polir — Portuguese conjugation

to polish

Frequency#421Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Irregular

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
eupuloI polish
tupulesyou polish
vocêpuleyou polish
ele/elapulehe/she/it polishes
nóspolimoswe polish
vóspolisyou (pl.) polish
vocêspulemyou (pl.) polish
eles/elaspulemthey polish

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
eupoliI polished
tupolisteyou polished
vocêpoliuyou polished
ele/elapoliuhe/she/it polished
nóspolimoswe polished
vóspolistesyou (pl.) polished
vocêspoliramyou (pl.) polished
eles/elaspoliramthey polished

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
eupolia
tupolias
vocêpolia
ele/elapolia
nóspolíamos
vóspolíeis
vocêspoliam
eles/elaspoliam

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
eupoliriaI would polish
tupoliriasyou would polish
vocêpoliriayou would polish
ele/elapoliriahe/she/it would polish
nóspoliríamoswe would polish
vóspoliríeisyou (pl.) would polish
vocêspoliriamyou (pl.) would polish
eles/elaspoliriamthey would polish

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
eupolireiI will polish
tupolirásyou will polish
vocêpoliráyou will polish
ele/elapoliráhe/she/it will polish
nóspoliremoswe will polish
vóspolireisyou (pl.) will polish
vocêspolirãoyou (pl.) will polish
eles/elaspolirãothey will polish

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 polidoI have polished
tutens polidoyou have polished
vocêtem polidoyou have polished
ele/elatem polidohe/she/it has polished
nóstemos polidowe have polished
vóstendes polidoyou (pl.) have polished
vocêstêm polidoyou (pl.) have polished
eles/elastêm polidothey have polished

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 polidoI had polished
tutinhas polidoyou had polished
vocêtinha polidoyou had polished
ele/elatinha polidohe/she/it had polished
nóstínhamos polidowe had polished
vóstínheis polidoyou (pl.) had polished
vocêstinham polidoyou (pl.) had polished
eles/elastinham polidothey had polished

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

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 polidoI will have polished
tuterás polidoyou will have polished
vocêterá polidoyou will have polished
ele/elaterá polidohe/she/it will have polished
nósteremos polidowe will have polished
vóstereis polidoyou (pl.) will have polished
vocêsterão polidoyou (pl.) will have polished
eles/elasterão polidothey will have polished

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
eupula
tupulas
vocêpula
ele/elapula
nóspulamos
vóspulais
vocêspulam
eles/elaspulam

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
eupolisse
tupolisses
vocêpolisse
ele/elapolisse
nóspolíssemos
vóspolísseis
vocêspolissem
eles/elaspolissem

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
tupule
vocêpula
ele/elapula
nóspulamos
vóspoli
vocêspulam
eles/elaspulam

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 pulas
vocênão pula
ele/elanão pula
nósnão pulamos
vósnão pulais
vocêsnão pulam
eles/elasnão pulam