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Portuguese (Portugal)

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.

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### 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.

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Time elapsed in the past (há)

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)

Already and not yet (já, ainda não)

Question	Answer
to move	mudar-se
ago / for (a period up to now)	há
I moved to Lisbon a year ago.	Eu mudei-me para Lisboa há um ano.
My mother moved to another city a long time ago.	A minha mãe mudou-se para outra cidade há muito tempo.
to get married	casar-se
They got married three months ago.	Eles casaram-se há três meses.
Did you get married fifteen years ago?	Vocês casaram-se há quinze anos?
to graduate	formar-se
My son graduated a week ago.	O meu filho formou-se há uma semana.
She graduated two days ago.	Ela formou-se há dois dias.
the revolution	a revolução
The revolution started almost fifty years ago.	A revolução começou há quase cinquenta anos.
You must study the revolution for the exam.	Deves estudar a revolução para o exame.
the king	o rei
the queen	a rainha
the war	a guerra
the century	o século
The king and the queen started the war a century ago.	O rei e a rainha começaram a guerra há um século.
The war ended two centuries ago.	A guerra terminou há dois séculos.
to found	fundar
the castle	o castelo
They founded this castle eight hundred years ago.	Fundaram este castelo há oitocentos anos.
No one visited the castle that the king founded.	Ninguém visitou o castelo que o rei fundou.
Tomorrow I am going to walk around the queen's castle.	Amanhã vou passear pelo castelo da rainha.
We visited the castle a month ago.	Visitámos o castelo há um mês.