Por que se usa o termo "simples (com plural)" em tudos os tempos ??
Hi everyone. These days I refer to the conjugation tables of Portuguese (PT) verbs from the book "Les verbes portugais -- formes et emplois", ISBN 978-2-218-93177-2, which is from the Bescherelle collection of the foreign-language series.
From there, I have found one thing that is quite confusing: Whenever they refer to a tense in "simple" form, they ALWAYS use "simples" (in plural form) but NOT "simple", even though it refers to simply a singular tense form. For instance,
simple past tense = pretérito perfeito simples
simple past pluperfect tense = pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples
simple future of present tense = futuro do presente simples
simple future of past tense = futuro do pretérito simples
Why is it expressed in such a way? I appreciate that someone may kindly explain the reasons. Many thanks in advance.