quebrar — Portuguese conjugation

to break

Frequency#111Irregular

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
euquebroI break
tuquebrasyou break
vocêquebrayou break
ele/elaquebrahe/she/it breaks
nósquebramoswe break
vósquebraisyou (pl.) break
vocêsquebramyou (pl.) break
eles/elasquebramthey break

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
euquebreiI broke
tuquebrasteyou broke
vocêquebrouyou broke
ele/elaquebrouhe/she/it broke
nósquebramoswe broke
vósquebrastesyou (pl.) broke
vocêsquebraramyou (pl.) broke
eles/elasquebraramthey broke

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
euquebrava
tuquebravas
vocêquebrava
ele/elaquebrava
nósquebrávamos
vósquebráveis
vocêsquebravam
eles/elasquebravam

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
euquebrariaI would break
tuquebrariasyou would break
vocêquebrariayou would break
ele/elaquebrariahe/she/it would break
nósquebraríamoswe would break
vósquebraríeisyou (pl.) would break
vocêsquebrariamyou (pl.) would break
eles/elasquebrariamthey would break

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
euquebrareiI will break
tuquebrarásyou will break
vocêquebraráyou will break
ele/elaquebraráhe/she/it will break
nósquebraremoswe will break
vósquebrareisyou (pl.) will break
vocêsquebrarãoyou (pl.) will break
eles/elasquebrarãothey will break

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 quebradoI have broken
tutens quebradoyou have broken
vocêtem quebradoyou have broken
ele/elatem quebradohe/she/it has broken
nóstemos quebradowe have broken
vóstendes quebradoyou (pl.) have broken
vocêstêm quebradoyou (pl.) have broken
eles/elastêm quebradothey have broken

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 quebradoI had broken
tutinhas quebradoyou had broken
vocêtinha quebradoyou had broken
ele/elatinha quebradohe/she/it had broken
nóstínhamos quebradowe had broken
vóstínheis quebradoyou (pl.) had broken
vocêstinham quebradoyou (pl.) had broken
eles/elastinham quebradothey had broken

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

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 quebradoI will have broken
tuterás quebradoyou will have broken
vocêterá quebradoyou will have broken
ele/elaterá quebradohe/she/it will have broken
nósteremos quebradowe will have broken
vóstereis quebradoyou (pl.) will have broken
vocêsterão quebradoyou (pl.) will have broken
eles/elasterão quebradothey will have broken

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
euquebre
tuquebres
vocêquebre
ele/elaquebre
nósquebremos
vósquebreis
vocêsquebrem
eles/elasquebrem

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
euquebrasse
tuquebrasses
vocêquebrasse
ele/elaquebrasse
nósquebrássemos
vósquebrásseis
vocêsquebrassem
eles/elasquebrassem

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
tuquebra
vocêquebre
ele/elaquebre
nósquebremos
vósquebrai
vocêsquebrem
eles/elasquebrem

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 quebres
vocênão quebre
ele/elanão quebre
nósnão quebremos
vósnão quebreis
vocêsnão quebrem
eles/elasnão quebrem