ocorrer — Portuguese conjugation

to occur

Frequency#203Regular

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
euocorroI occur
tuocorresyou occur
vocêocorreyou occur
ele/elaocorrehe/she/it occurs
nósocorremoswe occur
vósocorreisyou (pl.) occur
vocêsocorremyou (pl.) occur
eles/elasocorremthey occur

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
euocorriI occurred
tuocorresteyou occurred
vocêocorreuyou occurred
ele/elaocorreuhe/she/it occurred
nósocorremoswe occurred
vósocorrestesyou (pl.) occurred
vocêsocorreramyou (pl.) occurred
eles/elasocorreramthey occurred

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
euocorria
tuocorrias
vocêocorria
ele/elaocorria
nósocorríamos
vósocorríeis
vocêsocorriam
eles/elasocorriam

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
euocorreriaI would occur
tuocorreriasyou would occur
vocêocorreriayou would occur
ele/elaocorreriahe/she/it would occur
nósocorreríamoswe would occur
vósocorreríeisyou (pl.) would occur
vocêsocorreriamyou (pl.) would occur
eles/elasocorreriamthey would occur

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
euocorrereiI will occur
tuocorrerásyou will occur
vocêocorreráyou will occur
ele/elaocorreráhe/she/it will occur
nósocorreremoswe will occur
vósocorrereisyou (pl.) will occur
vocêsocorrerãoyou (pl.) will occur
eles/elasocorrerãothey will occur

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 ocorridoI have occurred
tutens ocorridoyou have occurred
vocêtem ocorridoyou have occurred
ele/elatem ocorridohe/she/it has occurred
nóstemos ocorridowe have occurred
vóstendes ocorridoyou (pl.) have occurred
vocêstêm ocorridoyou (pl.) have occurred
eles/elastêm ocorridothey have occurred

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 ocorridoI had occurred
tutinhas ocorridoyou had occurred
vocêtinha ocorridoyou had occurred
ele/elatinha ocorridohe/she/it had occurred
nóstínhamos ocorridowe had occurred
vóstínheis ocorridoyou (pl.) had occurred
vocêstinham ocorridoyou (pl.) had occurred
eles/elastinham ocorridothey had occurred

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

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 ocorridoI will have occurred
tuterás ocorridoyou will have occurred
vocêterá ocorridoyou will have occurred
ele/elaterá ocorridohe/she/it will have occurred
nósteremos ocorridowe will have occurred
vóstereis ocorridoyou (pl.) will have occurred
vocêsterão ocorridoyou (pl.) will have occurred
eles/elasterão ocorridothey will have occurred

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
euocorra
tuocorras
vocêocorra
ele/elaocorra
nósocorramos
vósocorrais
vocêsocorram
eles/elasocorram

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
euocorresse
tuocorresses
vocêocorresse
ele/elaocorresse
nósocorrêssemos
vósocorrêsseis
vocêsocorressem
eles/elasocorressem

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
tuocorre
vocêocorra
ele/elaocorra
nósocorramos
vósocorrei
vocêsocorram
eles/elasocorram

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 ocorras
vocênão ocorra
ele/elanão ocorra
nósnão ocorramos
vósnão ocorrais
vocêsnão ocorram
eles/elasnão ocorram