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Preferir Conjugation

preferir means "to prefer" in Portuguese. Present: eu prefiro, tu preferes, você / ele / ela prefere, nós preferimos, vocês / eles / elas preferem. Below: all 24 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present Presente

Stem + the basic person endings. Used for current facts, habits, general truths, and (informally) near-future plans.

Present continuous Presente contínuo

estar (present) + gerund, for an action happening right now. In European Portuguese the gerund is replaced by "a" + infinitive: estou a falar instead of estou falando; both mean "I am speaking".

Preterite (simple past) Pretérito perfeito

A dedicated past-tense stem and endings, for a single completed action or a chain of them (narration). This is the everyday Portuguese "past tense".

Imperfect Pretérito imperfeito

Stem + -va-/-ia- endings, for ongoing or habitual past action, background description, and "used to" meanings; also the polite "I wanted to ask..." softener.

Pluperfect (simple past-perfect) Pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

A single-word form (stem + -ra- endings) for an action completed before another past action. Literary/rare: today it belongs mostly to formal writing and fiction; everyday speech uses the compound form below instead.

Pluperfect (compound past-perfect) Pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

Imperfect of ter ("tinha") + past participle. The normal, everyday way to say "had done", for an action completed before another past action.

Present perfect Pretérito perfeito composto

Present of ter ("tenho") + past participle. This does NOT work like the English present perfect for a single past event — it means an action has been repeated or has been going on continuously up to now. "Tenho falado com ela" means "I've been talking with her (repeatedly/lately)", not "I have spoken with her" (once).

Future Futuro do presente

Infinitive + a single set of endings (-ei, -ás, -á, -emos, -ão), for the same infinitive across all three classes. Used in formal speech, writing, promises and predictions; everyday spoken Brazilian Portuguese usually prefers the periphrastic future below.

Periphrastic future ("going to") Futuro com "ir"

ir (present) + infinitive. This is the everyday spoken future in both Brazil and Portugal, exactly like English "going to", and is far more common in conversation than the synthetic future above.

Future perfect Futuro do presente composto

Future of ter ("terei") + past participle, for an action that will be completed before a future point. Mostly formal/written.

Conditional Futuro do pretérito (Condicional)

Infinitive + a single set of endings (-ia, -ias, -ia, -íamos, -iam), used for hypotheticals, polite requests, and "would" statements, and as the softened future in reported speech.

Conditional perfect Futuro do pretérito composto

Conditional of ter ("teria") + past participle, for "would have done", typically in the result clause of a hypothetical about the past.

Present subjunctive Presente do subjuntivo

Built from the eu form of the present indicative (drop the -o, add the "opposite" vowel: -ar verbs get -e endings, -er/-ir verbs get -a endings). Used after que with wishes, doubt, emotion, necessity, and after talvez.

Imperfect subjunctive Pretérito imperfeito do subjuntivo

Stem from the 3rd person plural preterite minus -ram, + -sse- endings. Used for hypotheses with se ("if I spoke"), and for wishes/doubts about the past.

Future subjunctive Futuro do subjuntivo

Same stem as the imperfect subjunctive, but with the endings of the infinitive minus -r (identical in form to the personal infinitive for regular verbs). Required, not optional, after quando, se and assim que when talking about a future event.

Present perfect subjunctive Pretérito perfeito do subjuntivo

Present subjunctive of ter ("tenha") + past participle, for doubt/emotion about something that may have already happened.

Pluperfect subjunctive Pretérito mais-que-perfeito do subjuntivo

Imperfect subjunctive of ter ("tivesse") + past participle, for a hypothetical about something completed before another past point.

Future perfect subjunctive Futuro composto do subjuntivo

Future subjunctive of ter ("tiver") + past participle, for a future event seen as already completed relative to another future event, after quando/se/assim que.

Affirmative imperative Imperativo afirmativo

The tu form drops the -s from the present indicative (fala, not falas); você/nós/vocês borrow the present subjunctive.

Negative imperative Imperativo negativo

não + the present subjunctive, for every person including tu (which does NOT use the affirmative's special form here).

Impersonal infinitive Infinitivo impessoal

The dictionary form, invariant regardless of subject. Used after modal/auxiliary verbs and prepositions when the subject is clear from context or unspecified.

Personal infinitive Infinitivo pessoal

The infinitive plus person endings identical in shape to the future subjunctive, used to mark the subject of an infinitive clause explicitly, especially after prepositions.

Gerund Gerúndio

Stem + -ando/-endo/-indo, invariant. Forms the continuous tenses with estar, and is used adverbially ("while doing...").

Participle Particípio

Stem + -ado/-ido, invariant when used to form compound tenses with ter; agrees in gender/number like an adjective when used with ser/estar for the passive voice (falado/falada/falados/faladas).

Examples

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