sufocar — Portuguese conjugation

to suffocate

Frequency#830Irregular

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
eusufocoI suffocate
tusufocasyou suffocate
vocêsufocayou suffocate
ele/elasufocahe/she/it suffocates
nóssufocamoswe suffocate
vóssufocaisyou (pl.) suffocate
vocêssufocamyou (pl.) suffocate
eles/elassufocamthey suffocate

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
eusufoqueiI suffocated
tusufocasteyou suffocated
vocêsufocouyou suffocated
ele/elasufocouhe/she/it suffocated
nóssufocamoswe suffocated
vóssufocastesyou (pl.) suffocated
vocêssufocaramyou (pl.) suffocated
eles/elassufocaramthey suffocated

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
eusufocava
tusufocavas
vocêsufocava
ele/elasufocava
nóssufocávamos
vóssufocáveis
vocêssufocavam
eles/elassufocavam

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
eusufocariaI would suffocate
tusufocariasyou would suffocate
vocêsufocariayou would suffocate
ele/elasufocariahe/she/it would suffocate
nóssufocaríamoswe would suffocate
vóssufocaríeisyou (pl.) would suffocate
vocêssufocariamyou (pl.) would suffocate
eles/elassufocariamthey would suffocate

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
eusufocareiI will suffocate
tusufocarásyou will suffocate
vocêsufocaráyou will suffocate
ele/elasufocaráhe/she/it will suffocate
nóssufocaremoswe will suffocate
vóssufocareisyou (pl.) will suffocate
vocêssufocarãoyou (pl.) will suffocate
eles/elassufocarãothey will suffocate

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 sufocadoI have suffocated
tutens sufocadoyou have suffocated
vocêtem sufocadoyou have suffocated
ele/elatem sufocadohe/she/it has suffocated
nóstemos sufocadowe have suffocated
vóstendes sufocadoyou (pl.) have suffocated
vocêstêm sufocadoyou (pl.) have suffocated
eles/elastêm sufocadothey have suffocated

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 sufocadoI had suffocated
tutinhas sufocadoyou had suffocated
vocêtinha sufocadoyou had suffocated
ele/elatinha sufocadohe/she/it had suffocated
nóstínhamos sufocadowe had suffocated
vóstínheis sufocadoyou (pl.) had suffocated
vocêstinham sufocadoyou (pl.) had suffocated
eles/elastinham sufocadothey had suffocated

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

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 sufocadoI will have suffocated
tuterás sufocadoyou will have suffocated
vocêterá sufocadoyou will have suffocated
ele/elaterá sufocadohe/she/it will have suffocated
nósteremos sufocadowe will have suffocated
vóstereis sufocadoyou (pl.) will have suffocated
vocêsterão sufocadoyou (pl.) will have suffocated
eles/elasterão sufocadothey will have suffocated

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
eusufoque
tusufoques
vocêsufoque
ele/elasufoque
nóssufoquemos
vóssufoqueis
vocêssufoquem
eles/elassufoquem

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
eusufocasse
tusufocasses
vocêsufocasse
ele/elasufocasse
nóssufocássemos
vóssufocásseis
vocêssufocassem
eles/elassufocassem

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
tusufoca
vocêsufoque
ele/elasufoque
nóssufoquemos
vóssufocai
vocêssufoquem
eles/elassufoquem

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 sufoques
vocênão sufoque
ele/elanão sufoque
nósnão sufoquemos
vósnão sufoqueis
vocêsnão sufoquem
eles/elasnão sufoquem