Expressing Unfulfilled Intentions
To talk about plans that fell through or things you "were going to" do, Portuguese uses the Pretérito Imperfeito (Imperfect) of ir (to go) followed by an infinitive.
| Subject | ir (Imperfect) |
|---|---|
| eu | ia |
| tu | ias |
| ele / ela / você | ia |
| nós | íamos |
| eles / elas / vocês | iam |
You can use this structure to state what you originally intended to do:
| I was going to send a message to the follower. | Eu ia enviar uma mensagem ao seguidor. |
| We were going to react to the post. | Nós íamos reagir à publicação. |
Giving Excuses
Usually, we follow up with mas (but) and the reason the plan didn't happen. The first half of the sentence uses the unfulfilled intention (ia + infinitive), while the second half uses the simple past (Pretérito Perfeito) for the interrupting action.
| I was going to read the post, but I got distracted. | Eu ia ler a publicação, mas distraí-me. |
| We were going to reply to the comment, but we got distracted. | Nós íamos responder ao comentário, mas distraímo-nos. |
| They were going to sleep, but they got distracted on the social network. | Eles iam dormir, mas distraíram-se na rede social. |
Other Interruptions
You can use this exact same pattern for any other excuse, whether you fell asleep or completely forgot (using the reflexive verb esquecer-se).
| She was going to create content, but she fell asleep. | Ela ia criar conteúdo, mas adormeceu. |
| He was going to react, but he forgot about the post. | Ele ia reagir, mas esqueceu-se da publicação. |
If the excuse is an ongoing bad habit rather than a single past event, follow your past intention with an excuse in the present tense.
| I was going to study, but I always waste time on the platform. | Eu ia estudar, mas desperdiço sempre tempo na plataforma. |