Portuguese Past Tense

22 de February de 2017

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

Portuguese Past Tense. Conjugation of verbs ending in AR: Eu falei, vocΓͺ falou, ele falou, nos falamos, vocΓͺs falaram, eles falaram.

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

NΓ³s jogamos futebol de praiaΒ 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 inΒ -ER

Portuguese Past Tense. ConjugaΓ§Γ£o dos verbos em ER: Eu bebi, vocΓͺ bebeu, ele bebeu, nΓ³s bebemos, vocΓͺs beberam, eles beberam.

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

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

NΓ³s 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.

 

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Verbs ending inΒ -IR

Portuguese Past Tense. PretΓ©rito Perfeito em PortuguΓͺs. ConjugaΓ§Γ£o dos verbos em IR: Eu dormi, vocΓͺ dormiu, ele dormiu, nΓ³s dormimos, vocΓͺs dormiram, eles dormiram.

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 famΓ­lia.
They decided to go to the family party.

VocΓͺs ouviram uma mΓΊsica no rΓ‘dio ontem.
You allΒ heard a song on the radio yesterday.

Verbs ending in -AIR

Portuguese Past Tense. Perfeito dos verbos terminados em AIR: Eu sai, vocΓͺ saiu, ele saiu, nΓ³s saΓ­mos, vocΓͺs saΓ­ram, eles saΓ­ram.

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

ElasΒ saΓ­ramΒ muitas vezes durante a viagem.
They went out many times during the trip.

VocΓͺ se distraiu durante o exercΓ­cio 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 –gueiΒ and –quei. Take a look at the conjugation of the verb chegar andΒ marcar:

Portuguese Past Tense. verbos em gar. eu cheguei, vocΓͺ chegou, ele/ela chegou, nΓ³s chegamos, vocΓͺs chegaram, eles chegaram.

Portuguese Past Tense. Verbo marcar. Eu marquei, vocΓͺ marcou, ele/ela marcou, nΓ³s marcamos, vocΓͺs marcaram, eles marcaram.

Examples

Eu marquei nosso encontro, mas vocΓͺ nΓ£o veio.
I marked our meeting but you didn’t show up.

Quando vocΓͺ 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
VocΓͺ esteve You were
Ele/ela esteve He was
NΓ³s estivemos We were
VocΓͺs estiveram You were
Eles estiveram They were

 

Eu fiz I did
VocΓͺ fez You did
Ele/ela fez He did
NΓ³s fizemos We did
VocΓͺs fizeram You did
Eles fizeram They did
Eu saΓ­ I left
VocΓͺ saiu You left
Ele/ela saiu He left
NΓ³s saΓ­mos We left
VocΓͺs saΓ­ram You left
Eles saΓ­ram They left

Here’s a list of other irregular verbs:

Read our Dica about irregular verbs to understand better.

Examples with irregular verbs Portuguese Past tense

Eu estive em NY no ΓΊltimo verΓ£o.
I was in NY last summer.Β 

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

Joaquina saiu cedo hoje.
Joaquina left early today.

Meu carro nΓ£o coube ali.
My car didn’t fit there.

Eles tentaram me fazer ir para a reabilitaΓ§Γ£o, eu disse nΓ£o.
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 pΓ΄deΒ aprender PortuguΓͺs em 30 dias.
Maxime was able to learn Portuguese in 30 days.

NΓ³s pusemos nossas bolsas na mesa.
We put our bags on the table.

Em vocΓͺ encontrei tudo que eu sempre quis.
I found in you what I alwaysΒ wanted.

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

Eles tiveram que cancelar a reuniΓ£o.
They had to call off the meeting.

NΓ³s trouxemos chocolate para vocΓͺ.
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 vocΓͺs fizeram no verΓ£o passado?
VocΓͺ jΓ‘ visitou o Rio de Janeiro? Quando?
O que seu melhor amigo fez ontem?
Que horas vocΓͺ saiu de casa na sexta-feira?
Se vocΓͺ vier ao Brasil, onde vocΓͺ vai estudar PortuguΓͺs?
O que vocΓͺ trouxe para aula ontem?
Que horas vocΓͺΒ saiu de casa hoje?

See you on our next Dica do Dia! Also, come see what we did in the past on our Instagram.
Hugs from Rio & Learn!

 width=Ler esta Dica em PortuguΓͺsΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β Β Leer esta Dica en EspaΓ±ol
Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
Verbs ending in AR in the past
Simple Past of Ser and Ir in Portuguese
Verbs in ER in the simple past
To see at Simple Past
Past form of the Verb Dizer
Perfeito and Imperfeito
Past Perfect and Imperfect in Portuguese