secar — Portuguese conjugation

to dry

Frequency#290IrregularReflexivesecar-se — to dry 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
eusecoI dry
tusecasyou dry
vocêsecayou dry
ele/elasecahe/she/it dries
nóssecamoswe dry
vóssecaisyou (pl.) dry
vocêssecamyou (pl.) dry
eles/elassecamthey dry

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
eusequeiI dried
tusecasteyou dried
vocêsecouyou dried
ele/elasecouhe/she/it dried
nóssecamoswe dried
vóssecastesyou (pl.) dried
vocêssecaramyou (pl.) dried
eles/elassecaramthey dried

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
eusecava
tusecavas
vocêsecava
ele/elasecava
nóssecávamos
vóssecáveis
vocêssecavam
eles/elassecavam

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
eusecariaI would dry
tusecariasyou would dry
vocêsecariayou would dry
ele/elasecariahe/she/it would dry
nóssecaríamoswe would dry
vóssecaríeisyou (pl.) would dry
vocêssecariamyou (pl.) would dry
eles/elassecariamthey would dry

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
eusecareiI will dry
tusecarásyou will dry
vocêsecaráyou will dry
ele/elasecaráhe/she/it will dry
nóssecaremoswe will dry
vóssecareisyou (pl.) will dry
vocêssecarãoyou (pl.) will dry
eles/elassecarãothey will dry

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 secadoI have dried
tutens secadoyou have dried
vocêtem secadoyou have dried
ele/elatem secadohe/she/it has dried
nóstemos secadowe have dried
vóstendes secadoyou (pl.) have dried
vocêstêm secadoyou (pl.) have dried
eles/elastêm secadothey have dried

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 secadoI had dried
tutinhas secadoyou had dried
vocêtinha secadoyou had dried
ele/elatinha secadohe/she/it had dried
nóstínhamos secadowe had dried
vóstínheis secadoyou (pl.) had dried
vocêstinham secadoyou (pl.) had dried
eles/elastinham secadothey had dried

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

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 secadoI will have dried
tuterás secadoyou will have dried
vocêterá secadoyou will have dried
ele/elaterá secadohe/she/it will have dried
nósteremos secadowe will have dried
vóstereis secadoyou (pl.) will have dried
vocêsterão secadoyou (pl.) will have dried
eles/elasterão secadothey will have dried

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
euseque
tuseques
vocêseque
ele/elaseque
nóssequemos
vóssequeis
vocêssequem
eles/elassequem

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
eusecasse
tusecasses
vocêsecasse
ele/elasecasse
nóssecássemos
vóssecásseis
vocêssecassem
eles/elassecassem

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
tuseca
vocêseque
ele/elaseque
nóssequemos
vóssecai
vocêssequem
eles/elassequem

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 seques
vocênão seque
ele/elanão seque
nósnão sequemos
vósnão sequeis
vocêsnão sequem
eles/elasnão sequem