Pôr (To Put) — Full Conjugation

Pôr (with a circumflex, pronounced /poɾ/ with a closed "o") is the Portuguese verb for to put, to place. It is unlike any other verb you will meet: it is the only verb in modern Portuguese whose infinitive ends in -or rather than -ar, -er, or -ir. That lonely ending is a fossil — pôr descends directly from Latin ponere, and the whole paradigm preserves forms that other verbs have simplified away. Expect three stems (ponh-, põ-/po-, pus-) and the feeling that every single tense has some surprise waiting for you.

Despite (or because of) its strangeness, pôr is everyday vocabulary — you put the table (pôr a mesa), put makeup on (pôr maquilhagem), put a child to bed (pôr o miúdo a dormir), start doing something (pôr-se a rir = burst out laughing). Master it, and you also get a family of compound verbs — compor, propor, supor, opor-se, dispor, impor, repor, depor — all of which conjugate exactly the same way.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The 1sg uses the ponh- stem; 2sg and 3pl use põe-; 3sg is just põe; nós and vós use po-.

Note the tilde on põe and põem — they are nasalized diphthongs. Pões (2sg) also takes the tilde.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

A surprise: the stem here is punh-, a third stem that appears only in this tense. This is because Latin ponere had an imperfect ponebam, and Portuguese weakened it to punha.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Strong preterite with the pus- stem. Note the circumflex on pôs (3sg) — it marks the closed "ô" and distinguishes pôs (he put) from pus (I put). Without it, the form would look like the noun pós (meaning powders plural).

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

Literary. Built off the pus- stem.

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

Uses the irregular past participle posto.

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

The stem is po- (the circumflex of the infinitive disappears because the stress moves to the ending).

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Built off ponh- (from 1sg present ponho).

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Back to pus-.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Still pus-.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

Affirmative:

Negative:

The affirmative tu is põe (with tilde), not pões.

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Here the stress stays on the ô of the infinitive in the 1sg and 3sg (bare pôr), but when endings are added and stress moves, the circumflex drops.

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Mesoclisis — the pôr / por- phenomenon

Because mesoclitic pronouns (-lo-, -la-, -me-, -se-) are inserted between the stem and the ending of the future/conditional, the circumflex of the infinitive goes away when these clitics are attached. Compare:

• pôr (infinitive alone, stressed on the ô)
• pô-lo-ei (future with direct-object clitic: "I will put it")
• por-se-á (future with reflexive clitic: "it/he will put himself")

The dropping of the circumflex follows the general rule that ô only appears when the o is stressed. Once the stress moves, the accent disappears. This is a subtle but mandatory orthographic detail.

Common uses and idioms

Pôr is the default verb for "place something somewhere." It also combines with a reflexive pronoun (pôr-se) and certain prepositions to express start doing, position oneself, set oneself up.

• pôr a mesa — to set the table
• pôr a televisão / a música — to turn on the TV / music
• pôr uma pergunta — to pose a question
• pôr um ovo — to lay an egg
• pôr-se a + infinitive — to start doing something (often abruptly): pôs-se a rir = he burst out laughing
• pôr-se ao sol / à sombra — to step into the sun / the shade
• pôr-se de pé — to stand up
• pôr em causa — to call into question
• pôr em prática — to put into practice
• pôr fim a — to put an end to
• o sol pôs-se às oito — the sun set at eight (from this use comes the noun pôr-do-sol = sunset)

Derived verbs — the -por family

Every compound of pôr takes the same paradigm. Learn pôr and you get fifteen verbs for free:

• compor (to compose) → componho, compões, compõe, compus, composto...
• propor (to propose) → proponho, propõe, propus, proposto...
• supor (to suppose) → suponho, supõe, supus, suposto...
• opor-se (to oppose) → oponho-me, opõe-se, opus-se, oposto...
• dispor (to dispose, to have available) → disponho, dispus, disposto...
• impor (to impose) → imponho, impõe, impus, imposto...
• repor (to replace, to restore) → reponho, repôs, reposto...

Only the infinitive stress varies: pôr keeps the circumflex because it is monosyllabic and stressed on the ô; compounds like compor, propor, supor are stressed on the final syllable already, so no circumflex is needed.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Pôr is the only verb in modern Portuguese ending in -or, and it is highly irregular — expect three stems: ponh- (present/subjunctive), po-/pô-/põ- (most other finite forms), pus- (preterite and tenses built from it).
• The past participle posto is irregular and never replaced by a regular form.
• The circumflex matters: pôr (infinitive), pôs (3sg preterite), pôr-do-sol (sunset) all keep the accent because the o is stressed. The accent disappears in pormos, porei, pores, where stress shifts.
• Pus (1sg preterite) has no accent; pôs (3sg preterite) does. The difference is one letter of meaning.
• The compound verbs compor, propor, supor, opor-se, dispor, impor, repor, depor, expor, and so on all conjugate exactly like pôr.
• Mesoclisis (pô-lo-ei, por-se-á) is a living construction in formal European Portuguese.