Recommendations and Mild Reproach with "Haver de"
When you want to give advice, make a gentle recommendation, or express mild reproach—similar to saying someone "ought to" or "should" do something in English—Portuguese frequently uses a specific structure: the verb haver in the pretérito imperfeito (imperfect tense) followed by de and an infinitive.
Here is how to form this structure using the imperfect of haver:
| Pronoun | Haver | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| eu / ele / ela / você | havia | havia de + infinitive |
| tu | havias | havias de + infinitive |
| nós | havíamos | havíamos de + infinitive |
| eles / elas / vocês | haviam | haviam de + infinitive |
This phrasing softens a command into a strong suggestion or a mild criticism. For example, you can use it to suggest that someone ought to stop putting things off:
| You ought to procrastinate less. | Tu havias de procrastinar menos. |
| He ought to do the planning so as not to procrastinate. | Ele havia de fazer o planeamento para não procrastinar. |
It works perfectly for discussing study habits, planning, and giving yourself or your group a helpful push to stay organized:
| We ought to start the planning in advance. | Nós havíamos de começar o planeamento com antecedência. |
| You ought to summarize the notes after studying. | Tu havias de resumir os apontamentos depois de estudar. |
When using this structure with reflexive verbs, like empenhar-se (to commit oneself) or desleixar-se (to slack off), remember that the reflexive pronoun typically attaches to the end of the infinitive (unless a negative word or conjunction pulls it earlier):
| He ought to commit himself and not slack off. | Ele havia de empenhar-se e não se desleixar. |
| You ought to evaluate the effectiveness so you don't slack off. | Havias de avaliar a eficácia para não te desleixares. |