trocar — Portuguese conjugation

to exchange

Frequency#452Irregular

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
eutrocoI exchange
tutrocasyou exchange
vocêtrocayou exchange
ele/elatrocahe/she/it exchanges
nóstrocamoswe exchange
vóstrocaisyou (pl.) exchange
vocêstrocamyou (pl.) exchange
eles/elastrocamthey exchange

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
eutroqueiI exchanged
tutrocasteyou exchanged
vocêtrocouyou exchanged
ele/elatrocouhe/she/it exchanged
nóstrocamoswe exchanged
vóstrocastesyou (pl.) exchanged
vocêstrocaramyou (pl.) exchanged
eles/elastrocaramthey exchanged

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
eutrocava
tutrocavas
vocêtrocava
ele/elatrocava
nóstrocávamos
vóstrocáveis
vocêstrocavam
eles/elastrocavam

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
eutrocariaI would exchange
tutrocariasyou would exchange
vocêtrocariayou would exchange
ele/elatrocariahe/she/it would exchange
nóstrocaríamoswe would exchange
vóstrocaríeisyou (pl.) would exchange
vocêstrocariamyou (pl.) would exchange
eles/elastrocariamthey would exchange

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
eutrocareiI will exchange
tutrocarásyou will exchange
vocêtrocaráyou will exchange
ele/elatrocaráhe/she/it will exchange
nóstrocaremoswe will exchange
vóstrocareisyou (pl.) will exchange
vocêstrocarãoyou (pl.) will exchange
eles/elastrocarãothey will exchange

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 trocadoI have exchanged
tutens trocadoyou have exchanged
vocêtem trocadoyou have exchanged
ele/elatem trocadohe/she/it has exchanged
nóstemos trocadowe have exchanged
vóstendes trocadoyou (pl.) have exchanged
vocêstêm trocadoyou (pl.) have exchanged
eles/elastêm trocadothey have exchanged

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 trocadoI had exchanged
tutinhas trocadoyou had exchanged
vocêtinha trocadoyou had exchanged
ele/elatinha trocadohe/she/it had exchanged
nóstínhamos trocadowe had exchanged
vóstínheis trocadoyou (pl.) had exchanged
vocêstinham trocadoyou (pl.) had exchanged
eles/elastinham trocadothey had exchanged

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

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 trocadoI will have exchanged
tuterás trocadoyou will have exchanged
vocêterá trocadoyou will have exchanged
ele/elaterá trocadohe/she/it will have exchanged
nósteremos trocadowe will have exchanged
vóstereis trocadoyou (pl.) will have exchanged
vocêsterão trocadoyou (pl.) will have exchanged
eles/elasterão trocadothey will have exchanged

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
eutroque
tutroques
vocêtroque
ele/elatroque
nóstroquemos
vóstroqueis
vocêstroquem
eles/elastroquem

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
eutrocasse
tutrocasses
vocêtrocasse
ele/elatrocasse
nóstrocássemos
vóstrocásseis
vocêstrocassem
eles/elastrocassem

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
tutroca
vocêtroque
ele/elatroque
nóstroquemos
vóstrocai
vocêstroquem
eles/elastroquem

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 troques
vocênão troque
ele/elanão troque
nósnão troquemos
vósnão troqueis
vocêsnão troquem
eles/elasnão troquem