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Portuguese (Portugal)

### The Literary Past Perfect

In everyday conversation, Portuguese speakers use a compound tense (like *tinha falado*) to express "had spoken." However, in literature, journalism, and classic fairy tales, you will frequently encounter the **simple past perfect** (*mais-que-perfeito simples*). It is a single-word tense that means the exact same thing: an action that happened *before* another action in the past.

For the highly irregular verb **ser** (to be), the third-person simple past perfect form is **fora** (had been).

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### Forming the Simple Past Perfect

To recognize this tense in reading, look for its signature ending. For the third-person singular (he/she/it), the verb always ends in an unstressed **-ra**.

- For *-ar* verbs, the ending is **-ara**.
- For *-er* verbs, the ending is **-era**.
- For *-ir* verbs, the ending is **-ira**.

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Because the stress naturally falls on the syllable just before the *-ra*, some verbs require an accent mark to maintain correct pronunciation. For example, **destruir** becomes **destruíra**.

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### Irregular Stems

Verbs that have an irregular stem in the simple past (preterite) use that same irregular stem for the simple past perfect.

For example, **fazer** (to do/make) uses the stem *fiz-*, becoming **fizera** (had done/made). **Ver** (to see) uses the stem *vi-*, becoming **vira** (had seen).

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### The Past Before the Past

The primary use of the past perfect is to establish a clear timeline. Notice how the simple past perfect establishes that an event was already completed *before* another past event occurred.

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The simple past perfect tense (mais-que-perfeito simples)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the knight	o cavaleiro
brave (valiant, tough)	valente
The king had already been a very brave knight.	O rei já fora um cavaleiro muito valente.
the kingdom	o reino
The brave knight had saved the kingdom from the witch.	O valente cavaleiro salvara o reino da bruxa.
the crown	a coroa
the throne	o trono
The monster had stolen the crown before destroying the throne.	O monstro roubara a coroa antes de destruir o trono.
the sorceress	a feiticeira
The sorceress had taken the crown to the mountain.	A feiticeira levara a coroa para a montanha.
the spell	o feitiço
As the sorceress had cast a spell, the queen fell asleep.	Como a feiticeira fizera um feitiço, a rainha adormeceu.
The horrible spell had destroyed the peace of the kingdom.	O horrível feitiço destruíra a paz do reino.
the sword	a espada
the armor	a armadura
The knight had lost the sword and the armor in the battle.	O cavaleiro perdera a espada e a armadura na batalha.
the squire	o escudeiro
The squire had cleaned the heavy silver armor.	O escudeiro limpara a pesada armadura de prata.
The young squire had never seen the king on the throne.	O jovem escudeiro nunca vira o rei no trono.
The hero ended up using the sword that the giant had hidden.	O herói acabou por usar a espada que o gigante escondera.
There was a lot of peace before the sorceress invaded the kingdom.	Havia muita paz antes de a feiticeira invadir o reino.