poupar — Portuguese conjugation

to save

Frequency#1013Irregular

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
eupoupoI save
tupoupasyou save
vocêpoupayou save
ele/elapoupahe/she/it saves
nóspoupamoswe save
vóspoupaisyou (pl.) save
vocêspoupamyou (pl.) save
eles/elaspoupamthey save

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
eupoupeiI saved
tupoupasteyou saved
vocêpoupouyou saved
ele/elapoupouhe/she/it saved
nóspoupamoswe saved
vóspoupastesyou (pl.) saved
vocêspouparamyou (pl.) saved
eles/elaspouparamthey saved

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
eupoupava
tupoupavas
vocêpoupava
ele/elapoupava
nóspoupávamos
vóspoupáveis
vocêspoupavam
eles/elaspoupavam

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
eupoupariaI would save
tupoupariasyou would save
vocêpoupariayou would save
ele/elapoupariahe/she/it would save
nóspouparíamoswe would save
vóspouparíeisyou (pl.) would save
vocêspoupariamyou (pl.) would save
eles/elaspoupariamthey would save

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
eupoupareiI will save
tupouparásyou will save
vocêpouparáyou will save
ele/elapouparáhe/she/it will save
nóspouparemoswe will save
vóspoupareisyou (pl.) will save
vocêspouparãoyou (pl.) will save
eles/elaspouparãothey will save

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 poupadoI have saved
tutens poupadoyou have saved
vocêtem poupadoyou have saved
ele/elatem poupadohe/she/it has saved
nóstemos poupadowe have saved
vóstendes poupadoyou (pl.) have saved
vocêstêm poupadoyou (pl.) have saved
eles/elastêm poupadothey have saved

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 poupadoI had saved
tutinhas poupadoyou had saved
vocêtinha poupadoyou had saved
ele/elatinha poupadohe/she/it had saved
nóstínhamos poupadowe had saved
vóstínheis poupadoyou (pl.) had saved
vocêstinham poupadoyou (pl.) had saved
eles/elastinham poupadothey had saved

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

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 poupadoI will have saved
tuterás poupadoyou will have saved
vocêterá poupadoyou will have saved
ele/elaterá poupadohe/she/it will have saved
nósteremos poupadowe will have saved
vóstereis poupadoyou (pl.) will have saved
vocêsterão poupadoyou (pl.) will have saved
eles/elasterão poupadothey will have saved

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
eupoupe
tupoupes
vocêpoupe
ele/elapoupe
nóspoupemos
vóspoupeis
vocêspoupem
eles/elaspoupem

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
eupoupasse
tupoupasses
vocêpoupasse
ele/elapoupasse
nóspoupássemos
vóspoupásseis
vocêspoupassem
eles/elaspoupassem

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
tupoupa
vocêpoupe
ele/elapoupe
nóspoupemos
vóspoupai
vocêspoupem
eles/elaspoupem

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 poupes
vocênão poupe
ele/elanão poupe
nósnão poupemos
vósnão poupeis
vocêsnão poupem
eles/elasnão poupem