reger — Portuguese conjugation

to govern

Frequency#896Irregular

Indicative

Present (Presente) Irregular

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
eurejoI govern
turegesyou govern
vocêregeyou govern
ele/elaregehe/she/it governs
nósregemoswe govern
vósregeisyou (pl.) govern
vocêsregemyou (pl.) govern
eles/elasregemthey govern

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
euregiI governed
turegesteyou governed
vocêregeuyou governed
ele/elaregeuhe/she/it governed
nósregemoswe governed
vósregestesyou (pl.) governed
vocêsregeramyou (pl.) governed
eles/elasregeramthey governed

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
euregia
turegias
vocêregia
ele/elaregia
nósregíamos
vósregíeis
vocêsregiam
eles/elasregiam

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
euregeriaI would govern
turegeriasyou would govern
vocêregeriayou would govern
ele/elaregeriahe/she/it would govern
nósregeríamoswe would govern
vósregeríeisyou (pl.) would govern
vocêsregeriamyou (pl.) would govern
eles/elasregeriamthey would govern

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
euregereiI will govern
turegerásyou will govern
vocêregeráyou will govern
ele/elaregeráhe/she/it will govern
nósregeremoswe will govern
vósregereisyou (pl.) will govern
vocêsregerãoyou (pl.) will govern
eles/elasregerãothey will govern

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 regidoI have governed
tutens regidoyou have governed
vocêtem regidoyou have governed
ele/elatem regidohe/she/it has governed
nóstemos regidowe have governed
vóstendes regidoyou (pl.) have governed
vocêstêm regidoyou (pl.) have governed
eles/elastêm regidothey have governed

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 regidoI had governed
tutinhas regidoyou had governed
vocêtinha regidoyou had governed
ele/elatinha regidohe/she/it had governed
nóstínhamos regidowe had governed
vóstínheis regidoyou (pl.) had governed
vocêstinham regidoyou (pl.) had governed
eles/elastinham regidothey had governed

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

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 regidoI will have governed
tuterás regidoyou will have governed
vocêterá regidoyou will have governed
ele/elaterá regidohe/she/it will have governed
nósteremos regidowe will have governed
vóstereis regidoyou (pl.) will have governed
vocêsterão regidoyou (pl.) will have governed
eles/elasterão regidothey will have governed

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
eureja
turejas
vocêreja
ele/elareja
nósrejamos
vósrejais
vocêsrejam
eles/elasrejam

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
euregesse
turegesses
vocêregesse
ele/elaregesse
nósregêssemos
vósregêsseis
vocêsregessem
eles/elasregessem

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
turege
vocêreja
ele/elareja
nósrejamos
vósregei
vocêsrejam
eles/elasrejam

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 rejas
vocênão reja
ele/elanão reja
nósnão rejamos
vósnão rejais
vocêsnão rejam
eles/elasnão rejam