reclamar — Portuguese conjugation

to complain

Frequency#893Irregular

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
eureclamoI complain
tureclamasyou complain
vocêreclamayou complain
ele/elareclamahe/she/it complains
nósreclamamoswe complain
vósreclamaisyou (pl.) complain
vocêsreclamamyou (pl.) complain
eles/elasreclamamthey complain

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
eureclameiI complained
tureclamasteyou complained
vocêreclamouyou complained
ele/elareclamouhe/she/it complained
nósreclamamoswe complained
vósreclamastesyou (pl.) complained
vocêsreclamaramyou (pl.) complained
eles/elasreclamaramthey complained

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
eureclamava
tureclamavas
vocêreclamava
ele/elareclamava
nósreclamávamos
vósreclamáveis
vocêsreclamavam
eles/elasreclamavam

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
eureclamariaI would complain
tureclamariasyou would complain
vocêreclamariayou would complain
ele/elareclamariahe/she/it would complain
nósreclamaríamoswe would complain
vósreclamaríeisyou (pl.) would complain
vocêsreclamariamyou (pl.) would complain
eles/elasreclamariamthey would complain

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
eureclamareiI will complain
tureclamarásyou will complain
vocêreclamaráyou will complain
ele/elareclamaráhe/she/it will complain
nósreclamaremoswe will complain
vósreclamareisyou (pl.) will complain
vocêsreclamarãoyou (pl.) will complain
eles/elasreclamarãothey will complain

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 reclamadoI have complained
tutens reclamadoyou have complained
vocêtem reclamadoyou have complained
ele/elatem reclamadohe/she/it has complained
nóstemos reclamadowe have complained
vóstendes reclamadoyou (pl.) have complained
vocêstêm reclamadoyou (pl.) have complained
eles/elastêm reclamadothey have complained

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 reclamadoI had complained
tutinhas reclamadoyou had complained
vocêtinha reclamadoyou had complained
ele/elatinha reclamadohe/she/it had complained
nóstínhamos reclamadowe had complained
vóstínheis reclamadoyou (pl.) had complained
vocêstinham reclamadoyou (pl.) had complained
eles/elastinham reclamadothey had complained

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

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 reclamadoI will have complained
tuterás reclamadoyou will have complained
vocêterá reclamadoyou will have complained
ele/elaterá reclamadohe/she/it will have complained
nósteremos reclamadowe will have complained
vóstereis reclamadoyou (pl.) will have complained
vocêsterão reclamadoyou (pl.) will have complained
eles/elasterão reclamadothey will have complained

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
eureclame
tureclames
vocêreclame
ele/elareclame
nósreclamemos
vósreclameis
vocêsreclamem
eles/elasreclamem

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
eureclamasse
tureclamasses
vocêreclamasse
ele/elareclamasse
nósreclamássemos
vósreclamásseis
vocêsreclamassem
eles/elasreclamassem

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
tureclama
vocêreclame
ele/elareclame
nósreclamemos
vósreclamai
vocêsreclamem
eles/elasreclamem

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 reclames
vocênão reclame
ele/elanão reclame
nósnão reclamemos
vósnão reclameis
vocêsnão reclamem
eles/elasnão reclamem