legislar — Portuguese conjugation

to legislate

Frequency#880Irregular

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
eulegisloI legislate
tulegislasyou legislate
vocêlegislayou legislate
ele/elalegislahe/she/it legislates
nóslegislamoswe legislate
vóslegislaisyou (pl.) legislate
vocêslegislamyou (pl.) legislate
eles/elaslegislamthey legislate

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
eulegisleiI legislated
tulegislasteyou legislated
vocêlegislouyou legislated
ele/elalegislouhe/she/it legislated
nóslegislamoswe legislated
vóslegislastesyou (pl.) legislated
vocêslegislaramyou (pl.) legislated
eles/elaslegislaramthey legislated

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
eulegislava
tulegislavas
vocêlegislava
ele/elalegislava
nóslegislávamos
vóslegisláveis
vocêslegislavam
eles/elaslegislavam

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
eulegislariaI would legislate
tulegislariasyou would legislate
vocêlegislariayou would legislate
ele/elalegislariahe/she/it would legislate
nóslegislaríamoswe would legislate
vóslegislaríeisyou (pl.) would legislate
vocêslegislariamyou (pl.) would legislate
eles/elaslegislariamthey would legislate

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
eulegislareiI will legislate
tulegislarásyou will legislate
vocêlegislaráyou will legislate
ele/elalegislaráhe/she/it will legislate
nóslegislaremoswe will legislate
vóslegislareisyou (pl.) will legislate
vocêslegislarãoyou (pl.) will legislate
eles/elaslegislarãothey will legislate

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 legisladoI have legislated
tutens legisladoyou have legislated
vocêtem legisladoyou have legislated
ele/elatem legisladohe/she/it has legislated
nóstemos legisladowe have legislated
vóstendes legisladoyou (pl.) have legislated
vocêstêm legisladoyou (pl.) have legislated
eles/elastêm legisladothey have legislated

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 legisladoI had legislated
tutinhas legisladoyou had legislated
vocêtinha legisladoyou had legislated
ele/elatinha legisladohe/she/it had legislated
nóstínhamos legisladowe had legislated
vóstínheis legisladoyou (pl.) had legislated
vocêstinham legisladoyou (pl.) had legislated
eles/elastinham legisladothey had legislated

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

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 legisladoI will have legislated
tuterás legisladoyou will have legislated
vocêterá legisladoyou will have legislated
ele/elaterá legisladohe/she/it will have legislated
nósteremos legisladowe will have legislated
vóstereis legisladoyou (pl.) will have legislated
vocêsterão legisladoyou (pl.) will have legislated
eles/elasterão legisladothey will have legislated

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
eulegisle
tulegisles
vocêlegisle
ele/elalegisle
nóslegislemos
vóslegisleis
vocêslegislem
eles/elaslegislem

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
eulegislasse
tulegislasses
vocêlegislasse
ele/elalegislasse
nóslegislássemos
vóslegislásseis
vocêslegislassem
eles/elaslegislassem

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
tulegisla
vocêlegisle
ele/elalegisle
nóslegislemos
vóslegislai
vocêslegislem
eles/elaslegislem

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 legisles
vocênão legisle
ele/elanão legisle
nósnão legislemos
vósnão legisleis
vocêsnão legislem
eles/elasnão legislem