ponderar — Portuguese conjugation

to ponder (to think about something carefully)

Frequency#1011Regular

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
euponderoI ponder
tuponderasyou ponder
vocêponderayou ponder
ele/elaponderahe/she/it ponders
nósponderamoswe ponder
vósponderaisyou (pl.) ponder
vocêsponderamyou (pl.) ponder
eles/elasponderamthey ponder

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
eupondereiI pondered
tuponderasteyou pondered
vocêponderouyou pondered
ele/elaponderouhe/she/it pondered
nósponderamoswe pondered
vósponderastesyou (pl.) pondered
vocêsponderaramyou (pl.) pondered
eles/elasponderaramthey pondered

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
euponderava
tuponderavas
vocêponderava
ele/elaponderava
nósponderávamos
vósponderáveis
vocêsponderavam
eles/elasponderavam

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
euponderariaI would ponder
tuponderariasyou would ponder
vocêponderariayou would ponder
ele/elaponderariahe/she/it would ponder
nósponderaríamoswe would ponder
vósponderaríeisyou (pl.) would ponder
vocêsponderariamyou (pl.) would ponder
eles/elasponderariamthey would ponder

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
euponderareiI will ponder
tuponderarásyou will ponder
vocêponderaráyou will ponder
ele/elaponderaráhe/she/it will ponder
nósponderaremoswe will ponder
vósponderareisyou (pl.) will ponder
vocêsponderarãoyou (pl.) will ponder
eles/elasponderarãothey will ponder

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 ponderadoI have pondered
tutens ponderadoyou have pondered
vocêtem ponderadoyou have pondered
ele/elatem ponderadohe/she/it has pondered
nóstemos ponderadowe have pondered
vóstendes ponderadoyou (pl.) have pondered
vocêstêm ponderadoyou (pl.) have pondered
eles/elastêm ponderadothey have pondered

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 ponderadoI had pondered
tutinhas ponderadoyou had pondered
vocêtinha ponderadoyou had pondered
ele/elatinha ponderadohe/she/it had pondered
nóstínhamos ponderadowe had pondered
vóstínheis ponderadoyou (pl.) had pondered
vocêstinham ponderadoyou (pl.) had pondered
eles/elastinham ponderadothey had pondered

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

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 ponderadoI will have pondered
tuterás ponderadoyou will have pondered
vocêterá ponderadoyou will have pondered
ele/elaterá ponderadohe/she/it will have pondered
nósteremos ponderadowe will have pondered
vóstereis ponderadoyou (pl.) will have pondered
vocêsterão ponderadoyou (pl.) will have pondered
eles/elasterão ponderadothey will have pondered

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
eupondere
tuponderes
vocêpondere
ele/elapondere
nósponderemos
vóspondereis
vocêsponderem
eles/elasponderem

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
euponderasse
tuponderasses
vocêponderasse
ele/elaponderasse
nósponderássemos
vósponderásseis
vocêsponderassem
eles/elasponderassem

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
tupondera
vocêpondere
ele/elapondere
nósponderemos
vósponderai
vocêsponderem
eles/elasponderem

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 ponderes
vocênão pondere
ele/elanão pondere
nósnão ponderemos
vósnão pondereis
vocêsnão ponderem
eles/elasnão ponderem