receber — Portuguese conjugation

to receive

Frequency#44Regular

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
eureceboI receive
turecebesyou receive
vocêrecebeyou receive
ele/elarecebehe/she/it receives
nósrecebemoswe receive
vósrecebeisyou (pl.) receive
vocêsrecebemyou (pl.) receive
eles/elasrecebemthey receive

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
eurecebiI received
turecebesteyou received
vocêrecebeuyou received
ele/elarecebeuhe/she/it received
nósrecebemoswe received
vósrecebestesyou (pl.) received
vocêsreceberamyou (pl.) received
eles/elasreceberamthey received

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
eurecebia
turecebias
vocêrecebia
ele/elarecebia
nósrecebíamos
vósrecebíeis
vocêsrecebiam
eles/elasrecebiam

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
eureceberiaI would receive
tureceberiasyou would receive
vocêreceberiayou would receive
ele/elareceberiahe/she/it would receive
nósreceberíamoswe would receive
vósreceberíeisyou (pl.) would receive
vocêsreceberiamyou (pl.) would receive
eles/elasreceberiamthey would receive

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
eurecebereiI will receive
tureceberásyou will receive
vocêreceberáyou will receive
ele/elareceberáhe/she/it will receive
nósreceberemoswe will receive
vósrecebereisyou (pl.) will receive
vocêsreceberãoyou (pl.) will receive
eles/elasreceberãothey will receive

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 recebidoI have received
tutens recebidoyou have received
vocêtem recebidoyou have received
ele/elatem recebidohe/she/it has received
nóstemos recebidowe have received
vóstendes recebidoyou (pl.) have received
vocêstêm recebidoyou (pl.) have received
eles/elastêm recebidothey have received

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 recebidoI had received
tutinhas recebidoyou had received
vocêtinha recebidoyou had received
ele/elatinha recebidohe/she/it had received
nóstínhamos recebidowe had received
vóstínheis recebidoyou (pl.) had received
vocêstinham recebidoyou (pl.) had received
eles/elastinham recebidothey had received

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

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 recebidoI will have received
tuterás recebidoyou will have received
vocêterá recebidoyou will have received
ele/elaterá recebidohe/she/it will have received
nósteremos recebidowe will have received
vóstereis recebidoyou (pl.) will have received
vocêsterão recebidoyou (pl.) will have received
eles/elasterão recebidothey will have received

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
eureceba
turecebas
vocêreceba
ele/elareceba
nósrecebamos
vósrecebais
vocêsrecebam
eles/elasrecebam

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
eurecebesse
turecebesses
vocêrecebesse
ele/elarecebesse
nósrecebêssemos
vósrecebêsseis
vocêsrecebessem
eles/elasrecebessem

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
turecebe
vocêreceba
ele/elareceba
nósrecebamos
vósrecebei
vocêsrecebam
eles/elasrecebam

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 recebas
vocênão receba
ele/elanão receba
nósnão recebamos
vósnão recebais
vocêsnão recebam
eles/elasnão recebam