procurar — Portuguese conjugation

to search

Frequency#37IrregularReflexiveprocurar-se — to search for oneself

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
euprocuroI search
tuprocurasyou search
vocêprocurayou search
ele/elaprocurahe/she/it searches
nósprocuramoswe search
vósprocuraisyou (pl.) search
vocêsprocuramyou (pl.) search
eles/elasprocuramthey search

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
euprocureiI searched
tuprocurasteyou searched
vocêprocurouyou searched
ele/elaprocurouhe/she/it searched
nósprocuramoswe searched
vósprocurastesyou (pl.) searched
vocêsprocuraramyou (pl.) searched
eles/elasprocuraramthey searched

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
euprocurava
tuprocuravas
vocêprocurava
ele/elaprocurava
nósprocurávamos
vósprocuráveis
vocêsprocuravam
eles/elasprocuravam

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
euprocurariaI would search
tuprocurariasyou would search
vocêprocurariayou would search
ele/elaprocurariahe/she/it would search
nósprocuraríamoswe would search
vósprocuraríeisyou (pl.) would search
vocêsprocurariamyou (pl.) would search
eles/elasprocurariamthey would search

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
euprocurareiI will search
tuprocurarásyou will search
vocêprocuraráyou will search
ele/elaprocuraráhe/she/it will search
nósprocuraremoswe will search
vósprocurareisyou (pl.) will search
vocêsprocurarãoyou (pl.) will search
eles/elasprocurarãothey will search

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 procuradoI have searched
tutens procuradoyou have searched
vocêtem procuradoyou have searched
ele/elatem procuradohe/she/it has searched
nóstemos procuradowe have searched
vóstendes procuradoyou (pl.) have searched
vocêstêm procuradoyou (pl.) have searched
eles/elastêm procuradothey have searched

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 procuradoI had searched
tutinhas procuradoyou had searched
vocêtinha procuradoyou had searched
ele/elatinha procuradohe/she/it had searched
nóstínhamos procuradowe had searched
vóstínheis procuradoyou (pl.) had searched
vocêstinham procuradoyou (pl.) had searched
eles/elastinham procuradothey had searched

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

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 procuradoI will have searched
tuterás procuradoyou will have searched
vocêterá procuradoyou will have searched
ele/elaterá procuradohe/she/it will have searched
nósteremos procuradowe will have searched
vóstereis procuradoyou (pl.) will have searched
vocêsterão procuradoyou (pl.) will have searched
eles/elasterão procuradothey will have searched

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
euprocure
tuprocures
vocêprocure
ele/elaprocure
nósprocuremos
vósprocureis
vocêsprocurem
eles/elasprocurem

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
euprocurasse
tuprocurasses
vocêprocurasse
ele/elaprocurasse
nósprocurássemos
vósprocurásseis
vocêsprocurassem
eles/elasprocurassem

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
tuprocura
vocêprocure
ele/elaprocure
nósprocuremos
vósprocurai
vocêsprocurem
eles/elasprocurem

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 procures
vocênão procure
ele/elanão procure
nósnão procuremos
vósnão procureis
vocêsnão procurem
eles/elasnão procurem