pescar — Portuguese conjugation

to fish

Frequency#258Irregular

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
eupescoI fish
tupescasyou fish
vocêpescayou fish
ele/elapescahe/she/it fishes
nóspescamoswe fish
vóspescaisyou (pl.) fish
vocêspescamyou (pl.) fish
eles/elaspescamthey fish

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
eupesqueiI fished
tupescasteyou fished
vocêpescouyou fished
ele/elapescouhe/she/it fished
nóspescamoswe fished
vóspescastesyou (pl.) fished
vocêspescaramyou (pl.) fished
eles/elaspescaramthey fished

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
eupescava
tupescavas
vocêpescava
ele/elapescava
nóspescávamos
vóspescáveis
vocêspescavam
eles/elaspescavam

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
eupescariaI would fish
tupescariasyou would fish
vocêpescariayou would fish
ele/elapescariahe/she/it would fish
nóspescaríamoswe would fish
vóspescaríeisyou (pl.) would fish
vocêspescariamyou (pl.) would fish
eles/elaspescariamthey would fish

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
eupescareiI will fish
tupescarásyou will fish
vocêpescaráyou will fish
ele/elapescaráhe/she/it will fish
nóspescaremoswe will fish
vóspescareisyou (pl.) will fish
vocêspescarãoyou (pl.) will fish
eles/elaspescarãothey will fish

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 pescadoI have fished
tutens pescadoyou have fished
vocêtem pescadoyou have fished
ele/elatem pescadohe/she/it has fished
nóstemos pescadowe have fished
vóstendes pescadoyou (pl.) have fished
vocêstêm pescadoyou (pl.) have fished
eles/elastêm pescadothey have fished

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 pescadoI had fished
tutinhas pescadoyou had fished
vocêtinha pescadoyou had fished
ele/elatinha pescadohe/she/it had fished
nóstínhamos pescadowe had fished
vóstínheis pescadoyou (pl.) had fished
vocêstinham pescadoyou (pl.) had fished
eles/elastinham pescadothey had fished

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

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 pescadoI will have fished
tuterás pescadoyou will have fished
vocêterá pescadoyou will have fished
ele/elaterá pescadohe/she/it will have fished
nósteremos pescadowe will have fished
vóstereis pescadoyou (pl.) will have fished
vocêsterão pescadoyou (pl.) will have fished
eles/elasterão pescadothey will have fished

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
eupesque
tupesques
vocêpesque
ele/elapesque
nóspesquemos
vóspesqueis
vocêspesquem
eles/elaspesquem

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
eupescasse
tupescasses
vocêpescasse
ele/elapescasse
nóspescássemos
vóspescásseis
vocêspescassem
eles/elaspescassem

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
tupesca
vocêpesque
ele/elapesque
nóspesquemos
vóspescai
vocêspesquem
eles/elaspesquem

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 pesques
vocênão pesque
ele/elanão pesque
nósnão pesquemos
vósnão pesqueis
vocêsnão pesquem
eles/elasnão pesquem