Expressing Past Duration
To express how long an action had been happening in the past before another event took place, Portuguese uses a specific structure combining há, a time expression, the word que (that), and a verb in the imperfect tense.
The formula looks like this: Há + [time expression] + que + [imperfect indicative]
Notice that while English uses the past perfect continuous ("had been investigating"), Portuguese uses the imperfect tense to show the action was ongoing during that past period.
| I had been investigating the family tree for a long time. | Há muito tempo que eu investigava a árvore genealógica. |
Tracing Family Roots
When researching your family tree, you might spend years looking for records (os registos) of your ancestors (os antepassados). The word há remains exactly the same whether the time expression is singular or plural.
| They had been looking for the ancestors' records for years. | Há anos que eles procuravam os registos dos antepassados. |
You can use different time words to describe the duration, such as muito tempo (a long time), bastantes meses (quite a few months), or demasiado tempo (too long).
| Our great-grandfather had been wanting to emigrate for quite a few months. | Há bastantes meses que o nosso bisavô queria emigrar. |
| The great-grandmother had been looking for the certificate for too long. | Há demasiado tempo que a bisavó procurava a certidão. |
Setting the Scene in the Past
This há ... que structure is frequently used to set the background for another specific event in the past. The ongoing action (in the imperfect tense) tells us what had been happening up until a new event (usually in the simple past, or Pretérito Perfeito) occurred.
| The ancestors had been wanting to emigrate for many years when the war started. | Há muitos anos que os antepassados queriam emigrar quando a guerra começou. |