To express how long ago an action happened, Portuguese uses the word há followed by a period of time. This functions exactly like the English word "ago".
To form these sentences, simply state the completed action in the past tense, then add há and the amount of time that has passed.
Because há acts as an impersonal verb here, its form never changes, even when talking about plural amounts of time (like days, months, or years).
Life Milestones
You will frequently use há to talk about recent events or personal milestones. Notice how it pairs nicely with the reflexive verbs from the previous lesson.
| I moved to Lisbon a year ago. | Eu mudei-me para Lisboa há um ano. |
| They got married three months ago. | Eles casaram-se há três meses. |
| My son graduated a week ago. | O meu filho formou-se há uma semana. |
Historical Events
You can use há for time periods of any length, from a few days to hundreds of years. The structure remains exactly the same when recounting history.
| The revolution started almost fifty years ago. | A revolução começou há quase cinquenta anos. |
| The war ended two centuries ago. | A guerra terminou há dois séculos. |
| They founded this castle eight hundred years ago. | Fundaram este castelo há oitocentos anos. |
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