pregar — Portuguese conjugation

to preach

Frequency#583Regular

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
eupregoI preach
tupregasyou preach
vocêpregayou preach
ele/elapregahe/she/it preaches
nóspregamoswe preach
vóspregaisyou (pl.) preach
vocêspregamyou (pl.) preach
eles/elaspregamthey preach

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
eupregueiI preached
tupregasteyou preached
vocêpregouyou preached
ele/elapregouhe/she/it preached
nóspregamoswe preached
vóspregastesyou (pl.) preached
vocêspregaramyou (pl.) preached
eles/elaspregaramthey preached

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
eupregava
tupregavas
vocêpregava
ele/elapregava
nóspregávamos
vóspregáveis
vocêspregavam
eles/elaspregavam

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
eupregariaI would preach
tupregariasyou would preach
vocêpregariayou would preach
ele/elapregariahe/she/it would preach
nóspregaríamoswe would preach
vóspregaríeisyou (pl.) would preach
vocêspregariamyou (pl.) would preach
eles/elaspregariamthey would preach

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
eupregareiI will preach
tupregarásyou will preach
vocêpregaráyou will preach
ele/elapregaráhe/she/it will preach
nóspregaremoswe will preach
vóspregareisyou (pl.) will preach
vocêspregarãoyou (pl.) will preach
eles/elaspregarãothey will preach

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 pregadoI have preached
tutens pregadoyou have preached
vocêtem pregadoyou have preached
ele/elatem pregadohe/she/it has preached
nóstemos pregadowe have preached
vóstendes pregadoyou (pl.) have preached
vocêstêm pregadoyou (pl.) have preached
eles/elastêm pregadothey have preached

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 pregadoI had preached
tutinhas pregadoyou had preached
vocêtinha pregadoyou had preached
ele/elatinha pregadohe/she/it had preached
nóstínhamos pregadowe had preached
vóstínheis pregadoyou (pl.) had preached
vocêstinham pregadoyou (pl.) had preached
eles/elastinham pregadothey had preached

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

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 pregadoI will have preached
tuterás pregadoyou will have preached
vocêterá pregadoyou will have preached
ele/elaterá pregadohe/she/it will have preached
nósteremos pregadowe will have preached
vóstereis pregadoyou (pl.) will have preached
vocêsterão pregadoyou (pl.) will have preached
eles/elasterão pregadothey will have preached

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
eupregue
tupregues
vocêpregue
ele/elapregue
nóspreguemos
vóspregueis
vocêspreguem
eles/elaspreguem

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
eupregasse
tupregasses
vocêpregasse
ele/elapregasse
nóspregássemos
vóspregásseis
vocêspregassem
eles/elaspregassem

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
tuprega
vocêpregue
ele/elapregue
nóspreguemos
vóspregai
vocêspreguem
eles/elaspreguem

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 pregues
vocênão pregue
ele/elanão pregue
nósnão preguemos
vósnão pregueis
vocêsnão preguem
eles/elasnão preguem