recusar — Portuguese conjugation

to refuse

Frequency#253IrregularReflexiverecusar-se — to refuse oneself

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
eurecusoI refuse
turecusasyou refuse
vocêrecusayou refuse
ele/elarecusahe/she/it refuses
nósrecusamoswe refuse
vósrecusaisyou (pl.) refuse
vocêsrecusamyou (pl.) refuse
eles/elasrecusamthey refuse

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
eurecuseiI refused
turecusasteyou refused
vocêrecusouyou refused
ele/elarecusouhe/she/it refused
nósrecusamoswe refused
vósrecusastesyou (pl.) refused
vocêsrecusaramyou (pl.) refused
eles/elasrecusaramthey refused

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
eurecusava
turecusavas
vocêrecusava
ele/elarecusava
nósrecusávamos
vósrecusáveis
vocêsrecusavam
eles/elasrecusavam

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
eurecusariaI would refuse
turecusariasyou would refuse
vocêrecusariayou would refuse
ele/elarecusariahe/she/it would refuse
nósrecusaríamoswe would refuse
vósrecusaríeisyou (pl.) would refuse
vocêsrecusariamyou (pl.) would refuse
eles/elasrecusariamthey would refuse

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
eurecusareiI will refuse
turecusarásyou will refuse
vocêrecusaráyou will refuse
ele/elarecusaráhe/she/it will refuse
nósrecusaremoswe will refuse
vósrecusareisyou (pl.) will refuse
vocêsrecusarãoyou (pl.) will refuse
eles/elasrecusarãothey will refuse

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 recusadoI have refused
tutens recusadoyou have refused
vocêtem recusadoyou have refused
ele/elatem recusadohe/she/it has refused
nóstemos recusadowe have refused
vóstendes recusadoyou (pl.) have refused
vocêstêm recusadoyou (pl.) have refused
eles/elastêm recusadothey have refused

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 recusadoI had refused
tutinhas recusadoyou had refused
vocêtinha recusadoyou had refused
ele/elatinha recusadohe/she/it had refused
nóstínhamos recusadowe had refused
vóstínheis recusadoyou (pl.) had refused
vocêstinham recusadoyou (pl.) had refused
eles/elastinham recusadothey had refused

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

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 recusadoI will have refused
tuterás recusadoyou will have refused
vocêterá recusadoyou will have refused
ele/elaterá recusadohe/she/it will have refused
nósteremos recusadowe will have refused
vóstereis recusadoyou (pl.) will have refused
vocêsterão recusadoyou (pl.) will have refused
eles/elasterão recusadothey will have refused

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
eurecuse
turecuses
vocêrecuse
ele/elarecuse
nósrecusemos
vósrecuseis
vocêsrecusem
eles/elasrecusem

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
eurecusasse
turecusasses
vocêrecusasse
ele/elarecusasse
nósrecusássemos
vósrecusásseis
vocêsrecusassem
eles/elasrecusassem

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
turecusa
vocêrecuse
ele/elarecuse
nósrecusemos
vósrecusai
vocêsrecusem
eles/elasrecusem

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 recuses
vocênão recuse
ele/elanão recuse
nósnão recusemos
vósnão recuseis
vocêsnão recusem
eles/elasnão recusem