Conjugation of the Verbs (Conjugação dos Verbos)

Simple Tenses (Tempos Simples)

The verbal endings of Portuguese are easily traceable to the Latin prototypes, at least in writing. By the way, the following considerable changes occured:

• the final -t sound of the 3d p. sg. and pl. was dropped out; cf.: L. amat (he) loves => Port. ama, L. amant (they) love => Port. amam.
• the intervocalic -t- in 2d p. pl. was also suppressed; L. amatis (you) love => Port. amais, L. amate love! => Port. amai!
• the intervocalic -t- from the ancient Latin verbal ending -t|is for the 2nd p. pl. was voiced in -d- (the short unstressed vowel being unstressed) in the Portuguese Future Subjunctive and Personal Infinitive: cf. Port. amardes.
• in the passive perfect participles the intervocalic Latin -t- was voiced in -d- in Portuguese, cf.: L. amatus beloved => Port. amado.
• the final -m in the 1 p. sg. of the Imperfect Indicative and in all Subjunctive tenses was dropped; cf. L. amabam I loved (I was loving) => Port. amava, L. amem that I love => Port. (que) ame.
• the intervocalic Latin -b- in the Imperfect Indicative of the verbs of the 2nd and 3d conjugations was suppressed; cf. L. valebam, valebas, valebat etc. => Port. valia, valias, valia etc.

The conjugation of the verbs in Portuguese is much similar to that of Spanish, its nearest cognate among the other large modern Romance languages. As compared to Spanish, however, the distinction between the verbs of the 2nd and the 3rd conjugations is much more pronounced in Portuguese, what is due to the fact that the latter has avoided the efects of the pan-Romance diphthongization.
 
 
 
Non-Finite Verbal Forms
 

Formation: It follows pretty well the Latin pattern, except that the intervocalic and the final t in the endings are dropped out. Moreover, the thematic vowels in the 1 person sg. was lost, cf. L. debeo (I) must => Port. devo.

See the Latin Present Indicative.
 

The Imperfect Indicative (Imperfeito do Indicativo)
 

Formation: Like in the case of the Present Indicative, it follows pretty well the Latin pattern, except that the intervocalic and the final t and the final -m in the endings are dropped out, cf. L. amabam (I) was loving => Port. amava, L. amabat (he) was loving => Port. amava. Moreover, the intervocalic -b- was softened in -v- in the personal endings of the verbs of the 1st conjugation (cf. the above example) and completely suppresed in the personal endings of the verbs of the  2nd and 3rd conjugation, cf. L. vivebam (I) was living => Port. vivia. See the Latin Imperfect Indicative.

Other Names: Pretérito Imperfeito.
 

The Past Simple Indicative (Perfeito Simples do Indicativo)
 

Formation: The Latin pattern is easily recognizable.The perfect characteristics like -vi-, -u-, -s- etc. were suppresed and thus was established a paradigm of generalized terminations, in which however the thematic vowels (-a-, -e-, -i-) of the conjugations were preserved. Note the development of the 3 p. sg. endings:

• au: cf. CL. amavit => VL. *amau(t), due to the syncope of the short unstressed -i-, => Port. amou);
• eu: cf. CL. vendidit => VL. *vendevi(t) => vendeu(t) => Port. vendeu;
• iu: cf. CL. partivit => VL. *partiu(t) => Port. partiu.

See the Latin Perfect Indicative.
Note that to distinguish the 1 p. pl. of the Past Simple Indicative from the Present Indicative, it is written with an acute accent: cf. past amámos we loved vs. amamos we love.

Other names: Pretérito Perfeito Simples.
 

The Future Indicative (Futuro do Indicativo)
 

Formation: It is derived from the Vulgar Latin modal construction infinitive +the Present Indicative of the auxiliary  habere (Port. haver) to have, which is of a future meaning. In Portuguese writing the forms of haver were appended to the infinitive to make a whole word, cf.: amar hei => amarei, amar has => amarás etc. Note that the initial h- was ommitted and that in the 2 p. pl. the verbal form haveis was shortened to -eis. The two forms are devided, when a personal pronoun is used, cf. :

Escrever-lhe-emos uma carta. We will write him a letter. or We will write you a letter. (polite form).

Other Names: Futuro Imperfeito.
 

The Pluperfect Simple Indicative (Mais-que-parfeito Simples do Indicativo)
 

Formation: It inherits the Latin Pluperfect Indicative.

Other Names: Pretérito mais-que-parfeito simples.
 

The Present Subjunctive (Presente do Conjuntivo)
 

Formation: It follows pretty well the Latin pattern. See the Latin Present Subjunctive.
 

The Imperfect Subjunctive (Imperfeito do Conjuntivo)
 

Formation: It follows pretty well the Latin pattern. See the Latin Imperfect Subjunctive.
 

The Future Subjunctive (Futuro do Conjuntivo)
 

Formation: This tense was invented in Portuguese. Note that its forms coincides with those of the Personal Simple Infinitive.
 

The Present Conditional (Condicional Presente)
 

Formation: It is formed by adding the endings of the Imperfect Indicative to the Present Impersonal Infinitive.

Other Names: Condicional simple, Condicional do Indicativo.
 

The Simple Personal Infinitive (Infinitivo Pessoal Simples)
 

Formation: This tense was invented in Portuguese.
 

The Present Imperative (Presente do Imperativo)
 

Formation: The forms of the 2 p. sg. and pl. inherit the Latin Present Imperative.
The other imperative forms are borrowed from the Present Subjunctive.

Note that in the negative are used the forms of the Present Subjunctive only, cf.:

Não ames! Do not love (you)!
Não ame!
Não amemos!
Não ameis!
Não amem!

Next Topic
Previous Topic

Verbal Tenses

Descriptive Portuguese Grammar
Portuguese Language Main Page

Modern Romance Languages Main Page
Orbis Latinus Main Page

This page is part of Orbis Latinus
© Zdravko Batzarov