Brazilian Portuguese past tense: how to talk about past events

Level A2

Brazilian Portuguese past tense: how to talk about past events

Use the pretérito perfeito for completed events: “Ele estudou ontem” means “He studied yesterday.” Unlike English, Portuguese keeps the past verb form in negatives and questions: put não before the verb to negate it, and use question intonation without adding “did.” You can leave out a subject that is clear from context; a gente means “we” but takes the same verb form as ele or ela. Você is common in everyday conversation, while o senhor and a senhora show respect or formality; all three use the ele/ela verb form.

Say “ago” with atrás after the time amount

Completed events: subject + past verb + past time

Sujeito verbo no pretérito perfeito momento passado . he-studied-yesterday they-ate-at-noon she-went-there-on-monday

Common past forms: ir and ser share fui, foi, and foram

InfinitiveI: euHe/she: ele/elaThey: eles/elas
Verboeuele/elaeles/elas
trabalhartrabalheitrabalhoutrabalharam
estudarestudeiestudouestudaram
comercomicomeucomeram
irfuifoiforam
serfuifoiforam
estarestiveesteveestiveram

Negative statements: não + past verb

Sujeito não verbo no pretérito perfeito momento passado . i-didnt-work-yesterday she-didnt-go-there-on-monday we-didnt-eat-at-noon

Say when something happened: time amount + atrás

Sujeito verbo no pretérito perfeito quantidade de tempo atrás . i-ate-two-hours-ago she-was-here-three-days-ago we-went-there-a-week-ago

Past states: choosing between estive, estava, and era

English “was” and “were” can correspond to different Portuguese verbs and past forms, so do not translate them with one fixed word. In “Eu estive aqui ontem,” estive presents being here as a completed stay or visit, while “Eles não estavam aqui na terça-feira” describes their absence at the time in question.

Estar can describe a condition or an assessment tied to a situation, as in “O livro estava bom,” which describes how the book seemed during that experience. Ser can describe a characteristic, as in “O carro não era caro,” which says the car was not expensive. Estava and era are imperfect forms: they describe how things were, without presenting the state as a completed whole. A finished time expression such as ontem does not by itself require the pretérito perfeito.

Everyday questions with você: keep statement word order

Respectful questions to a man with o senhor

Ask about past presence with estava: você or respectful a senhora

Sujeito verbo estar no pretérito imperfeito lugar momento passado ? were-you-here-yesterday were-you-here-on-tuesday

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