questionar — Portuguese conjugation

to question

Frequency#819Regular

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
euquestionoI question
tuquestionasyou question
vocêquestionayou question
ele/elaquestionahe/she/it questions
nósquestionamoswe question
vósquestionaisyou (pl.) question
vocêsquestionamyou (pl.) question
eles/elasquestionamthey question

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
euquestioneiI questioned
tuquestionasteyou questioned
vocêquestionouyou questioned
ele/elaquestionouhe/she/it questioned
nósquestionamoswe questioned
vósquestionastesyou (pl.) questioned
vocêsquestionaramyou (pl.) questioned
eles/elasquestionaramthey questioned

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
euquestionava
tuquestionavas
vocêquestionava
ele/elaquestionava
nósquestionávamos
vósquestionáveis
vocêsquestionavam
eles/elasquestionavam

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
euquestionariaI would question
tuquestionariasyou would question
vocêquestionariayou would question
ele/elaquestionariahe/she/it would question
nósquestionaríamoswe would question
vósquestionaríeisyou (pl.) would question
vocêsquestionariamyou (pl.) would question
eles/elasquestionariamthey would question

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
euquestionareiI will question
tuquestionarásyou will question
vocêquestionaráyou will question
ele/elaquestionaráhe/she/it will question
nósquestionaremoswe will question
vósquestionareisyou (pl.) will question
vocêsquestionarãoyou (pl.) will question
eles/elasquestionarãothey will question

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 questionadoI have questioned
tutens questionadoyou have questioned
vocêtem questionadoyou have questioned
ele/elatem questionadohe/she/it has questioned
nóstemos questionadowe have questioned
vóstendes questionadoyou (pl.) have questioned
vocêstêm questionadoyou (pl.) have questioned
eles/elastêm questionadothey have questioned

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 questionadoI had questioned
tutinhas questionadoyou had questioned
vocêtinha questionadoyou had questioned
ele/elatinha questionadohe/she/it had questioned
nóstínhamos questionadowe had questioned
vóstínheis questionadoyou (pl.) had questioned
vocêstinham questionadoyou (pl.) had questioned
eles/elastinham questionadothey had questioned

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

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 questionadoI will have questioned
tuterás questionadoyou will have questioned
vocêterá questionadoyou will have questioned
ele/elaterá questionadohe/she/it will have questioned
nósteremos questionadowe will have questioned
vóstereis questionadoyou (pl.) will have questioned
vocêsterão questionadoyou (pl.) will have questioned
eles/elasterão questionadothey will have questioned

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
euquestione
tuquestiones
vocêquestione
ele/elaquestione
nósquestionemos
vósquestioneis
vocêsquestionem
eles/elasquestionem

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
euquestionasse
tuquestionasses
vocêquestionasse
ele/elaquestionasse
nósquestionássemos
vósquestionásseis
vocêsquestionassem
eles/elasquestionassem

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
tuquestiona
vocêquestione
ele/elaquestione
nósquestionemos
vósquestionai
vocêsquestionem
eles/elasquestionem

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 questiones
vocênão questione
ele/elanão questione
nósnão questionemos
vósnão questioneis
vocêsnão questionem
eles/elasnão questionem