meter — Portuguese conjugation

to put

Frequency#264Regular

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
eumetoI put
tumetesyou put
vocêmeteyou put
ele/elametehe/she/it puts
nósmetemoswe put
vósmeteisyou (pl.) put
vocêsmetemyou (pl.) put
eles/elasmetemthey put

Preterite (Pretérito perfeito simples) Regular

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
eumetiI put
tumetesteyou put
vocêmeteuyou put
ele/elameteuhe/she/it put
nósmetemoswe put
vósmetestesyou (pl.) put
vocêsmeteramyou (pl.) put
eles/elasmeteramthey put

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
eumetia
tumetias
vocêmetia
ele/elametia
nósmetíamos
vósmetíeis
vocêsmetiam
eles/elasmetiam

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
eumeteriaI would put
tumeteriasyou would put
vocêmeteriayou would put
ele/elameteriahe/she/it would put
nósmeteríamoswe would put
vósmeteríeisyou (pl.) would put
vocêsmeteriamyou (pl.) would put
eles/elasmeteriamthey would put

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
eumetereiI will put
tumeterásyou will put
vocêmeteráyou will put
ele/elameteráhe/she/it will put
nósmeteremoswe will put
vósmetereisyou (pl.) will put
vocêsmeterãoyou (pl.) will put
eles/elasmeterãothey will put

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 metidoI have put
tutens metidoyou have put
vocêtem metidoyou have put
ele/elatem metidohe/she/it has put
nóstemos metidowe have put
vóstendes metidoyou (pl.) have put
vocêstêm metidoyou (pl.) have put
eles/elastêm metidothey have put

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 metidoI had put
tutinhas metidoyou had put
vocêtinha metidoyou had put
ele/elatinha metidohe/she/it had put
nóstínhamos metidowe had put
vóstínheis metidoyou (pl.) had put
vocêstinham metidoyou (pl.) had put
eles/elastinham metidothey had put

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

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 metidoI will have put
tuterás metidoyou will have put
vocêterá metidoyou will have put
ele/elaterá metidohe/she/it will have put
nósteremos metidowe will have put
vóstereis metidoyou (pl.) will have put
vocêsterão metidoyou (pl.) will have put
eles/elasterão metidothey will have put

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
eumeta
tumetas
vocêmeta
ele/elameta
nósmetamos
vósmetais
vocêsmetam
eles/elasmetam

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
eumetesse
tumetesses
vocêmetesse
ele/elametesse
nósmetêssemos
vósmetêsseis
vocêsmetessem
eles/elasmetessem

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
tumete
vocêmeta
ele/elameta
nósmetamos
vósmetei
vocêsmetam
eles/elasmetam

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 metas
vocênão meta
ele/elanão meta
nósnão metamos
vósnão metais
vocêsnão metam
eles/elasnão metam