Portuguese Past Tense - A Dica do Dia, Portuguese for Foreigners

Hello galera! Ready for another Portuguese class?
Today in our super Dica do Dia, we will talk about the conjugation of the Portuguese Past Tense!

The Portuguese Past Tense is used to talk about a fact that occurred and was completed in a fixed period in the past. First of all, let’s learn the rule to conjugate the regular verbs of each ending in Portuguese.

For each ending we will see the conjugation and some examples of the Portuguese Past Tense. Ready?

Regular Verbs in Portuguese Past Tense

Verbs ending in -AR

Os alunos acabaram de comer e foram para a praia.
The students finished eating and went to the beach.

Nós jogamos futebol de praia na semana passada.
We played beach soccer last week.

Ela limpou toda a casa antes de dar a festa.
She cleaned the whole house before having the party.

You can find more examples in our Dica about verbs ending in AR in the past.

Verbs ending in -ER

Eles comeram tudo que estavam em cima da mesa.
They ate everything that was on the table.

Ela bebeu muitas caipirinhas no último Carnaval.
She drank many caipirinhas at the last Carnival.

Nós perdemos a corrida de carros.
We lost the car race.

You can find more examples in our Dica about verbs in ER in the simple past.

Verbs ending in -IR

A professora pediu que eles fizessem o dever de casa.
The teacher asked them to do their homework.

Eles decidiram ir para a festa da família.
They decided to go to the family party.

Vocês ouviram uma música no rádio ontem.
You all heard a song on the radio yesterday.

Verbs ending in -AIR

O menino caiu dentro do rio.
The boy fell into the river.

Elas saíram muitas vezes durante a viagem.
They went out many times during the trip.

Você se distraiu durante o exercício na escola.
You got distracted during the exercise at school.

Verbs ending in -GAR and -CAR

When we study verbs that end with -gar and -car we can observe that some changes happen. The correct termination to the first person is –guei and –quei. Take a look at the conjugation of the verb chegar and marcar:

Examples

Eu marquei nosso encontro, mas você não veio.
I marked our meeting but you didn’t show up.

Quando você saiu, eu cheguei.
When you left, I arrived.

Irregular Verbs in Portuguese Past Tense

As you probably know, we have a lot of irregular verbs in Portuguese. Let’s see how we conjugate some of them in the Simple Past In Portuguese:

Eu estive	I was
Você esteve	You were
Ele/ela esteve	He was
Nós estivemos	We were
Vocês estiveram	You were
Eles estiveram	They were

Eu fiz	I did
Você fez	You did
Ele/ela fez	He did
Nós fizemos	We did
Vocês fizeram	You did
Eles fizeram	They did

Eu saí	I left
Você saiu	You left
Ele/ela saiu	He left
Nós saímos	We left
Vocês saíram	You left
Eles saíram	They left

Here’s a list of other irregular verbs:

Caber (to fit)
Dizer (to say)
Ler (to read)
Poder (to be able)
Pôr (to put)
Querer (to want)
Saber (to know)
Ter (to have)
Trazer (to bring)
Ver(to see)

Read our Dica about irregular verbs to understand better.

Examples with irregular verbs Portuguese Past tense

Eu estive em NY no último verão.
I was in NY last summer.

Ele fez como eu disse a ele.
He did as I told him.

Joaquina saiu cedo hoje.
Joaquina left early today.

Meu carro não coube ali.
My car didn’t fit there.

Eles tentaram me fazer ir para a reabilitação, eu disse não.
They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no.

Eu li todos os livros da Clarice Lispector.
I read all Clarice Lispector’s books.

Maxime pôde aprender Português em 30 dias.
Maxime was able to learn Portuguese in 30 days.

Nós pusemos nossas bolsas na mesa.
We put our bags on the table.

Em você encontrei tudo que eu sempre quis.
I found in you what I always wanted.

Eu sempre soube que você era um problema.
I always knew that you were trouble.

Eles tiveram que cancelar a reunião.
They had to call off the meeting.

Nós trouxemos chocolate para você.
We brought chocolate for you.

Eu o vi ontem.
I saw him yesterday.

Now it’s your turn!

Now that we’ve learned the simple past in Portuguese it’s time to practice! So, answer the questions:

O que vocês fizeram no verão passado?
Você já visitou o Rio de Janeiro? Quando?
O que seu melhor amigo fez ontem?
Que horas você saiu de casa na sexta-feira?
Se você vier ao Brasil, onde você vai estudar Português?
O que você trouxe para aula ontem?
Que horas você saiu de casa hoje?