participar — Portuguese conjugation

to participate

Frequency#250IrregularReflexiveparticipar-se — to participate 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
euparticipoI participate
tuparticipasyou participate
vocêparticipayou participate
ele/elaparticipahe/she/it participates
nósparticipamoswe participate
vósparticipaisyou (pl.) participate
vocêsparticipamyou (pl.) participate
eles/elasparticipamthey participate

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
euparticipeiI participated
tuparticipasteyou participated
vocêparticipouyou participated
ele/elaparticipouhe/she/it participated
nósparticipamoswe participated
vósparticipastesyou (pl.) participated
vocêsparticiparamyou (pl.) participated
eles/elasparticiparamthey participated

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
euparticipava
tuparticipavas
vocêparticipava
ele/elaparticipava
nósparticipávamos
vósparticipáveis
vocêsparticipavam
eles/elasparticipavam

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
euparticipariaI would participate
tuparticipariasyou would participate
vocêparticipariayou would participate
ele/elaparticipariahe/she/it would participate
nósparticiparíamoswe would participate
vósparticiparíeisyou (pl.) would participate
vocêsparticipariamyou (pl.) would participate
eles/elasparticipariamthey would participate

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
euparticipareiI will participate
tuparticiparásyou will participate
vocêparticiparáyou will participate
ele/elaparticiparáhe/she/it will participate
nósparticiparemoswe will participate
vósparticipareisyou (pl.) will participate
vocêsparticiparãoyou (pl.) will participate
eles/elasparticiparãothey will participate

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 participadoI have participated
tutens participadoyou have participated
vocêtem participadoyou have participated
ele/elatem participadohe/she/it has participated
nóstemos participadowe have participated
vóstendes participadoyou (pl.) have participated
vocêstêm participadoyou (pl.) have participated
eles/elastêm participadothey have participated

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 participadoI had participated
tutinhas participadoyou had participated
vocêtinha participadoyou had participated
ele/elatinha participadohe/she/it had participated
nóstínhamos participadowe had participated
vóstínheis participadoyou (pl.) had participated
vocêstinham participadoyou (pl.) had participated
eles/elastinham participadothey had participated

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

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 participadoI will have participated
tuterás participadoyou will have participated
vocêterá participadoyou will have participated
ele/elaterá participadohe/she/it will have participated
nósteremos participadowe will have participated
vóstereis participadoyou (pl.) will have participated
vocêsterão participadoyou (pl.) will have participated
eles/elasterão participadothey will have participated

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
euparticipe
tuparticipes
vocêparticipe
ele/elaparticipe
nósparticipemos
vósparticipeis
vocêsparticipem
eles/elasparticipem

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
euparticipasse
tuparticipasses
vocêparticipasse
ele/elaparticipasse
nósparticipássemos
vósparticipásseis
vocêsparticipassem
eles/elasparticipassem

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
tuparticipa
vocêparticipe
ele/elaparticipe
nósparticipemos
vósparticipai
vocêsparticipem
eles/elasparticipem

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 participes
vocênão participe
ele/elanão participe
nósnão participemos
vósnão participeis
vocêsnão participem
eles/elasnão participem