preservar — Portuguese conjugation

to preserve

Frequency#482Irregular

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
eupreservoI preserve
tupreservasyou preserve
vocêpreservayou preserve
ele/elapreservahe/she/it preserves
nóspreservamoswe preserve
vóspreservaisyou (pl.) preserve
vocêspreservamyou (pl.) preserve
eles/elaspreservamthey preserve

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
eupreserveiI preserved
tupreservasteyou preserved
vocêpreservouyou preserved
ele/elapreservouhe/she/it preserved
nóspreservamoswe preserved
vóspreservastesyou (pl.) preserved
vocêspreservaramyou (pl.) preserved
eles/elaspreservaramthey preserved

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
eupreservava
tupreservavas
vocêpreservava
ele/elapreservava
nóspreservávamos
vóspreserváveis
vocêspreservavam
eles/elaspreservavam

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
eupreservariaI would preserve
tupreservariasyou would preserve
vocêpreservariayou would preserve
ele/elapreservariahe/she/it would preserve
nóspreservaríamoswe would preserve
vóspreservaríeisyou (pl.) would preserve
vocêspreservariamyou (pl.) would preserve
eles/elaspreservariamthey would preserve

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
eupreservareiI will preserve
tupreservarásyou will preserve
vocêpreservaráyou will preserve
ele/elapreservaráhe/she/it will preserve
nóspreservaremoswe will preserve
vóspreservareisyou (pl.) will preserve
vocêspreservarãoyou (pl.) will preserve
eles/elaspreservarãothey will preserve

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 preservadoI have preserved
tutens preservadoyou have preserved
vocêtem preservadoyou have preserved
ele/elatem preservadohe/she/it has preserved
nóstemos preservadowe have preserved
vóstendes preservadoyou (pl.) have preserved
vocêstêm preservadoyou (pl.) have preserved
eles/elastêm preservadothey have preserved

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 preservadoI had preserved
tutinhas preservadoyou had preserved
vocêtinha preservadoyou had preserved
ele/elatinha preservadohe/she/it had preserved
nóstínhamos preservadowe had preserved
vóstínheis preservadoyou (pl.) had preserved
vocêstinham preservadoyou (pl.) had preserved
eles/elastinham preservadothey had preserved

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

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 preservadoI will have preserved
tuterás preservadoyou will have preserved
vocêterá preservadoyou will have preserved
ele/elaterá preservadohe/she/it will have preserved
nósteremos preservadowe will have preserved
vóstereis preservadoyou (pl.) will have preserved
vocêsterão preservadoyou (pl.) will have preserved
eles/elasterão preservadothey will have preserved

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
eupreserve
tupreserves
vocêpreserve
ele/elapreserve
nóspreservemos
vóspreserveis
vocêspreservem
eles/elaspreservem

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
eupreservasse
tupreservasses
vocêpreservasse
ele/elapreservasse
nóspreservássemos
vóspreservásseis
vocêspreservassem
eles/elaspreservassem

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
tupreserva
vocêpreserve
ele/elapreserve
nóspreservemos
vóspreservai
vocêspreservem
eles/elaspreservem

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 preserves
vocênão preserve
ele/elanão preserve
nósnão preservemos
vósnão preserveis
vocêsnão preservem
eles/elasnão preservem