prospectar — Portuguese conjugation

to prospect

Frequency#472Irregular

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
euprospectoI prospect
tuprospectasyou prospect
vocêprospectayou prospect
ele/elaprospectahe/she/it prospects
nósprospectamoswe prospect
vósprospectaisyou (pl.) prospect
vocêsprospectamyou (pl.) prospect
eles/elasprospectamthey prospect

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
euprospecteiI prospected
tuprospectasteyou prospected
vocêprospectouyou prospected
ele/elaprospectouhe/she/it prospected
nósprospectamoswe prospected
vósprospectastesyou (pl.) prospected
vocêsprospectaramyou (pl.) prospected
eles/elasprospectaramthey prospected

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
euprospectava
tuprospectavas
vocêprospectava
ele/elaprospectava
nósprospectávamos
vósprospectáveis
vocêsprospectavam
eles/elasprospectavam

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
euprospectariaI would prospect
tuprospectariasyou would prospect
vocêprospectariayou would prospect
ele/elaprospectariahe/she/it would prospect
nósprospectaríamoswe would prospect
vósprospectaríeisyou (pl.) would prospect
vocêsprospectariamyou (pl.) would prospect
eles/elasprospectariamthey would prospect

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
euprospectareiI will prospect
tuprospectarásyou will prospect
vocêprospectaráyou will prospect
ele/elaprospectaráhe/she/it will prospect
nósprospectaremoswe will prospect
vósprospectareisyou (pl.) will prospect
vocêsprospectarãoyou (pl.) will prospect
eles/elasprospectarãothey will prospect

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 prospectadoI have prospected
tutens prospectadoyou have prospected
vocêtem prospectadoyou have prospected
ele/elatem prospectadohe/she/it has prospected
nóstemos prospectadowe have prospected
vóstendes prospectadoyou (pl.) have prospected
vocêstêm prospectadoyou (pl.) have prospected
eles/elastêm prospectadothey have prospected

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 prospectadoI had prospected
tutinhas prospectadoyou had prospected
vocêtinha prospectadoyou had prospected
ele/elatinha prospectadohe/she/it had prospected
nóstínhamos prospectadowe had prospected
vóstínheis prospectadoyou (pl.) had prospected
vocêstinham prospectadoyou (pl.) had prospected
eles/elastinham prospectadothey had prospected

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

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 prospectadoI will have prospected
tuterás prospectadoyou will have prospected
vocêterá prospectadoyou will have prospected
ele/elaterá prospectadohe/she/it will have prospected
nósteremos prospectadowe will have prospected
vóstereis prospectadoyou (pl.) will have prospected
vocêsterão prospectadoyou (pl.) will have prospected
eles/elasterão prospectadothey will have prospected

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
euprospecte
tuprospectes
vocêprospecte
ele/elaprospecte
nósprospectemos
vósprospecteis
vocêsprospectem
eles/elasprospectem

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
euprospectasse
tuprospectasses
vocêprospectasse
ele/elaprospectasse
nósprospectássemos
vósprospectásseis
vocêsprospectassem
eles/elasprospectassem

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
tuprospecta
vocêprospecte
ele/elaprospecte
nósprospectemos
vósprospectai
vocêsprospectem
eles/elasprospectem

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 prospectes
vocênão prospecte
ele/elanão prospecte
nósnão prospectemos
vósnão prospecteis
vocêsnão prospectem
eles/elasnão prospectem