prever — Portuguese conjugation

to foresee

Frequency#332Irregular

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
euprevejoI foresee
tuprevêsyou foresee
vocêprevêyou foresee
ele/elaprevêhe/she/it foresees
nósprevemoswe foresee
vósprevedesyou (pl.) foresee
vocêsprevêemyou (pl.) foresee
eles/elasprevêemthey foresee

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
eupreviI foresaw
tuprevisteyou foresaw
vocêpreviuyou foresaw
ele/elapreviuhe/she/it foresaw
nósprevimoswe foresaw
vósprevistesyou (pl.) foresaw
vocêspreviramyou (pl.) foresaw
eles/elaspreviramthey foresaw

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
euprevia
tuprevias
vocêprevia
ele/elaprevia
nósprevíamos
vósprevíeis
vocêspreviam
eles/elaspreviam

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
eupreveriaI would foresee
tupreveriasyou would foresee
vocêpreveriayou would foresee
ele/elapreveriahe/she/it would foresee
nóspreveríamoswe would foresee
vóspreveríeisyou (pl.) would foresee
vocêspreveriamyou (pl.) would foresee
eles/elaspreveriamthey would foresee

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
euprevereiI will foresee
tupreverásyou will foresee
vocêpreveráyou will foresee
ele/elapreveráhe/she/it will foresee
nóspreveremoswe will foresee
vósprevereisyou (pl.) will foresee
vocêspreverãoyou (pl.) will foresee
eles/elaspreverãothey will foresee

Present perfect (Pretérito perfeito composto) Irregular

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 previstoI have foreseen
tutens previstoyou have foreseen
vocêtem previstoyou have foreseen
ele/elatem previstohe/she/it has foreseen
nóstemos previstowe have foreseen
vóstendes previstoyou (pl.) have foreseen
vocêstêm previstoyou (pl.) have foreseen
eles/elastêm previstothey have foreseen

Pluperfect (Mais-que-perfeito composto) Irregular

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 previstoI had foreseen
tutinhas previstoyou had foreseen
vocêtinha previstoyou had foreseen
ele/elatinha previstohe/she/it had foreseen
nóstínhamos previstowe had foreseen
vóstínheis previstoyou (pl.) had foreseen
vocêstinham previstoyou (pl.) had foreseen
eles/elastinham previstothey had foreseen

Conditional perfect (Condicional composto) Irregular

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

Future perfect (Futuro composto) Irregular

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 previstoI will have foreseen
tuterás previstoyou will have foreseen
vocêterá previstoyou will have foreseen
ele/elaterá previstohe/she/it will have foreseen
nósteremos previstowe will have foreseen
vóstereis previstoyou (pl.) will have foreseen
vocêsterão previstoyou (pl.) will have foreseen
eles/elasterão previstothey will have foreseen

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
eupreveja
tuprevejas
vocêpreveja
ele/elapreveja
nósprevejamos
vósprevejais
vocêsprevejam
eles/elasprevejam

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
euprevisse
tuprevisses
vocêprevisse
ele/elaprevisse
nósprevíssemos
vósprevísseis
vocêsprevissem
eles/elasprevissem

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
tuprevê
vocêpreveja
ele/elapreveja
nósprevejamos
vósprevede
vocêsprevejam
eles/elasprevejam

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 prevejas
vocênão preveja
ele/elanão preveja
nósnão prevejamos
vósnão prevejais
vocêsnão prevejam
eles/elasnão prevejam