Portuguese has three "simple" subjunctive tenses — present (que eu fale), imperfect (que eu falasse), and future (quando eu falar). For each one there is a compound partner built with the auxiliary ter plus a past participle. The compound versions all do the same conceptual job: they mark an action as finished before the reference point set by the main clause. This page maps the three of them side by side so you can see the system; each has its own dedicated page for the details.
English speakers find these tenses surprisingly approachable, because English already does the same thing with "have/had + participle" ("I hope he has arrived," "I wish she had come"). The mechanics line up almost one-to-one. The hard part is simply remembering that the auxiliary itself goes into the subjunctive.
The pattern: ter (in some subjunctive) + past participle
Every compound subjunctive is ter conjugated in one of the three simple subjunctive tenses, followed by an invariable past participle (falado, comido, partido, feito, visto…). The participle never agrees in these compound tenses — que ela tenha falado, que eles tenham falado, all with plain falado.
| Tense | ter goes in… | Example (3sg, falar) | Rough English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pretérito perfeito do subjuntivo | present subjunctive (tenha) | que ele tenha falado | that he has spoken / spoke |
| Pretérito mais-que-perfeito do subjuntivo | imperfect subjunctive (tivesse) | que ele tivesse falado | that he had spoken |
| Futuro composto do subjuntivo | future subjunctive (tiver) | quando ele tiver falado | when he has spoken / will have spoken |
1. Pretérito perfeito do subjuntivo — tenha falado
Use it when the main clause is in the present (or future), and the subordinate action happened before it. The full paradigm of ter here is tenha, tenhas, tenha, tenhamos, tenham.
Espero que ele tenha chegado em segurança.
I hope he has arrived safely.
Duvido que eles tenham entendido o recado.
I doubt they understood the message.
É possível que ela já tenha saído.
It's possible she has already left.
In all three, the hoping/doubting/judging is happening now, while the arriving, understanding, and leaving are framed as already complete. Compare the non-compound espero que ele chegue ("I hope he arrives" — still ahead) with espero que ele tenha chegado ("I hope he has arrived" — already done, I just don't know the outcome).
2. Pretérito mais-que-perfeito do subjuntivo — tivesse falado
Here ter goes in the imperfect subjunctive: tivesse, tivesses, tivesse, tivéssemos, tivessem. This is the tense of past counterfactuals and past regrets — the action that didn't happen but could have. It pairs naturally with the conditional composto (teria feito) in se-clauses.
Eu queria que ela tivesse vindo à festa.
I wish she had come to the party.
Se eu tivesse sabido, eu teria avisado você.
If I had known, I would have warned you.
Foi uma pena que vocês não tivessem ficado mais um pouco.
It was a shame you didn't stay a bit longer.
Note tivéssemos for nós — that accent on the antepenult is the standard 1st-person-plural form (tivéssemos chegado), and dropping it is a common error.
3. Futuro composto do subjuntivo — tiver falado
Here ter goes in the future subjunctive: tiver, tiveres, tiver, tivermos, tiverem. Use it after future-time conjunctions (quando, depois que, assim que) when the subordinate action will be finished before the future moment of the main clause.
Quando você tiver terminado, me avise.
When you have finished, let me know.
Depois que todos tiverem votado, divulgamos o resultado.
After everyone has voted, we'll release the result.
Assim que eu tiver lido o contrato, te dou uma resposta.
As soon as I have read the contract, I'll give you an answer.
The plain future subjunctive (quando você terminar) would also work and is more common in casual speech; the compound (quando você tiver terminado) is reached for when the speaker wants to stress completion before the next event.
A side-by-side feel for anteriority
The single idea uniting all three is anteriority: the subordinate action sits earlier on the timeline than the main clause's reference point. Watch the same verb shift across the three:
| Main clause time | Anterior subjunctive | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| present | tenha chegado | Espero que ele tenha chegado. |
| past | tivesse chegado | Eu esperava que ele tivesse chegado. |
| future | tiver chegado | Quando ele tiver chegado, a gente sai. |
These are alive in Brazil — more than in Spanish
A note for learners coming from Spanish: do not assume these compounds are bookish. Colloquial Latin-American Spanish often avoids its compound subjunctives (haya hablado, hubiera hablado) in casual speech. Brazilian Portuguese keeps them active and necessary in ordinary, moderately careful speech. Espero que tenha dado tudo certo ("I hope everything went well"), queria que você tivesse me contado ("I wish you'd told me"), and quando eu tiver acabado are things people genuinely say, not literary relics. You will sound off if you flatten them.
Common Mistakes
❌ Espero que ele chegou em segurança.
Incorrect — indicative 'chegou' after 'espero que'; needs subjunctive.
✅ Espero que ele tenha chegado em segurança.
I hope he has arrived safely.
❌ Eu queria que ela tinha vindo à festa.
Incorrect — indicative pluperfect 'tinha vindo' in a subjunctive context.
✅ Eu queria que ela tivesse vindo à festa.
I wish she had come to the party.
❌ Se eu teria sabido, eu teria avisado.
Incorrect — conditional 'teria' in the 'se' clause; the condition takes the mais-que-perfeito do subjuntivo.
✅ Se eu tivesse sabido, eu teria avisado.
If I had known, I would have warned you.
❌ Quando você terá terminado, me avise.
Incorrect — synthetic future after 'quando'; future-time clauses take the future subjunctive (here the compound).
✅ Quando você tiver terminado, me avise.
When you have finished, let me know.
❌ Eu queria que nós tivessemos chegado mais cedo.
Incorrect — missing the accent; the 1pl form is 'tivéssemos'.
✅ Eu queria que nós tivéssemos chegado mais cedo.
I wish we had arrived earlier.
Key Takeaways
- Three compounds, one formula: ter in a subjunctive tense
- past participle
- Each compound is the anterior partner of a simple subjunctive: present → tenha falado, imperfect → tivesse falado, future → tiver falado.
- They all encode anteriority — the subordinate action finished before the main clause's reference point.
- In Brazilian Portuguese these are everyday forms, not literary fossils; keep them in your active speech.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Pretérito Perfeito do SubjuntivoB1 — How to form and use 'tenha falado' — the present subjunctive of 'ter' plus a past participle — to say that something happened before the present moment of hoping, doubting, or judging.
- Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito do SubjuntivoB1 — How to form and use 'tivesse falado' — the imperfect subjunctive of 'ter' plus a past participle — the tense of past counterfactuals, regret, and hindsight in Brazilian Portuguese.
- Futuro Composto do SubjuntivoB2 — How to form and use 'tiver falado' — the future subjunctive of 'ter' plus a past participle — to mark an action that will be finished before a future reference point.
- Sequence of Tenses with SubjunctiveB2 — How the tense of the main verb decides which subjunctive tense follows — the predictable matching rule that lets you choose 'venha', 'viesse', or 'tenha vindo' automatically.
- Compound Tenses OverviewB1 — A map of the Brazilian Portuguese compound tenses, all built with ter + past participle, and why haver as an auxiliary is essentially literary.