limpar — Portuguese conjugation

to clean

Frequency#125Irregular

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
eulimpoI clean
tulimpasyou clean
vocêlimpayou clean
ele/elalimpahe/she/it cleans
nóslimpamoswe clean
vóslimpaisyou (pl.) clean
vocêslimpamyou (pl.) clean
eles/elaslimpamthey clean

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
eulimpeiI cleaned
tulimpasteyou cleaned
vocêlimpouyou cleaned
ele/elalimpouhe/she/it cleaned
nóslimpamoswe cleaned
vóslimpastesyou (pl.) cleaned
vocêslimparamyou (pl.) cleaned
eles/elaslimparamthey cleaned

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
eulimpava
tulimpavas
vocêlimpava
ele/elalimpava
nóslimpávamos
vóslimpáveis
vocêslimpavam
eles/elaslimpavam

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
eulimpariaI would clean
tulimpariasyou would clean
vocêlimpariayou would clean
ele/elalimpariahe/she/it would clean
nóslimparíamoswe would clean
vóslimparíeisyou (pl.) would clean
vocêslimpariamyou (pl.) would clean
eles/elaslimpariamthey would clean

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
eulimpareiI will clean
tulimparásyou will clean
vocêlimparáyou will clean
ele/elalimparáhe/she/it will clean
nóslimparemoswe will clean
vóslimpareisyou (pl.) will clean
vocêslimparãoyou (pl.) will clean
eles/elaslimparãothey will clean

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 limpadoI have cleaned
tutens limpadoyou have cleaned
vocêtem limpadoyou have cleaned
ele/elatem limpadohe/she/it has cleaned
nóstemos limpadowe have cleaned
vóstendes limpadoyou (pl.) have cleaned
vocêstêm limpadoyou (pl.) have cleaned
eles/elastêm limpadothey have cleaned

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 limpadoI had cleaned
tutinhas limpadoyou had cleaned
vocêtinha limpadoyou had cleaned
ele/elatinha limpadohe/she/it had cleaned
nóstínhamos limpadowe had cleaned
vóstínheis limpadoyou (pl.) had cleaned
vocêstinham limpadoyou (pl.) had cleaned
eles/elastinham limpadothey had cleaned

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

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 limpadoI will have cleaned
tuterás limpadoyou will have cleaned
vocêterá limpadoyou will have cleaned
ele/elaterá limpadohe/she/it will have cleaned
nósteremos limpadowe will have cleaned
vóstereis limpadoyou (pl.) will have cleaned
vocêsterão limpadoyou (pl.) will have cleaned
eles/elasterão limpadothey will have cleaned

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
eulimpe
tulimpes
vocêlimpe
ele/elalimpe
nóslimpemos
vóslimpeis
vocêslimpem
eles/elaslimpem

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
eulimpasse
tulimpasses
vocêlimpasse
ele/elalimpasse
nóslimpássemos
vóslimpásseis
vocêslimpassem
eles/elaslimpassem

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
tulimpa
vocêlimpe
ele/elalimpe
nóslimpemos
vóslimpai
vocêslimpem
eles/elaslimpem

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 limpes
vocênão limpe
ele/elanão limpe
nósnão limpemos
vósnão limpeis
vocêsnão limpem
eles/elasnão limpem