prevenir — Portuguese conjugation

to prevent

Frequency#545IrregularReflexiveprevenir-se — to protect oneself

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
euprevinoI prevent
tuprevinesyou prevent
vocêprevineyou prevent
ele/elaprevinehe/she/it prevents
nósprevenimoswe prevent
vósprevenisyou (pl.) prevent
vocêsprevinemyou (pl.) prevent
eles/elasprevinemthey prevent

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
eupreveniI prevented
tuprevenisteyou prevented
vocêpreveniuyou prevented
ele/elapreveniuhe/she/it prevented
nósprevenimoswe prevented
vósprevenistesyou (pl.) prevented
vocêspreveniramyou (pl.) prevented
eles/elaspreveniramthey prevented

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
euprevenia
tuprevenias
vocêprevenia
ele/elaprevenia
nóspreveníamos
vóspreveníeis
vocêspreveniam
eles/elaspreveniam

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
eupreveniriaI would prevent
tupreveniriasyou would prevent
vocêpreveniriayou would prevent
ele/elapreveniriahe/she/it would prevent
nóspreveniríamoswe would prevent
vóspreveniríeisyou (pl.) would prevent
vocêspreveniriamyou (pl.) would prevent
eles/elaspreveniriamthey would prevent

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
euprevenireiI will prevent
tuprevenirásyou will prevent
vocêpreveniráyou will prevent
ele/elapreveniráhe/she/it will prevent
nóspreveniremoswe will prevent
vósprevenireisyou (pl.) will prevent
vocêsprevenirãoyou (pl.) will prevent
eles/elasprevenirãothey will prevent

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 prevenidoI have prevented
tutens prevenidoyou have prevented
vocêtem prevenidoyou have prevented
ele/elatem prevenidohe/she/it has prevented
nóstemos prevenidowe have prevented
vóstendes prevenidoyou (pl.) have prevented
vocêstêm prevenidoyou (pl.) have prevented
eles/elastêm prevenidothey have prevented

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 prevenidoI had prevented
tutinhas prevenidoyou had prevented
vocêtinha prevenidoyou had prevented
ele/elatinha prevenidohe/she/it had prevented
nóstínhamos prevenidowe had prevented
vóstínheis prevenidoyou (pl.) had prevented
vocêstinham prevenidoyou (pl.) had prevented
eles/elastinham prevenidothey had prevented

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

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 prevenidoI will have prevented
tuterás prevenidoyou will have prevented
vocêterá prevenidoyou will have prevented
ele/elaterá prevenidohe/she/it will have prevented
nósteremos prevenidowe will have prevented
vóstereis prevenidoyou (pl.) will have prevented
vocêsterão prevenidoyou (pl.) will have prevented
eles/elasterão prevenidothey will have prevented

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
euprevina
tuprevinas
vocêprevina
ele/elaprevina
nósprevinamos
vósprevinais
vocêsprevinam
eles/elasprevinam

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
euprevenisse
tuprevenisses
vocêprevenisse
ele/elaprevenisse
nóspreveníssemos
vósprevenísseis
vocêsprevenissem
eles/elasprevenissem

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
tuprevine
vocêprevina
ele/elaprevina
nósprevinamos
vóspreveni
vocêsprevinam
eles/elasprevinam

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 previnas
vocênão previna
ele/elanão previna
nósnão previnamos
vósnão previnais
vocêsnão previnam
eles/elasnão previnam