interceptar — Portuguese conjugation

to intercept (catch something before it reaches its target)

Frequency#1171IrregularReflexiveinterceptar-se — to intercept oneself

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
euinterceptoI intercept
tuinterceptasyou intercept
vocêinterceptayou intercept
ele/elainterceptahe/she/it intercepts
nósinterceptamoswe intercept
vósinterceptaisyou (pl.) intercept
vocêsinterceptamyou (pl.) intercept
eles/elasinterceptamthey intercept

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
euintercepteiI intercepted
tuinterceptasteyou intercepted
vocêinterceptouyou intercepted
ele/elainterceptouhe/she/it intercepted
nósinterceptamoswe intercepted
vósinterceptastesyou (pl.) intercepted
vocêsinterceptaramyou (pl.) intercepted
eles/elasinterceptaramthey intercepted

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
euinterceptava
tuinterceptavas
vocêinterceptava
ele/elainterceptava
nósinterceptávamos
vósinterceptáveis
vocêsinterceptavam
eles/elasinterceptavam

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
euinterceptariaI would intercept
tuinterceptariasyou would intercept
vocêinterceptariayou would intercept
ele/elainterceptariahe/she/it would intercept
nósinterceptaríamoswe would intercept
vósinterceptaríeisyou (pl.) would intercept
vocêsinterceptariamyou (pl.) would intercept
eles/elasinterceptariamthey would intercept

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
euinterceptareiI will intercept
tuinterceptarásyou will intercept
vocêinterceptaráyou will intercept
ele/elainterceptaráhe/she/it will intercept
nósinterceptaremoswe will intercept
vósinterceptareisyou (pl.) will intercept
vocêsinterceptarãoyou (pl.) will intercept
eles/elasinterceptarãothey will intercept

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 interceptadoI have intercepted
tutens interceptadoyou have intercepted
vocêtem interceptadoyou have intercepted
ele/elatem interceptadohe/she/it has intercepted
nóstemos interceptadowe have intercepted
vóstendes interceptadoyou (pl.) have intercepted
vocêstêm interceptadoyou (pl.) have intercepted
eles/elastêm interceptadothey have intercepted

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 interceptadoI had intercepted
tutinhas interceptadoyou had intercepted
vocêtinha interceptadoyou had intercepted
ele/elatinha interceptadohe/she/it had intercepted
nóstínhamos interceptadowe had intercepted
vóstínheis interceptadoyou (pl.) had intercepted
vocêstinham interceptadoyou (pl.) had intercepted
eles/elastinham interceptadothey had intercepted

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

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 interceptadoI will have intercepted
tuterás interceptadoyou will have intercepted
vocêterá interceptadoyou will have intercepted
ele/elaterá interceptadohe/she/it will have intercepted
nósteremos interceptadowe will have intercepted
vóstereis interceptadoyou (pl.) will have intercepted
vocêsterão interceptadoyou (pl.) will have intercepted
eles/elasterão interceptadothey will have intercepted

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
euintercepte
tuinterceptes
vocêintercepte
ele/elaintercepte
nósinterceptemos
vósintercepteis
vocêsinterceptem
eles/elasinterceptem

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
euinterceptasse
tuinterceptasses
vocêinterceptasse
ele/elainterceptasse
nósinterceptássemos
vósinterceptásseis
vocêsinterceptassem
eles/elasinterceptassem

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
tuintercepta
vocêintercepte
ele/elaintercepte
nósinterceptemos
vósinterceptai
vocêsinterceptem
eles/elasinterceptem

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 interceptes
vocênão intercepte
ele/elanão intercepte
nósnão interceptemos
vósnão intercepteis
vocêsnão interceptem
eles/elasnão interceptem