salvar — Portuguese conjugation

to save

Frequency#598Irregular

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
eusalvoI save
tusalvasyou save
vocêsalvayou save
ele/elasalvahe/she/it saves
nóssalvamoswe save
vóssalvaisyou (pl.) save
vocêssalvamyou (pl.) save
eles/elassalvamthey save

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
eusalveiI saved
tusalvasteyou saved
vocêsalvouyou saved
ele/elasalvouhe/she/it saved
nóssalvamoswe saved
vóssalvastesyou (pl.) saved
vocêssalvaramyou (pl.) saved
eles/elassalvaramthey saved

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
eusalvava
tusalvavas
vocêsalvava
ele/elasalvava
nóssalvávamos
vóssalváveis
vocêssalvavam
eles/elassalvavam

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
eusalvariaI would save
tusalvariasyou would save
vocêsalvariayou would save
ele/elasalvariahe/she/it would save
nóssalvaríamoswe would save
vóssalvaríeisyou (pl.) would save
vocêssalvariamyou (pl.) would save
eles/elassalvariamthey would save

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
eusalvareiI will save
tusalvarásyou will save
vocêsalvaráyou will save
ele/elasalvaráhe/she/it will save
nóssalvaremoswe will save
vóssalvareisyou (pl.) will save
vocêssalvarãoyou (pl.) will save
eles/elassalvarãothey will save

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 salvadoI have saved
tutens salvadoyou have saved
vocêtem salvadoyou have saved
ele/elatem salvadohe/she/it has saved
nóstemos salvadowe have saved
vóstendes salvadoyou (pl.) have saved
vocêstêm salvadoyou (pl.) have saved
eles/elastêm salvadothey have saved

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 salvadoI had saved
tutinhas salvadoyou had saved
vocêtinha salvadoyou had saved
ele/elatinha salvadohe/she/it had saved
nóstínhamos salvadowe had saved
vóstínheis salvadoyou (pl.) had saved
vocêstinham salvadoyou (pl.) had saved
eles/elastinham salvadothey had saved

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

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 salvadoI will have saved
tuterás salvadoyou will have saved
vocêterá salvadoyou will have saved
ele/elaterá salvadohe/she/it will have saved
nósteremos salvadowe will have saved
vóstereis salvadoyou (pl.) will have saved
vocêsterão salvadoyou (pl.) will have saved
eles/elasterão salvadothey will have saved

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
eusalve
tusalves
vocêsalve
ele/elasalve
nóssalvemos
vóssalveis
vocêssalvem
eles/elassalvem

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
eusalvasse
tusalvasses
vocêsalvasse
ele/elasalvasse
nóssalvássemos
vóssalvásseis
vocêssalvassem
eles/elassalvassem

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
tusalva
vocêsalve
ele/elasalve
nóssalvemos
vóssalvai
vocêssalvem
eles/elassalvem

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 salves
vocênão salve
ele/elanão salve
nósnão salvemos
vósnão salveis
vocêsnão salvem
eles/elasnão salvem