Tenses at a Glance | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

Portuguese has roughly 18 distinct tense-mood combinations for finite verbs, split between simple forms (one word) and compound forms (auxiliary ter + past participle). Add the imperative and the non-finite forms and you have a complete system that can express any shade of time, certainty, or hypothesis. This page is your road map -- a bird's-eye view of every tense, what it does, and where it fits.

Simple indicative tenses

The indicative is the mood of facts, reality, and straightforward statements. Its six simple tenses cover every position on the timeline.

Tense	Portuguese name	Example (falar)	English equivalent	Main use
Present	Presente	falo	I speak	Current actions, habits, general truths
Simple past	Pretérito Perfeito Simples	falei	I spoke	Completed past actions
Imperfect	Pretérito Imperfeito	falava	I used to speak / was speaking	Ongoing or habitual past
Simple pluperfect	Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito Simples	falara	I had spoken	Literary pluperfect (rare in speech)
Future	Futuro do Indicativo	falarei	I will speak	Future actions (formal/written)
Conditional	Condicional	falaria	I would speak	Hypothetical situations, polite requests

Falo português todos os dias.

I speak Portuguese every day.

Ontem falei com o meu professor.

Yesterday I spoke with my teacher.

Quando era criança, falava muito depressa.

When I was a child, I used to speak very quickly.

The three tenses you will use most in everyday conversation are the presente, the pretérito perfeito simples, and the pretérito imperfeito. Together they handle the vast majority of what you need to say about the present and the past. For future actions, spoken European Portuguese overwhelmingly prefers ir + infinitive over the simple future.

Amanhã vou falar com ela.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk to her.

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The simple future (falarei) sounds formal or literary in everyday speech. Most Portuguese speakers say vou falar instead. You will still see the simple future in writing, news, and formal contexts -- and you need to recognise it -- but ir + infinitive is what you should reach for first.

The simple pluperfect (falara) is almost exclusively literary in modern European Portuguese. In speech and informal writing, the compound form tinha falado has replaced it entirely. See Imperfect tense and Preterite tense for the two most essential past tenses.

Compound indicative tenses

Compound tenses pair a conjugated form of ter with the past participle (falado, comido, partido). They express completed or ongoing actions relative to another point in time.

Tense	Portuguese name	Example (falar)	English equivalent	Main use
Present perfect	Pretérito Perfeito Composto	tenho falado	I have been speaking	Repeated or ongoing action up to now
Pluperfect	Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito Composto	tinha falado	I had spoken	Action completed before another past event
Future perfect	Futuro Composto	terei falado	I will have spoken	Action completed before a future point
Conditional perfect	Condicional Composto	teria falado	I would have spoken	Hypothetical completed action

Tenho falado com ela todas as semanas.

I have been speaking with her every week.

Quando cheguei, ele já tinha falado com o diretor.

When I arrived, he had already spoken with the director.

Pay close attention to the pretérito perfeito composto. Unlike Spanish he hablado (which describes a single completed action), Portuguese tenho falado describes a repeated or continuous action stretching up to the present. To say "I spoke (once, recently)," Portuguese uses the simple past: falei.

Subjunctive tenses

Portuguese calls the subjunctive conjuntivo. It expresses wishes, doubts, emotions, and hypothetical situations. It has three simple tenses and three compound tenses.

Tense	Portuguese name	Example (falar)	English equivalent	Main use
Present subjunctive	Presente do Conjuntivo	fale	(that) I speak	Wishes, doubts, commands in the present/future
Imperfect subjunctive	Pretérito Imperfeito do Conjuntivo	falasse	(that) I spoke / if I spoke	Hypotheticals, past wishes, polite softening
Future subjunctive	Futuro do Conjuntivo	falar	when/if I speak	Future possibilities, conditions
Present perfect subj.	Pretérito Perfeito Composto do Conjuntivo	tenha falado	(that) I have spoken	Completed action in subjunctive contexts
Pluperfect subjunctive	Pretérito Mais-que-Perfeito do Conjuntivo	tivesse falado	(that) I had spoken	Unrealised past hypotheticals
Future perfect subj.	Futuro Composto do Conjuntivo	tiver falado	when/if I have spoken	Completed action before a future condition

Espero que fales com ela.

I hope you talk to her.

Se eu falasse chinês, viajava para a China.

If I spoke Chinese, I would travel to China.

The future subjunctive is one of European Portuguese's signature features. While it has practically vanished from Spanish, it is alive and well in daily EP speech. You will hear it constantly in quando (when) and se (if) clauses that refer to future possibilities.

Quando eu falar com o médico, pergunto sobre isso.

When I speak with the doctor, I'll ask about that.

Se tiveres tempo, liga-me.

If you have time, call me.

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Never confuse the future subjunctive (falar) with the personal infinitive -- they look identical for regular verbs. Context is your guide: after quando, se, assim que, or logo que, you are looking at the future subjunctive. After prepositions or in infinitive clauses, it is the personal infinitive.

Imperative

The imperative mood is used for direct commands and requests. It has only present forms and borrows from the indicative (for tu affirmative) and the subjunctive (for você, nós, vocês, and all negative commands). See Moods for how the imperative interacts with the subjunctive.

Fala mais devagar, por favor!

Speak more slowly, please!

Non-finite forms

Non-finite forms do not carry person or tense on their own. Portuguese has four:

Infinitive (falar) -- the base dictionary form
Personal infinitive (falar, falares, falar, falarmos, falardes, falarem) -- an infinitive that conjugates for person, virtually unique to Portuguese
Gerund (falando) -- used in some compound forms and adverbial clauses
Past participle (falado) -- used with ter in compound tenses and with ser in the passive

The personal infinitive is one of the most distinctive features of Portuguese. It allows an infinitive clause to have its own explicit subject, often replacing the subjunctive in a more concise way. See The Personal Infinitive for a full treatment.

Which tenses to learn first

With so many tenses, a clear learning path matters. Here is a priority order:

Start here -- presente, pretérito perfeito simples, pretérito imperfeito. These three cover everyday conversation about the present and the past.

Next step -- ir + infinitive for the future, condicional, presente do conjuntivo. These open up hypothetical statements, polite requests, and subordinate clauses.

Intermediate -- pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto (tinha falado), imperfeito do conjuntivo (falasse), futuro do conjuntivo (falar). These are essential for natural EP and appear constantly in everyday speech.

Advanced -- compound subjunctive tenses, the simple pluperfect (falara), the formal simple future (falarei), and the future/conditional perfects. These round out your command of the system for written and literary registers.

You do not need to master all 18 tenses at once. Build outward from the core three, and each new tense will click into place against what you already know. The individual tense pages -- starting with Present Indicative -- will guide you through each one in depth.