Preterite (Pretérito Perfeito) in Portuguese

In Brief

Use the Portuguese pretérito perfeito simples for an action presented as completed in the past: Ontem comi pizza means “Yesterday I ate pizza.” With regular verbs, remove -ar, -er, or -ir from the infinitive and add the appropriate past ending: falar → falei, comer → comi, partir → parti. English may translate this tense with either a simple past or, in some contexts, a present perfect.

Overview

The preterite is a past tense—a verb form that locates an event before the present—and Portuguese calls it the pretérito perfeito simples. It presents an action as a finished whole: someone arrived, ate, called, travelled, or completed a task. This is one of the central A2 tools for discussing yesterday, a trip, a completed experience, or a sequence of events in a story.

The key idea is not merely that the event happened in the past. The speaker chooses to view it as bounded, meaning that it has a beginning or end, or is treated as one complete event. Trabalhei três horas presents three hours of work as a completed period. A time expression such as ontem (“yesterday”) often makes that boundary obvious, but it is not required: Já visitei Coimbra (“I have visited Coimbra”) still refers to a completed experience.

This article concentrates first on regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs. Frequent verbs such as ir, ser, ter, fazer, and estar have irregular preterite forms and belong to the next stage of study. Portuguese also has other ways to look at the past, especially the imperfect for background, habits, and ongoing situations.

How It Works

Start with the infinitive

The infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb, such as falar (“to speak”), comer (“to eat”), or partir (“to leave”). For a regular preterite form:

1. Remove the infinitive ending -ar, -er, or -ir.
2. Keep the resulting stem: fal-, com-, part-.
3. Add the ending that matches the subject—the person or thing performing the action.

Portuguese often leaves the subject pronoun unstated because the ending already gives useful information: viajei normally means “I travelled,” without eu.

Regular -ar verbs: falar

Person	Pronoun	Ending	falar	Meaning
1st singular	eu	-ei	falei	I spoke
2nd singular	tu	-aste	falaste	you spoke
3rd singular	ele/ela; você	-ou	falou	he/she spoke; you spoke
1st plural	nós	-ámos	falámos	we spoke
2nd plural	vós	-astes	falastes	you all spoke
3rd plural	eles/elas; vocês	-aram	falaram	they spoke; you all spoke

The accent in European Portuguese -ámos matters: falámos is the preterite, while falamos is the present (“we speak”). In Brazilian Portuguese, the standard spelling is falamos for both tenses; context shows whether it means “we speak” or “we spoke.”

Regular -er verbs: comer

Person	Pronoun	Ending	comer	Meaning
1st singular	eu	-i	comi	I ate
2nd singular	tu	-este	comeste	you ate
3rd singular	ele/ela; você	-eu	comeu	he/she ate; you ate
1st plural	nós	-emos	comemos	we ate
2nd plural	vós	-estes	comestes	you all ate
3rd plural	eles/elas; vocês	-eram	comeram	they ate; you all ate

Comemos can mean either “we eat” or “we ate.” A phrase such as todos os dias or ontem normally resolves the ambiguity: Comemos aqui todos os dias versus Comemos aqui ontem.

Regular -ir verbs: partir

Person	Pronoun	Ending	partir	Meaning
1st singular	eu	-i	parti	I left
2nd singular	tu	-iste	partiste	you left
3rd singular	ele/ela; você	-iu	partiu	he/she left; you left
1st plural	nós	-imos	partimos	we left
2nd plural	vós	-istes	partistes	you all left
3rd plural	eles/elas; vocês	-iram	partiram	they left; you all left

Partimos also has the same spelling in the present and preterite. Once again, the surrounding sentence supplies the time frame.

Choosing the person ending

Modern everyday Portuguese does not use every pronoun equally in every region. Tu takes the second-person singular form (falaste), while você takes the third-person singular form (falou). Vocês takes the third-person plural (falaram). Vós and endings such as -astes, -estes, and -istes survive in limited regional, religious, historical, and highly formal contexts, but most learners will use vocês for plural “you.”

For production, learn these high-frequency rows first: eu, tu or você according to the variety you study, ele/ela, nós, and eles/elas/vocês. Keep the vós forms in the table so you can recognise them.

Statements, negatives, and questions

Portuguese does not need an auxiliary equivalent to English did. The conjugated verb itself carries the past tense.

Function	Pattern	Example
Statement	subject + preterite	A Marta chegou cedo.
Negative	subject + não + preterite	A Marta não chegou cedo.
Question	question word + preterite	Quando chegou a Marta?
Yes/no question	preterite statement + question intonation	A Marta chegou cedo?

This differs sharply from English. Portuguese does not say the equivalent of “did arrive” in an ordinary past question, and it does not return the main verb to its infinitive: O que compraste? is literally structured more like “What bought-you?”

Main uses

Use the simple preterite for:

• A single completed event: O comboio chegou às oito. (“The train arrived at eight.”)
• A completed period: Morei no Porto durante dois anos. (“I lived in Porto for two years.”)
• A sequence of finished actions: Entrei, sentei-me e pedi um café. (“I went in, sat down, and ordered a coffee.”)
• A completed experience: Já visitei o Brasil. (“I have already visited Brazil.”)
• A counted action: Telefonei-lhe três vezes. (“I called him/her three times.”)

Words such as ontem (“yesterday”), na semana passada (“last week”), em 2024, depois (“afterwards”), uma vez (“once”), and durante duas horas (“for two hours”) often accompany this tense. They are clues, not requirements: the speaker’s view of the event is decisive.

Examples in Context

Portuguese	English	Note
Ontem comi pizza.	Yesterday I ate pizza.	One completed action
Viajei para Espanha no ano passado.	I travelled to Spain last year.	Finished trip; European place usage
O que fizeste ontem?	What did you do yesterday?	tu question; fizeste is irregular
Chegaram às oito.	They arrived at eight.	The plural subject is understood from context
A Ana estudou toda a tarde.	Ana studied all afternoon.	Completed period with an -ar verb
Não vendemos o carro.	We did not sell the car.	não comes directly before the verb
Quando partiste de Lisboa?	When did you leave Lisbon?	No equivalent of English did
Os meus amigos abriram um restaurante.	My friends opened a restaurant.	Regular -ir verb, third-person plural
Primeiro lavei a roupa; depois cozinhei o jantar.	First I did the laundry; then I cooked dinner.	Sequence of completed events
Morámos ali durante seis meses.	We lived there for six months.	European Portuguese spelling marks a finished period
Já visitou os Açores?	Have you ever visited the Azores?	Formal você or unstated o senhor/a senhora; completed experience
Vocês receberam a mensagem?	Did you all receive the message?	vocês takes a third-person plural form
Ela não respondeu à pergunta.	She did not answer the question.	Regular -er pattern
O filme começou tarde e terminou depois da meia-noite.	The film started late and ended after midnight.	Two events advancing a narrative

Common Mistakes

Adding an English-style form of “did”

• Wrong: O que tu fiz fazer ontem?
• Right: O que fizeste ontem?
• Why: Portuguese forms ordinary past questions by conjugating the main verb. It does not add an auxiliary matching English did. Here fazer is irregular: tu fizeste.

Mixing tu with a third-person ending

• Wrong: Tu falou com a Joana? in the standard pattern taught here
• Right: Tu falaste com a Joana?
• Also right: Você falou com a Joana?
• Why: Standard agreement pairs tu with the second-person form and você with the third-person form. Some Brazilian varieties use tu with third-person forms in everyday speech, but learners should not mix systems accidentally.

Using the -ar ending with every verb

• Wrong: Ela comeou cedo.
• Right: Ela comeu cedo.
• Why: Third-person singular -ar verbs end in -ou (falou), but -er verbs end in -eu (comeu) and -ir verbs in -iu (partiu).

Treating every English present perfect as a compound tense

• Misleading: Tenho visitado Lisboa três vezes for “I have visited Lisbon three times.”
• Natural: Visitei Lisboa três vezes.
• Why: A completed, counted experience commonly uses the simple preterite. Portuguese tenho visitado usually suggests repeated or continuing visits over a period leading up to now.

Forgetting spelling adjustments

• Wrong: Eu paguei is correct, but forms such as eu começei and eu ficéi are not.
• Right: Eu comecei; eu fiquei.
• Why: Some otherwise regular verbs change spelling to preserve pronunciation: começar → comecei, ficar → fiquei, pagar → paguei. The tense endings remain regular.

Using the preterite for past background by default

• Awkward for a continuing scene: Choveu quando saí de casa if you mean “It was raining when I left home.”
• Better: Chovia quando saí de casa.
• Why: The imperfect chovia presents the rain as ongoing background; the preterite saí marks the completed event within that scene. Choveu is possible when the rain itself is viewed as a finished event.

Usage Notes

European and Brazilian Portuguese

The tense has the same core meaning across Portuguese-speaking regions, but pronouns and a few forms differ in everyday frequency. European Portuguese commonly uses tu and forms such as falaste. Brazilian Portuguese varies by region: você falou is widespread, while tu falaste and colloquial tu falou both occur in different communities. Choose a consistent model for your own speech while learning to recognise the others.

European spelling distinguishes falamos (“we speak”) from falámos (“we spoke”). Brazilian spelling uses falamos for both. The -er and -ir first-person plural forms are identical to their present forms in both standards: context distinguishes comemos and partimos.

Time expressions and the English present perfect

English normally avoids the present perfect with a finished time phrase: “I saw her yesterday,” not “I have seen her yesterday.” Portuguese likewise uses the preterite: Vi-a ontem. Without a finished-time phrase, however, English may prefer a present perfect where Portuguese still chooses the preterite: Já acabaste? can be “Have you finished yet?” The two tense systems do not line up one-for-one.

In European Portuguese, the simple preterite is especially common for a recent completed event: Já comeste? (“Have you eaten?”). Brazilian speech may also use it in this way: Você já comeu? Do not assume that “have + participle” must become ter + participle.

Completed states and periods

The preterite is not limited to quick actions. A state can appear in this tense when it is presented as a closed period: Fui feliz naquela época (“I was happy at that time”) or Morei lá durante dez anos (“I lived there for ten years”). If the speaker describes an open-ended background or habitual situation instead, the imperfect is usually more suitable.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of these contrasts at A2, but they explain many forms you will meet later.

Preterite versus imperfect

The difference is often one of viewpoint, not objective duration. The preterite looks at an event from the outside as complete; the imperfect looks inside a past situation as ongoing, habitual, or descriptive.

Preterite	Imperfect	Contrast
Li o livro.	Lia o livro.	I read/finished the book vs I was reading it
Morei em Faro durante um ano.	Morava em Faro.	Closed one-year period vs background residence
Choveu muito ontem.	Chovia quando saí.	Rain as yesterday’s completed event vs rain in progress
Fui ao mercado três vezes.	Ia ao mercado todos os sábados.	Three counted trips vs a repeated habit

A long action can therefore use the preterite, and a short repeated action can use the imperfect. Duration alone does not choose the tense.

The simple and compound pretérito perfeito

Portuguese distinguishes the simple form studied here (estudei) from the compound form ter in the present + past participle (tenho estudado). A past participle is a verb form used in combinations such as estudado or comido.

The compound form often describes repeated or continuing activity over a period extending to the present: Tenho estudado muito ultimamente means “I have been studying a lot lately.” It does not normally serve as a general replacement for English “have done.” For a finished result or experience, Portuguese often keeps the simple preterite: Já terminei (“I have already finished”).

Regular endings with spelling or stem adjustments

Some verbs are regular in their endings but adjust their spelling before -ei so that the consonant sound stays stable:

Infinitive	Preterite	Reason
ficar	fiquei	c → qu before e
pagar	paguei	g → gu before e
começar	comecei	ç → c before e

Verbs ending in -ear or -iar can involve additional stem patterns, and highly frequent verbs often have genuinely irregular stems. Learn those as families rather than forcing the regular table onto them.

Narrative effect

In storytelling, a chain of preterites moves events forward: Abriu a porta, entrou e acendeu a luz (“She opened the door, went in, and turned on the light”). Imperfect forms typically supply the setting around that chain: Estava escuro e chovia (“It was dark and it was raining”). This contrast lets Portuguese separate the foreground events from the background scene without relying only on adverbs.

Practice Tips

1. Build three verb families. Choose five common regular verbs from each group and say the eu, tu/você, nós, and eles/vocês forms aloud. Highlight the easily confused third-person forms: -ou, -eu, -iu.
2. Retell one finished day. Write six sentences about yesterday using sequence words such as primeiro, depois, então, and por fim. This trains the preterite as a narrative tense rather than as an isolated table.
3. Make contrast pairs. Take one situation and describe it first as a completed period, then as background: Morei lá dois anos versus Morava lá quando te conheci. Add a clear time expression whenever a form such as comemos or partimos could otherwise be ambiguous.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Regular -AR Verbs — introduces Portuguese stems, person endings, and subject–verb agreement.
• Next step: Irregular Preterites — covers essential forms such as fui, tive, fiz, and disse.
• Contrast: Imperfect Tense — describes past habits, background, and situations in progress.
• Extension: Reflexive Verbs in Past — combines past forms with pronouns in forms such as levantei-me.
• Later: Pluperfect Tense — expresses an event completed before another past point.
• Later: Passive Voice — uses forms such as foi vendido and foram construídas to focus on what received an action.