The pretérito imperfeito is Brazilian Portuguese's past tense for actions that were ongoing, habitual, or part of the background — what was going on, what used to happen, how things were. It stands opposite the pretérito perfeito, which reports single completed events. If the perfeito answers what happened?, the imperfeito answers what was going on? and what used to happen? Mastering when to use each is the single most-tested skill at the intermediate level.
Imperfeito vs. perfeito in one line
- Pretérito perfeito = a finished event. Ontem eu cozinhei. — "Yesterday I cooked." (one completed act)
- Pretérito imperfeito = an ongoing or repeated past situation. Antigamente eu cozinhava todo dia. — "I used to cook every day." (repeated, habitual)
Ontem eu cozinhei um jantar especial.
Yesterday I cooked a special dinner.
Quando eu morava com meus pais, eu cozinhava todo dia.
When I lived with my parents, I cooked every day.
The first sentence is a single event with a clear endpoint. The second describes a whole stretch of time with no particular boundary — a habit. Same verb, two different pasts.
The big insight: one tense, two English meanings
Here is the point that trips up nearly every English speaker. English splits the imperfeito's territory into two separate constructions:
- "I used to play" (habitual past)
- "I was playing" (ongoing past)
Brazilian Portuguese covers both of these with the single form eu brincava. The context — not the verb — tells you which English version fits.
Quando eu era criança, eu brincava na rua.
When I was a child, I used to play in the street.
Eu brincava no quintal quando começou a chover.
I was playing in the yard when it started to rain.
Same verb form, brincava, in both. In the first, the natural English is "used to play" (habitual); in the second, "was playing" (ongoing at a specific moment). Portuguese does not distinguish them morphologically, so do not look for two different verb forms — there is only one, and you choose the English translation based on context.
Brazilian imperfeito is remarkably regular
Here is welcome news after the chaos of the perfeito's many irregular verbs: the imperfeito is almost entirely regular. There are exactly four irregular verbs in the whole language:
| Infinitive | Imperfeito (eu) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ser | era | fully irregular (suppletive) |
| ter | tinha | regular once you accept the -inh- stem |
| vir | vinha | regular once you accept the -inh- stem |
| pôr | punha | regular once you accept the -unh- stem |
Every other verb in the language — including notorious irregulars like fazer, dizer, poder, ir, and estar — is perfectly regular in the imperfeito. The verb ir becomes ia, fazer becomes fazia, poder becomes podia. No surprises.
Eu ia à praia todo fim de semana quando morava no litoral.
I used to go to the beach every weekend when I lived on the coast.
A gente fazia bolo de fubá toda tarde de domingo.
We used to make cornmeal cake every Sunday afternoon.
This regularity is a gift. Once you learn two endings (one for -ar verbs, one shared by -er and -ir verbs) plus era, you can conjugate essentially the entire language in the imperfeito.
The three main uses
1. Habitual past — "used to"
Repeated, customary actions in the past. Often paired with markers like antigamente (in the old days), sempre (always), todo dia (every day), naquela época (back then).
Antigamente, a gente brincava na rua até de noite.
Back in the day, we used to play in the street until nighttime.
Meu avô sempre contava histórias da fazenda.
My grandfather always used to tell stories about the farm.
2. Ongoing past — "was -ing"
An action in progress at a past moment, often interrupted by a perfeito event.
Estava chovendo quando saí de casa.
It was raining when I left home.
3. Background description — setting the scene
Describing how things, people, or states were — physical traits, age, weather, feelings, the time of day.
Ela tinha cabelo longo e usava óculos.
She had long hair and wore glasses.
Era uma noite fria e a rua estava deserta.
It was a cold night and the street was deserted.
These three uses share a common thread: none of them is a single, bounded, completed event. They are all about duration, repetition, or a state that simply was — which is exactly the imperfeito's job.
A fourth, softer use: politeness
The imperfeito also softens requests and statements, making them sound more polite and less blunt — much like English "I wanted" or "I was wondering" instead of the abrupt "I want."
Queria um café, por favor.
I'd like a coffee, please. (literally: I wanted a coffee)
Eu queria falar com você um minutinho.
I'd like to talk to you for a minute.
Saying quero um café ("I want a coffee") is perfectly grammatical but can sound abrupt; the imperfeito queria puts a polite cushion around the request. This is informal-to-neutral register and extremely common in everyday Brazilian speech, especially at counters, shops, and cafés.
Common Mistakes
❌ Quando eu era criança, eu brincei na rua todo dia.
Incorrect — 'todo dia' signals a habit, which requires the imperfeito, not the perfeito.
✅ Quando eu era criança, eu brincava na rua todo dia.
When I was a child, I played in the street every day.
❌ Eu estava jogando futebol quando eu usava jogar muito.
Incorrect — inventing a separate form for 'used to'; both 'was playing' and 'used to play' are just the imperfeito.
✅ Eu jogava futebol toda semana naquela época.
I used to play soccer every week back then.
❌ Ontem eu cozinhava um jantar especial.
Incorrect — a single finished event needs the perfeito, not the imperfeito.
✅ Ontem eu cozinhei um jantar especial.
Yesterday I cooked a special dinner.
❌ Quero falar com o gerente agora mesmo, por favor.
Technically correct but can sound demanding in a polite request.
✅ Queria falar com o gerente, por favor.
I'd like to speak with the manager, please. (softer, more courteous)
Key Takeaways
- The imperfeito covers ongoing, habitual, and background past — not single completed events.
- One Portuguese form covers both English "used to" and "was -ing"; choose the English by context, not by hunting for two Portuguese tenses.
- The imperfeito is almost entirely regular: only ser, ter, vir, pôr are irregular, and three of those are predictable.
- The "polite imperfeito" (queria) is an everyday courtesy device worth learning early.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Pretérito Perfeito vs Imperfeito: OverviewA2 — The central contrast in the Portuguese past: perfeito for completed events that move the story forward, imperfeito for ongoing, habitual, and background states.
- Imperfeito: Regular -ar VerbsA2 — How to conjugate regular -ar verbs in the pretérito imperfeito, including the identical 1sg and 3sg forms.
- Imperfeito: Regular -er and -ir VerbsA2 — How -er and -ir verbs share a single imperfeito paradigm, and how to keep it distinct from the conditional.
- Imperfeito of SerA2 — How to conjugate ser (era) in the pretérito imperfeito — the only fully suppletive imperfeito verb in Brazilian Portuguese.
- Imperfeito for Habitual PastA2 — Using the imperfect to express what used to happen — repeated, habitual, or customary actions in the past.
- Pretérito Perfeito in NarrativeA2 — How the pretérito perfeito chains together to move a story forward, and how it works against the imperfeito for background.