The preterite

Há + PPS

= ago; e.g. Ela viveu em Lisboa há 5 anos - She lived in Lisbon five years ago.

Já + PPS

= Have you… (yet)?; E.g. Já foste ao Japão? - Have you been to Japan?

Já foste ao Japão?

• If yes, answer with «Já, já fui» / «Sim, já fui»

• If no, «Não, ainda não fui»

Já + preterite (positive)

= I have already (done something)…

Ainda não + preterite (negative)

= I haven’t done … (yet)

Nunca + preterite

= I have never done..

3rd person singular of verbs in PPS…

…always end in «u» (for regular verbs)

Pronoun placement in the PPS only becomes difficult…

…in the nós, vocês, eles/as forms due to a lack of double vowels.

All -ear ending verbs…

…are regular (1)

All -uir ending verbs…

…are regular (2)

«Cair» and «sair» are…

…regular. However, the majority of verb forms need an «í» accent due to the diphthongs.

Verbs with -çar ending are…

…irregular in the first person (for phonetic reasons); e.g. eu comecei, tu começaste…

Verbs with -car ending are…

…irregular in the first person; e.g. eu fiquei, tu ficaste

Verbs with -gar ending are…

…irregular in the first person; e.g. eu paguei, tu pagaste…

Preterite of há (haver)…

= houve. Means both «there was/were.. and «there has/have been»

«Durante is usually used with the preterite to say…

…«during» or «for». E.g. Esse pub esteve fechado durante a pandemia → That pub was shut during the pandemic.

I have just…

= PPS de acabar + de + verb. E.g. A Rita acabou de ser promovida → Rita has just been promoted

I went to…

= fui… No need for «a», not like Spanish.

Eu receio chegar atrasado/a - I’m afraid of arriving late

*No change - doesn’t trigger subjunctive, keep the verb in the infinitive form