olhar — Portuguese conjugation

to look

Frequency#33RegularReflexiveolhar-se — to look at 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
euolhoI look
tuolhasyou look
vocêolhayou look
ele/elaolhahe/she/it looks
nósolhamoswe look
vósolhaisyou (pl.) look
vocêsolhamyou (pl.) look
eles/elasolhamthey look

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
euolheiI looked
tuolhasteyou looked
vocêolhouyou looked
ele/elaolhouhe/she/it looked
nósolhamoswe looked
vósolhastesyou (pl.) looked
vocêsolharamyou (pl.) looked
eles/elasolharamthey looked

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
euolhava
tuolhavas
vocêolhava
ele/elaolhava
nósolhávamos
vósolháveis
vocêsolhavam
eles/elasolhavam

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
euolhariaI would look
tuolhariasyou would look
vocêolhariayou would look
ele/elaolhariahe/she/it would look
nósolharíamoswe would look
vósolharíeisyou (pl.) would look
vocêsolhariamyou (pl.) would look
eles/elasolhariamthey would look

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
euolhareiI will look
tuolharásyou will look
vocêolharáyou will look
ele/elaolharáhe/she/it will look
nósolharemoswe will look
vósolhareisyou (pl.) will look
vocêsolharãoyou (pl.) will look
eles/elasolharãothey will look

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 olhadoI have looked
tutens olhadoyou have looked
vocêtem olhadoyou have looked
ele/elatem olhadohe/she/it has looked
nóstemos olhadowe have looked
vóstendes olhadoyou (pl.) have looked
vocêstêm olhadoyou (pl.) have looked
eles/elastêm olhadothey have looked

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 olhadoI had looked
tutinhas olhadoyou had looked
vocêtinha olhadoyou had looked
ele/elatinha olhadohe/she/it had looked
nóstínhamos olhadowe had looked
vóstínheis olhadoyou (pl.) had looked
vocêstinham olhadoyou (pl.) had looked
eles/elastinham olhadothey had looked

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

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 olhadoI will have looked
tuterás olhadoyou will have looked
vocêterá olhadoyou will have looked
ele/elaterá olhadohe/she/it will have looked
nósteremos olhadowe will have looked
vóstereis olhadoyou (pl.) will have looked
vocêsterão olhadoyou (pl.) will have looked
eles/elasterão olhadothey will have looked

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
euolhe
tuolhes
vocêolhe
ele/elaolhe
nósolhemos
vósolheis
vocêsolhem
eles/elasolhem

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
euolhasse
tuolhasses
vocêolhasse
ele/elaolhasse
nósolhássemos
vósolhásseis
vocêsolhassem
eles/elasolhassem

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
tuolha
vocêolhe
ele/elaolhe
nósolhemos
vósolhai
vocêsolhem
eles/elasolhem

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 olhes
vocênão olhe
ele/elanão olhe
nósnão olhemos
vósnão olheis
vocêsnão olhem
eles/elasnão olhem