Imperfect of Vir | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

The verb vir (to come) is one of only four verbs that are irregular in the imperfect tense. Instead of the expected -ia endings of a regular -ir verb, vir uses the stem vinh- throughout the conjugation. If you already know the imperfect of ter (tinha, tinhas...), learning vir is straightforward -- the two verbs follow exactly the same pattern, just with a different consonant: tinh- for ter, vinh- for vir.

Conjugation

Person	Form	English
eu	vinha	I was coming / I used to come
tu	vinhas	you were coming / you used to come
ele / ela / você	vinha	he/she was coming; you were coming
nós	vínhamos	we were coming / we used to come
(vós)	(vínheis)	(you all were coming)
eles / elas / vocês	vinham	they were coming; you all were coming

The vós form vínheis is archaic and only appears in older or very formal texts. Modern European Portuguese uses vocês with the third-person plural form vinham.

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The written accent on vínhamos is mandatory -- it marks the stressed syllable. Without it, the stress would shift and the word would be incorrect. As with every imperfect conjugation, the eu and ele/você forms are identical: both are vinha. Context always makes the subject clear.

Habitual coming

The most natural use of the imperfect of vir is for actions that happened regularly in the past -- someone who used to come somewhere repeatedly.

Ele vinha cá todos os domingos.

He used to come here every Sunday.

A minha avó vinha jantar connosco todas as sextas-feiras.

My grandmother used to come to dinner with us every Friday.

Antigamente, vinham muitos turistas a esta aldeia.

In the old days, many tourists used to come to this village.

Background movement

When the imperfect of vir sets the scene for something that happened, it describes ongoing movement -- someone was in the process of coming when another event occurred.

Eu vinha pela rua quando vi o acidente.

I was coming down the street when I saw the accident.

Vínhamos do supermercado quando começou a chover.

We were coming from the supermarket when it started raining.

Origin and source in the past

The imperfect of vir can describe where someone came from as an ongoing background fact rather than a single completed event.

Vínhamos de uma família modesta.

We came from a modest family.

Vinha vs veio -- imperfect vs preterite

Both vinha and veio translate as "came" in English, but they describe fundamentally different kinds of past. This distinction is critical.

Vinha (imperfect) = was coming / used to come. Ongoing, habitual, or background.
Veio (preterite) = came. A single, completed event.

Vinha (imperfect)	Veio (preterite)
Ele vinha sempre à festa. (He always used to come to the party.)	Ele veio à festa ontem. (He came to the party yesterday.)
Ela vinha cá todos os dias. (She used to come here every day.)	Ela veio cá ontem. (She came here yesterday.)
Eu vinha pela rua quando... (I was coming down the street when...)	Eu vim pela rua principal. (I came via the main street.)

Ele vinha sempre à festa, mas ontem não veio.

He always used to come to the party, but yesterday he didn't come.

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A practical test: if you can insert "always" or "used to" and the sentence still makes sense, use the imperfect (vinha). If the sentence describes a single completed arrival, use the preterite (veio). For the full preterite conjugation, see Preterite of Vir.

Vinha + a + infinitive

In European Portuguese, vinha a + infinitive describes what someone was doing while coming -- an action in progress during movement. This construction is characteristic of EP (Brazilian Portuguese would use the gerund instead).

Vinha a pensar nisso.

I was (coming along) thinking about that.

Vinham a conversar pela rua.

They were walking along chatting.

Vínhamos a ouvir música no carro.

We were listening to music in the car (on the way).

Ter and vir -- parallel irregulars in the imperfect

These two verbs are mirror images in the imperfect. Learning one means you already know the shape of the other. The stems are tinh- and vinh-, and every ending is identical.

Person	ter	vir
eu	tinha	vinha
tu	tinhas	vinhas
ele / você	tinha	vinha
nós	tínhamos	vínhamos
eles / vocês	tinham	vinham

The pattern is simple: replace t with v throughout. Both stems end in -inh-, and both take the same set of endings (-a, -as, -a, -amos, -am). If you can conjugate ter in the imperfect, you can conjugate vir -- and vice versa. For the full treatment of ter, see Imperfect of Ter.

Compounds of vir

Verbs built on vir follow the same irregular pattern in the imperfect. Add the prefix to the forms of vir and you are done.

convir (to suit, to be convenient) -- convinha, convinhas, convinha, convínhamos, convinham
intervir (to intervene) -- intervinha, intervinhas, intervinha, intervínhamos, intervinham
provir (to come from, to originate) -- provinha, provinhas, provinha, provínhamos, provinham

Essa decisão não nos convinha.

That decision didn't suit us.

Esses costumes provinham de tradições muito antigas.

Those customs came from very old traditions.

These compounds appear more often in formal or written Portuguese, but their conjugation follows vir exactly -- no surprises beyond the prefix.

Common mistakes

1. Confusing vinha (verb) with vinha (noun). The word vinha also means "vineyard" or, informally, "wine" (a vinha = the vineyard). They are spelled and pronounced identically, so context is everything. Eu vinha do campo = I was coming from the countryside. A vinha do meu avô = My grandfather's vineyard.

2. Using via for the imperfect of vir. The form via is the imperfect of ver (to see), not vir (to come). Eu via o mar da janela = I used to see the sea from the window. Eu vinha do mar = I was coming from the sea. This confusion is especially common because both verbs start with v- and are short.

3. Confusing vinha (vir) with punha (pôr). The imperfect of pôr (to put) is punha, punhas, punha, púnhamos, punham -- structurally parallel to vinha but with a completely different meaning. Both stems end in -nh-, so learners sometimes swap them. Ele vinha cá = he used to come here; Ele punha os livros aqui = he used to put the books here. Keep the two paradigms separate: v- for coming, p- for putting.

4. Forgetting the accent on vínhamos. Writing vinhamos without the accent is a spelling error. The accent on the í is required to mark the correct stress in the first-person plural.

5. Using regular -ir endings. Because vir is an -ir verb, learners sometimes try ~~viria~~ or ~~viia~~ for the imperfect. These do not exist. The imperfect of vir always uses the vinh- stem: vinha, vinhas, vinha, vínhamos, vinham.

For the overall imperfect tense system, see Imperfect Overview. For the other key irregular verb in this tense, see Imperfect of Ser. For the present-tense forms of this verb, see Present Indicative of Ir and Vir.