Verbs are the most variable words in the Portuguese Language, so they are much more complex than the English verbs. Portuguese verbs vary on mood, tense, voice, number and aspect.

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Mood

Any verb that expresses a desire in some form can be used to introduce the subjunctive. Doubt, denial, emotion, wish, hope, suggestion, certainty, supposition, recommendation are other examples. It is also used after indirect commands. In Portugual, the subjunctive (subjunctivo) is called the conjunctive (conjuntivo). (More details below).

The Indicative Mood is the opposite and refers to statements of fact or certainty.

The Imperative Mood is used for commands.

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Tense

The present, preterite, and future tenses refer to a fact that is occurring in the moment in which one is speaking, before the moment in which one is speaking, or after the moment in which one is speaking, respectively.

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Aspect

The aspect is the speaker's point of view of the action expressed by the verb. The word Imperfect comes from the Latin "imperfectum" which means not completed. This is often a source of confusion when studying Portuguese because this has no relation at all with what is considered the imperfect aspect of a verb.

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Mood, Tense, and Aspect

The following table explains each of the the moods, tenses and aspects of Portuguese verbs. The first four columns represents a typology often found in Portuguese grammar books. As they are best understood when they are used together, the following table displays all the variations¹:

Mood	Tense	Aspect	simple/compound	Verb in Portuguese	Explanation
Indicative	Present	N/A	N/A	estudo	Action in the present
Indicative	Preterite	Imperfect	N/A	estudava; estava estudando	Action began, continued and ended in the past. It relates to a continuous action or describes the state of things over a period of time in the past. Note: Also known as the Imperfect Indicative.
Indicative	Preterite	Perfect	simple	estudei	A single action completed in the past. Note: Also known as the Preterite Indicative.
Indicative	Preterite	Perfect	compound	tenho estudado; estiveram estudado|| An action started in the past and continuing into the present. Note: Also known as Present Perfect Progressive/Continuous Indicative2.
Indicative	Preterite	Pluperfect	simple	estudara	An action in the past before another action in the past. Largely a literary form. In English, only the compound form exists (see next item below) Note: Also known as Simple Pluperfect Indicative.
Indicative	Preterite	Pluperfect	compound	Tinha estudado	An action in the past before another action in the past (just like in English). Note: Also known as Past Perfect or Pluperfect Indicative.
Indicative	Future	Of the Present	simple	estudarei/vou estudar	An action that will happen in the future
Indicative	Future	Of the Present	compound	terei estudado; vou ter estudado	An action in the future in relation to another action in the future. Note: Also known as the Future Perfect Indicative.
Indicative	Future	Of the Preterite	simple	estudaria	An action intended in the future. Note: Some grammar books refer to this as the conditional mood or simple conditional or just conditional.
Indicative	Future	Of the Preterite	compound	teria estudado	An action intended in the future. Note: Also known as the Conditional Perfect.
Subjunctive	Present	N/A	N/A	desire, doubt, hope, emotion, suggestion, that one has now about a present or future action. Also for indirect commands.
Subjunctive	Preterite	Imperfect	N/A	estudasse	desire, doubt, hope, emotion, suggestion, about an action in the past, present, or future. This is always used in the subordinate clause with the verb in the main clause usually being in the Imperfect Indicative, the Preterite Indicative, the Conditional, or Present.
Subjunctive	Preterite	Perfect	N/A	tenha estudado	desire, doubt, hope, emotion, suggestion, about a fact in the past supposedly concluded or a fact in the future terminated in relation to another fact in the future. Always conjugated with help of verb ter. Note: Also known as Present Perfect Subjunctive.
Subjunctive	Preterite	Pluperfect	N/A	tivesse estudado	desire, doubt, hope, emotion, suggestion, about an action in the past before another action in the past or a past condition in relation to a fact in the past that hasn't occurred. Also, what you would have done in the past if things had been different. Note: Also known as the Past Perfect Subjunctive or Pluperfect Subjunctive.
Subjunctive	Future	N/A	simple	estudar	desire, doubt, hope, emotion, suggestion, about the eventuality of a future action.3 It can also be used for uncertain present reality (details below).
Subjunctive	Future	N/A	compound	tiver estudado	desire, doubt, hope, emotion, suggestion, about the eventuality of a future action. Note: Also known as the Future Perfect Subjunctive.
Imperative	Present	N/A	N/A	estudem	commands
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	estarei estudando	Future Progressive/Continuous. An action starting in the future and continuing in the future usually in relation to some other future event.
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	tinha estado estudando	Past Perfect Progressive/Continuous. An action starting in the past and continuing in the past and ending in the past usually in relation to some other past event. These longer constructions are not very natural-sounding and occur infrequently.
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	estudei	Past Perfect. An action starting in the past and continuing up to the present where it stops. There is no correspondence in Portuguese so the simple preterite is used. The only exception to this is "should have studied" -- devia ter estudado

¹ There are some special treatments of participles (see below).
² There are other ways of forming this tense by using the present indicative (e.g. estudo) with other contextualizing elements in the sentence such as (e.g. Ha um ano, desde que, ha mais de dois anos). Also there is no form in the imperative to say "has studied" and it is usually expresses with "ja" as in "ja estudou"
³ The future subjunctive is formed by taking the 3rd person past tense form of any verb and dropping the "am". For the 1st person plural add "mos" and for the 3rd person plural add "em".

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More on Participles

The verb forms with participles are those with "estudado" listed above. Here are two important topics regarding participles:

• The participle stays the same in the active voice (like #1) but agrees with the subject in the passive voice (#2 and #4) except when using the passive voice with ter or haver (#3, #5, #6).

1. A professora ja tinha ido.
2. Algumas pessoas foram atingidas pelo meu carro.
3. Os cavalos nos quais eu tinha andado estavam vividos.
4. A rua foi feita um ano atras.
5. Os problemas tinham partido da minha alma.
6. A carta que eu havia escrito foi longa.

• Some verbs have two particple forms. Examples of verbs with two participles are:

aceitar - aceitado - aceito
acender - acendido - aceso
contundir - contundido - contuso
eleger - elegido - eleito
entregar - entregado - entregue
enxugar - enxugado - enxuto
expulsar - expulsado - expulso
imprimir - imprimido - impresso
limpar - limpado - limpo
murchar - murchado - murcho
suspender - suspendido - suspenso
tingir - tingido - tinto
findar - findado - findo
isentar - isentado - isento
matar - matado - morto
salvar - salvado - salvo
segurar - segurado - seguro
soltar - soltado - solto
benzer - benzido - bento
morrer - morrido - morto
prender - prendido - preso
suspender - suspendido - suspenso
emergir - emergido - emerso
expelir - expelido - expulso
exprimir - exprimido - expresso
inserir - inserido - inserto
omitir - omitido - omisso
submergir - submergido - submerso
juntar - juntado - junto
trazer - trazido - trago


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Nominal Forms

These are forms of a verb that are characterized by not having an indication of time or of mood depending always on the context in which they're found. In these nominal forms, the verbs can themselves function as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

Infinitive	Infinitivo	When expressing the idea of the action of the verb, the infinitive is used. Just like in English, it is also used as the name of the verb. This comes in two forms, the personal and the impersonal. The former is when it refers to a subject and the latter when it doesn't.
Participle	Particípio	Used to form compound tenses. This represents the result of the action expressed by the verb and accumulating the characteristics of the verb as an adjective. You have eyes buried...(poetically). Tens os olhos encovados...
Gerund	Gerúndio	A type of Present Participle which is using in special conjugations called Conjugações Perifrásticas. This is the function of the verb being expressed as an adverb or adjective. Chegando a manha, continuamos.

More on the Infinitive:

The infinitive has many uses. The impersonal infinitive has one form: the one you see in the dictionary that ends in –ar, -er, or –ir. Here are some uses of the impersonal infinitive:

• Driving (Dirigir) is fun. – when it is the subject of clauses
• I need to drive (dirigir). I am going to drive (vou dirigir) – coupled with other verbs.
• I am learning now. (estou a aprender). This is another form of the present continuous and is the same as “estou aprendendo”.
• I am happy being (ficar) with you. – Complementing nouns and adjectives.
• They were forced to stop. (Eles foram forcados a parar). verb in the passive voice with preposition is followed by the impersonal infinitive.
• I stated that I was prepared (disse estar preparadas) for the examination. When the main and subordinating clauses have the same subject.
• And he yelled, “Stop” (Parar) substituting for the imperative

There are also Personal Infinitives which are less used in spoken language than in writing. They are used when there are infinitive verb constructions but the subject of this verb is not very clear. Therefore the infinfitive is "personalized" to make clear who the subject is. It is formed by:

• Adding a subject in front of the singular infinitive forms:
  • Eu sair Before I leave, I want to talk to her.
  • Voce sair Before you leave, I want to talk to her.

• Adding endings to the plural infinitive forms:
  • infinitive + mos for first person plural
  • infinitive + em for third person plural

Here are some uses for the personal infinitive:

• They regret that we are (estarmos) not here. When the main and subordinating clauses have different subjects.
• It’s necessary for me to buy (eu comprar) another car. It’s easy for them to arrive (elas chegarem) early. It’s impossible for you to leave now (voce entrar) – Used after impersonal expressions. In these sentences “for” is not translated.
• When they opened (Ao abrirem eles) the card, they saw the picture. Used after ate, antes de, depois de, ao (translated as when or upon), a fim de, sem, para

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Voice

In English	In Portuguese	Description
Active Voice	Voz Ativa	The subject performs the action expressed in the verb. Eu te vejo. I see you.
Passive Voice	Voz Passiva	The direct object of the active voice corresponds to the subject of the passive voice. Pedro foi dirigido por Miguel. (Peter was driven by Miguel).
Reflexive Voice	Voz Reflexiva	The direct object or the indirect object is the same person as the subject. Eu me feri. I wound myself.

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Number

In English	In Portuguese	Description
Singular	Singular	Used when the subject of the verb is one person or thing, e.g. I, you, he, she
Plural	Plural	Used when the subject of the verb is more than one person or thing, e.g. we, you(plural), they

For learning Portuguese Category Uncategorized Level Unspecified Second language English Created Apr 15, 2008 10:33 Views 973 Share:

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