improvise
eles/elasimprovisarãothey will improvise

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 improvisadoI have improvised
tutens improvisadoyou have improvised
vocêtem improvisadoyou have improvised
ele/elatem improvisadohe/she/it has improvised
nóstemos improvisadowe have improvised
vóstendes improvisadoyou (pl.) have improvised
vocêstêm improvisadoyou (pl.) have improvised
eles/elastêm improvisadothey have improvised

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 improvisadoI had improvised
tutinhas improvisadoyou had improvised
vocêtinha improvisadoyou had improvised
ele/elatinha improvisadohe/she/it had improvised
nóstínhamos improvisadowe had improvised
vóstínheis improvisadoyou (pl.) had improvised
vocêstinham improvisadoyou (pl.) had improvised
eles/elastinham improvisadothey had improvised

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

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 improvisadoI will have improvised
tuterás improvisadoyou will have improvised
vocêterá improvisadoyou will have improvised
ele/elaterá improvisadohe/she/it will have improvised
nósteremos improvisadowe will have improvised
vóstereis improvisadoyou (pl.) will have improvised
vocêsterão improvisadoyou (pl.) will have improvised
eles/elasterão improvisadothey will have improvised

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
euimprovise
tuimprovises
vocêimprovise
ele/elaimprovise
nósimprovisemos
vósimproviseis
vocêsimprovisem
eles/elasimprovisem

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
euimprovisasse
tuimprovisasses
vocêimprovisasse
ele/elaimprovisasse
nósimprovisássemos
vósimprovisásseis
vocêsimprovisassem
eles/elasimprovisassem

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
tuimprovisa
vocêimprovise
ele/elaimprovise
nósimprovisemos
vósimprovisai
vocêsimprovisem
eles/elasimprovisem

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 improvises
vocênão improvise
ele/elanão improvise
nósnão improvisemos
vósnão improviseis
vocêsnão improvisem
eles/elasnão improvisem