The conditional has a job that has nothing to do with "if" sentences: it reports a future intention that was expressed in the past. When you tell someone what another person said they would do, Portuguese uses the conditional — and it lines up almost perfectly with English would. This is the conditional's most reliable, most invisible use, because it survives unchanged across every register of Brazilian Portuguese.
The core idea: shifting a future into the past
Imagine someone makes a statement about the future:
Eu viajarei amanhã. — "I will travel tomorrow."
Now you report that statement later, in the past. The original future must shift back one step in time, because the "tomorrow" they spoke of is now anchored to a past moment. That backward-shifted future becomes the conditional:
Ele disse que viajaria no dia seguinte. — "He said he would travel the next day."
This is why grammar books call the conditional the futuro do pretérito — literally "the future of the past." It is a future seen from a vantage point that is itself in the past. English does exactly the same thing, turning will into would in reported speech, which is why the mapping feels automatic once you see it.
Direta: «Eu viajarei amanhã.» → Relatada: Ele disse que viajaria no dia seguinte.
Direct: 'I will travel tomorrow.' → Reported: He said he would travel the next day.
Direta: «Vou comprar a casa.» → Relatada: Ela disse que compraria a casa.
Direct: 'I'm going to buy the house.' → Reported: She said she would buy the house.
The mechanics of the tense shift
When the reporting verb is in the past (disse, falou, contou, prometeu, avisou), any future in the original quote shifts to the conditional in the report. Here is the pattern across several verbs:
| Direct quote (future) | Reported (conditional) |
|---|---|
| «Eu farei o relatório.» | Ele disse que faria o relatório. |
| «Nós chegaremos às oito.» | Eles avisaram que chegariam às oito. |
| «Vou te ligar.» | Ela prometeu que me ligaria. |
| «Vamos resolver isso.» | O chefe garantiu que resolveriam isso. |
| «Eu direi a verdade.» | Ele jurou que diria a verdade. |
Note that both the synthetic future (farei, chegaremos) and the colloquial ir + infinitive future (vou ligar, vamos resolver) collapse into the conditional when reported. The conditional is the single landing spot for any "future" being relayed from the past.
Ele disse que faria o relatório até sexta, mas não fez.
He said he would do the report by Friday, but he didn't.
Eles avisaram que chegariam às oito, então a gente esperou.
They warned that they'd arrive at eight, so we waited.
Ela prometeu que me ligaria assim que chegasse em casa.
She promised she'd call me as soon as she got home.
O chefe garantiu que a equipe resolveria o problema ainda hoje.
The boss assured us the team would solve the problem still today.
A médica explicou que os resultados sairiam na semana seguinte.
The doctor explained that the results would come out the following week.
Time and place words shift too
Reporting a future from the past usually drags the time and place markers along with it, just as in English. Amanhã ("tomorrow") becomes no dia seguinte ("the next day"); hoje becomes naquele dia; aqui becomes lá; este becomes aquele.
Direta: «Termino isso hoje.» → Relatada: Ele disse que terminaria aquilo naquele dia.
Direct: 'I'll finish this today.' → Reported: He said he would finish it that day.
Direta: «Volto amanhã.» → Relatada: Ela falou que voltaria no dia seguinte.
Direct: 'I'll come back tomorrow.' → Reported: She said she'd come back the next day.
This is the same adjustment English makes ("I'll come back tomorrow" → "she said she'd come back the next day"), so once again the instinct carries over. For the complete system of how every tense shifts in indirect speech, see reported-speech tense shifts and the reported-speech overview.
Why this use is so stable
On the hypothetical-situations page you learned that Brazilians often replace the conditional with the imperfect indicative in casual "if...would" sentences. That substitution does not happen here. In reported speech, the conditional holds firm in every register — formal writing, journalism, and ordinary spoken conversation alike. Nobody says Ele disse que viajava no dia seguinte to mean "he said he would travel"; that viajava would be read as the imperfect ("he said he used to travel"), which is a different meaning entirely.
Ele disse que viajaria no dia seguinte. (todos os registros)
He said he would travel the next day. (all registers — stable)
Watch out: reported future ≠ conditional in the original
Be careful to distinguish a reported future (which becomes the conditional) from a quote that was already conditional. If someone originally said "Eu compraria" ("I would buy"), the report just keeps the conditional — no shift, because there is no "future" to push back. The shift only happens when the original was a genuine future (comprarei / vou comprar).
Direta: «Eu compraria, mas tá caro.» → Relatada: Ele disse que compraria, mas estava caro.
Direct: 'I'd buy it, but it's expensive.' → Reported: He said he would buy it, but it was expensive. (no shift — already conditional)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ele disse que vai viajar no dia seguinte.
Incorrect after a past reporting verb — the future must shift to the conditional.
✅ Ele disse que viajaria no dia seguinte.
He said he would travel the next day.
❌ Ela prometeu que me liga quando chegar.
Incorrect — present 'liga' doesn't match the past reporting verb; use the conditional.
✅ Ela prometeu que me ligaria quando chegasse.
She promised she'd call me when she arrived.
❌ Ele disse que viajava no dia seguinte. (meaning 'would travel')
Incorrect — viajava reads as the imperfect ('used to travel'); reported future needs viajaria.
✅ Ele disse que viajaria no dia seguinte.
He said he would travel the next day.
❌ Ele disse que fazeria o relatório.
Incorrect — fazer is irregular: faria, not fazeria.
✅ Ele disse que faria o relatório.
He said he would do the report.
Key Takeaways
- A future statement reported after a past verb shifts to the conditional: Eu viajarei → Ele disse que viajaria.
- This mirrors English will → would exactly, including the time-word shifts (amanhã → no dia seguinte).
- Both the synthetic future and the ir
- infinitive future collapse into the conditional when reported.
- Unlike the hypothetical use, this use never takes the colloquial imperfect-indicative swap — the conditional is stable in every register.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Forming the ConditionalA2 — How to build the conditional tense in Brazilian Portuguese by adding endings to the full infinitive, including the three irregular stems.
- Tense Shifts in Reported SpeechB1 — The backshift system for Brazilian Portuguese — when the reporting verb is past, present becomes imperfect, preterite becomes pluperfect, future becomes conditional, and commands become 'que' + imperfect subjunctive.
- Reported (Indirect) Speech: OverviewB1 — How to turn someone's exact words into a report in Brazilian Portuguese — the reporting verbs dizer/falar que and perguntar se, plus the pronoun, time, and place shifts that come with changing perspective.
- Futuro do Presente Simples: FormationA2 — How to build the simple future in Brazilian Portuguese — endings added to the whole infinitive, the only three irregular stems, and why you mostly see it in writing.
- Conditional for Hypothetical SituationsB1 — Using the conditional in 'if...would' sentences, plus the colloquial Brazilian habit of replacing it with the imperfect indicative.