Quando (When) | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Quando means when. As a question word it is wonderfully simple — it does not change form, it does not agree with anything, and it sits right at the front of the question just like English when. The interesting part is what happens when you attach prepositions to it (desde quando, até quando, pra quando) and, crucially, what happens when quando stops being a question and becomes a conjunction pointing at the future — because then Brazilian Portuguese reaches for a tense English doesn't have: the future subjunctive.

Quando as a question word

Drop quando in front of a normal question and you're done. No special word order beyond fronting the question word, and the verb stays in whatever tense the meaning requires.

Quando você chega?

When do you arrive? / When are you arriving?

Quando começa o jogo?

When does the game start?

Quando foi a última vez que você foi ao dentista?

When was the last time you went to the dentist?

You'll also hear the emphatic quando é que, which adds a bit of insistence or impatience — roughly English "when exactly" or "when on earth."

Quando é que você vai me pagar o que me deve?

When exactly are you going to pay me back what you owe me?

This ... é que structure is a general Brazilian device for adding emphasis to any wh-question (compare o que é que, por que é que, onde é que). It is informal but extremely common in speech.

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Quando é que...? is the spoken, slightly impatient version of a plain quando question. It's informal — fine for conversation, less so for formal writing.

Quando + prepositions: pinning down the edges of time

A plain quando asks for a point in time. Attach a preposition and you ask about the boundaries of a time span — when it starts, when it ends, when it's due.

Desde quando — "since when" — asks for the starting point of something ongoing.

Desde quando você fuma?

Since when have you been smoking?

Desde quando isso é problema seu?

Since when is this any of your business?

That second sentence shows a flavor English shares: desde quando can be genuinely informational or it can be a pointed, almost indignant challenge — exactly like "since when?".

Até quando — "until when / how long" — asks for the end point.

Até quando você fica na cidade?

How long are you staying in town? / Until when are you here?

Até quando vamos aguentar isso?

How much longer are we going to put up with this?

Pra quando / para quando — "for when / by when" — asks for a deadline or scheduled date.

Pra quando é o casamento?

When's the wedding (set for)?

In careful writing you'd write para quando; in speech and texting pra quando is universal. Both are correct; only the register differs.

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Think of the prepositions as marking the timeline: desde quando = the left edge (start), até quando = the right edge (end), pra quando = the target date (deadline).

Quando as a conjunction — and the future subjunctive

Here is where Portuguese diverges sharply from English. When quando stops asking a question and instead introduces a clause ("when X happens, then Y"), it becomes a temporal conjunction. And if that clause refers to the future, Portuguese does not use the present tense the way English does — it uses the future subjunctive.

In English we say "When he arrives, call me" — present tense, even though the arriving hasn't happened yet. Portuguese marks that not-yet-real future event explicitly:

Quando ele chegar, me avisa.

When he arrives, let me know.

Quando eu tiver tempo, eu te ligo.

When I have time, I'll call you.

A gente resolve isso quando você voltar.

We'll sort this out when you get back.

Those forms — chegar, tiver, voltar — are the future subjunctive, not the infinitive (even though for regular verbs they look identical to the infinitive). The logic is the core logic of the subjunctive everywhere: the event is not yet a fact. "When he arrives" describes something that hasn't happened and might not happen exactly as planned, so Portuguese flags it as hypothetical-future. English simply doesn't grammaticalize this distinction, which is why English speakers consistently undershoot it.

By contrast, when quando introduces a habitual or past clause — something real and recurring — you use the indicative, just like English:

Quando chove, o trânsito fica um caos.

When it rains, traffic becomes chaos. (habitual — indicative)

Quando eu era criança, a gente morava no interior.

When I was a kid, we lived in the countryside. (past — indicative)

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The decision rule for quando as a conjunction: pointing at a single future event? Use the future subjunctive (quando chegar, quando tiver). Describing a habit or the past? Use the indicative (quando chove, quando eu era).

Answering a quando question

Answers use time expressions — adverbs, dates, or quando + clause. Some everyday building blocks: agora (now), hoje (today), amanhã (tomorrow), depois (later), na semana que vem (next week), daqui a pouco (in a little while).

— Quando você chega? — Daqui a uns vinte minutos.

— When do you arrive? — In about twenty minutes.

Common Mistakes

❌ Quando ele chega, me avisa. (meaning a future event)

Incorrect for future — uses present indicative

✅ Quando ele chegar, me avisa.

When he arrives, let me know.

This is the number-one transfer error from English. Because English uses the present ("when he arrives"), learners say chega instead of the future subjunctive chegar. For a future event introduced by quando, you need chegar.

❌ Por quando é o casamento?

Incorrect — wrong preposition for a deadline

✅ Pra quando é o casamento?

When's the wedding set for?

A deadline or scheduled date takes para/pra, not por. Por quando is not a standard combination.

❌ Quando que você vai? (in writing)

Acceptable in casual speech, but reduced

✅ Quando é que você vai? / Quando você vai?

When are you going?

In fast speech people drop the é, saying "Quando que você vai?". It's understood, but the full quando é que (or plain quando) is what you want in writing.

❌ Até quando você fica? — respondendo: Por dois dias.

The answer mixes 'por' oddly

✅ Até quando você fica? — Até sexta.

Until when are you staying? — Until Friday.

An até quando question is most naturally answered with até + a time (até sexta, até o fim do mês), mirroring the preposition in the question.

Key Takeaways

quando = when, invariable, fronted just like English.
desde quando (since when), até quando (until when / how long), pra quando (by/for when) pin down the edges of a time span.
quando é que adds emphasis and is informal.
As a conjunction pointing at the future, quando triggers the future subjunctive (quando chegar), where English keeps the present — this is the key thing to internalize.
Habitual or past quando clauses stay in the indicative.

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