significar — Portuguese conjugation
to mean
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | significo | I mean |
| tu | significas | you mean |
| você | significa | you mean |
| ele/ela | significa | he/she/it means |
| nós | significamos | we mean |
| vós | significais | you (pl.) mean |
| vocês | significam | you (pl.) mean |
| eles/elas | significam | they mean |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | signifiquei | I meant |
| tu | significaste | you meant |
| você | significou | you meant |
| ele/ela | significou | he/she/it meant |
| nós | significamos | we meant |
| vós | significastes | you (pl.) meant |
| vocês | significaram | you (pl.) meant |
| eles/elas | significaram | they meant |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | significava |
| tu | significavas |
| você | significava |
| ele/ela | significava |
| nós | significávamos |
| vós | significáveis |
| vocês | significavam |
| eles/elas | significavam |
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?
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | significaria | I would mean |
| tu | significarias | you would mean |
| você | significaria | you would mean |
| ele/ela | significaria | he/she/it would mean |
| nós | significaríamos | we would mean |
| vós | significaríeis | you (pl.) would mean |
| vocês | significariam | you (pl.) would mean |
| eles/elas | significariam | they would mean |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | significarei | I will mean |
| tu | significarás | you will mean |
| você | significará | you will mean |
| ele/ela | significará | he/she/it will mean |
| nós | significaremos | we will mean |
| vós | significareis | you (pl.) will mean |
| vocês | significarão | you (pl.) will mean |
| eles/elas | significarão | they will mean |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | tenho significado | I have meant |
| tu | tens significado | you have meant |
| você | tem significado | you have meant |
| ele/ela | tem significado | he/she/it has meant |
| nós | temos significado | we have meant |
| vós | tendes significado | you (pl.) have meant |
| vocês | têm significado | you (pl.) have meant |
| eles/elas | têm significado | they have meant |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | tinha significado | I had meant |
| tu | tinhas significado | you had meant |
| você | tinha significado | you had meant |
| ele/ela | tinha significado | he/she/it had meant |
| nós | tínhamos significado | we had meant |
| vós | tínheis significado | you (pl.) had meant |
| vocês | tinham significado | you (pl.) had meant |
| eles/elas | tinham significado | they had meant |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | teria significado |
| tu | terias significado |
| você | teria significado |
| ele/ela | teria significado |
| nós | teríamos significado |
| vós | teríeis significado |
| vocês | teriam significado |
| eles/elas | teriam significado |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| eu | terei significado | I will have meant |
| tu | terás significado | you will have meant |
| você | terá significado | you will have meant |
| ele/ela | terá significado | he/she/it will have meant |
| nós | teremos significado | we will have meant |
| vós | tereis significado | you (pl.) will have meant |
| vocês | terão significado | you (pl.) will have meant |
| eles/elas | terão significado | they will have meant |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | signifique |
| tu | signifiques |
| você | signifique |
| ele/ela | signifique |
| nós | signifiquemos |
| vós | signifiqueis |
| vocês | signifiquem |
| eles/elas | signifiquem |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| eu | significasse |
| tu | significasses |
| você | significasse |
| ele/ela | significasse |
| nós | significássemos |
| vós | significásseis |
| vocês | significassem |
| eles/elas | significassem |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| tu | significa |
| você | signifique |
| ele/ela | signifique |
| nós | signifiquemos |
| vós | significai |
| vocês | signifiquem |
| eles/elas | signifiquem |
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.
| Pronoun | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| tu | não signifiques |
| você | não signifique |
| ele/ela | não signifique |
| nós | não signifiquemos |
| vós | não signifiqueis |
| vocês | não signifiquem |
| eles/elas | não signifiquem |