The preterit

Irregular auxiliary verbs

• The only difference between the conjugation of «estar» and «ter» in the preterite is the initial «es-».

• I = estive

• he/she = esteve

Time words + the preterite

• Overlap (sometimes) with Portuguese pretérito perfeito simples (PPS) and English past tenses (simple past + present perfect).

  a) Há + PPS = …ago

  • E.g. Ela vive em Lisboa há 5 anos - She has been living in Lisbon for five years.

  • Can also express that an action is complete

  • E.g. Ela viveu em Lisboa ha 5 anos - She lived in Lisbon five years ago.

  b) Já + PPS…? = Have you…?

  • Expresses «Have you done something yet?»

  • E.g. Já foste ao Japão? - Have you been to Japan?

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

  • If no, answer with: «Não, ainda não fui».

• Já + preterit (positive) = I have (already) done…/seen…

• Ainda não + preterit (negative) = I haven’t done…/seen… (yet)

• Nunca + preterit = I have never done…/seen…

Preterit perfect simple in the indicative of regular verbs

• *3rd person singular always ends in «u» for regular verbs

Pronoun placement & PPS

*Only difficult in last two persons.

• Algums exemplos:

  a) Já estudaste para o teste?

  b) As crianças já lavaram os dentes. Agora, vão para a cama.

  c) Ontem não comi nada.

  d) Anteontem, na feste, vocês beberam demasiado.

  e) A Marta escreveu uma carta à avó.

  f) O comboio partiu a horas.

  g) A Marta acordou tarde e, por isso, vestiu-se à pressa.

  h) Eles não se divertiram na festa.

  I) Ainda não pusemos a mesa.

Reflexive verbs and verbs with direct object pronoun (examples)

• *Remember: ela sentou-se = she sat, ela sentiu-se = she felt

• Exemplos:

  • Ontem deitaste-te às dez - yesterday, you went to bed at 10

  • Divertiste-te/divertiram-se na festa? - did you have fun at the party?

  • Não nos deítamos tarde - we didn’t go to bed late

  • Eles sentiram-se mal no ferry - they felt poorly on the ferry

PPS indicative of -ear ending verbs

• All -ear ending verbs are regular

• Common -ear ending verbs:

  • passear

  • recear - to be afraid, as in «I’m afraid the shop is shut»

PPS indicative of -uir ending verbs

• All -uir ending verbs are regular

• Common -uir verbs:

  • construir

  • destruir

• «Cair» and «sair» are also regular. However, the majority of the verb forms need an í accent because of the diphthong:

  • (with an accent)

  • (without an accent)

Verbs with -çar ending are irregular in the first person (for phonetic reasons); e.g. eu comecei, tu começaste…

Same for verbs with -car ending; e.g. eu fiquei, tu ficaste…

Same for verbs with -gar ending: e.g. eu paguei, tu pagaste

Irregular verbs (where the first and third persons are different)

Irregular verbs (where the first and third persons are the same)

Other notes:

• Preterit of há (haver) = houve. Means both «there was/were» and «there has/have been»

• «Durante» is usually used with the preterit to say «during» or «for»

  • Esse pub esteve fechado durante a pandemia - that pub was shut during the pandemic

  • Eles viveram em Bristol durante 4 anos - they lived in Bristol for four years

• I have just… = PPS de acabar + de + verb:

  • A Rita acabou de ser promovida - Rita has just been promoted

  • O comboio acabou de partir - The train has just left

  • A banda acabou de tocar - The band has just played

• I have been… = andar a + infinitive

  • Ando a ler um livro muito interessante - I have been reading a very interesting book

• I went to… - fui… (no need for «a», not like Spanish; same in future continuous, «I’m going to»)

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

  • ^no change - doesn’t trigger the subjunctive keep verb in the infinitive form