Reflexive Verbs in the Past in Portuguese

In Brief

To put a Portuguese reflexive verb in the past, conjugate the verb in the preterite for a completed event or the imperfect for a habit, background, or ongoing situation, and keep the matching pronoun me, te, se, nos, vos, se. European Portuguese commonly places it after an affirmative verb—levantei-me—while Brazilian Portuguese usually places it before—me levantei. A word such as não normally draws the pronoun before the verb in both varieties: não me levantei.

Overview

A reflexive verb describes an action that comes back to the person doing it: Ela vestiu-se means “She got dressed,” literally that she dressed herself. The small word se is a reflexive pronoun (a word that points the action back to the subject). Portuguese uses many such verbs for daily routines, changes of position, feelings, and social experiences: levantar-se (to get up), sentar-se (to sit down), vestir-se (to get dressed), lembrar-se (to remember), and divertir-se (to have fun).

At A2, the central task is to combine these verbs with two past tenses. The pretérito perfeito simples—called the preterite here—presents an event as completed: Levantei-me às sete. The pretérito imperfeito—the imperfect—presents a repeated action, an ongoing past situation, or background: Naquela época, levantava-me às sete. English often expresses the imperfect with “used to” or “was …-ing,” but the match is not automatic; Portuguese chooses the tense according to how the speaker views the past situation.

Pronoun position is especially important because everyday Brazilian and European usage differ. Both Eu me levantei and Eu levantei-me can be grammatical, but they do not sound equally neutral everywhere. Learn one consistent regional model first, while learning to recognize the other.

How It Works

Step 1: Choose the matching reflexive pronoun

The pronoun agrees with the subject—the person or people performing and receiving the action.

Subject	Reflexive pronoun	Example infinitive idea
eu	me	levantar-me / me levantar
tu	te	levantar-te / te levantar
ele, ela, você	se	levantar-se / se levantar
nós	nos	levantar-nos / nos levantar
vós	vos	levantar-vos / vos levantar
eles, elas, vocês	se	levantar-se / se levantar

Você takes se, not te, in the standard agreement pattern: Você se levantou cedo. In informal Brazilian speech, forms may mix regionally, but learners should keep pronoun and person consistent. Vós/vos is uncommon in most modern conversation, though it survives in some regions, religious language, and older texts.

Step 2: Choose the past tense

Use the preterite for a bounded, completed action or a sequence of events. Use the imperfect for a past routine, description, ongoing state, or action already in progress.

Meaning	Preterite: completed event	Imperfect: habit or background
get up	Levantei-me às sete. — I got up at seven.	Levantava-me às sete. — I used to get up at seven.
get dressed	Ela vestiu-se depressa. — She got dressed quickly.	Ela vestia-se depressa. — She used to get dressed quickly.
have fun	Divertimo-nos muito. — We had a lot of fun.	Divertíamo-nos muito. — We used to have a lot of fun.
feel	Ele sentiu-se mal. — He felt ill.	Ele sentia-se mal. — He was feeling ill.

Time expressions often help. Ontem, de repente, uma vez, and a precise completed sequence often favor the preterite. Sempre, todos os dias, naquela época, and quando era criança often favor the imperfect. They are clues, not mechanical rules.

Step 3: Place the pronoun

A practical beginner rule

In neutral affirmative statements:

• Brazilian Portuguese: the pronoun usually comes before the verb: Eu me levantei cedo. This is proclisis (pronoun before the verb).
• European Portuguese: the pronoun usually follows the verb with a hyphen: Levantei-me cedo. This is enclisis (pronoun after the verb).

The subject pronoun does not change the basic regional preference. Brazilian Ela se vestiu contrasts with European Ela vestiu-se.

Certain words require or strongly favor the pronoun before the verb. The most useful A2 triggers are:

Trigger	Example	Meaning
negation: não, nunca	Não me levantei cedo.	I did not get up early.
question word	Quando se conheceram?	When did they meet?
relative word que	Foi o dia em que nos conhecemos.	It was the day we met.
subordinating word such as quando, porque, se	Quando me levantei, chovia.	When I got up, it was raining.

In these settings, pre-verb placement is standard in both varieties. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, it is also normal to begin an affirmative sentence with an unstressed pronoun: Me levantei cedo. Traditional formal writing may prefer Eu me levantei cedo or another edited structure, depending on house style.

A complete model: levantar-se

The verb endings are the ordinary past-tense endings; the reflexive pronoun does not create a special tense. The table uses common European Portuguese affirmative placement so that the endings remain easy to see.

Person	Preterite	Imperfect
eu	levantei-me	levantava-me
tu	levantaste-te	levantavas-te
ele/ela/você	levantou-se	levantava-se
nós	levantámo-nos (PT) / levantamo-nos (BR, uncommon placement)	levantávamo-nos
vós	levantastes-vos	levantáveis-vos
eles/elas/vocês	levantaram-se	levantavam-se

In Brazil, the same forms are normally heard with the pronoun before the verb: me levantei, te levantaste, se levantou, nos levantamos, se levantaram. Brazilian Portuguese spells the first-person plural preterite levantamos; European Portuguese commonly writes levantámos to distinguish it from the present. In the imperfect, the accent remains: levantávamos.

Notice the European form levantámo-nos. When nos is attached to a first-person-plural form ending in -mos, the final s is dropped: levantámos + nos → levantámo-nos and divertimos + nos → divertimo-nos. With pre-verb placement, no letter is removed: nós nos levantamos.

Reflexive or reciprocal?

Plural nos and se can also be reciprocal, meaning “each other” rather than “ourselves/themselves.” Context decides:

• Nós nos vestimos. — We got dressed (each person dressed themself).
• Nós nos abraçamos. — We hugged each other.
• Conheceram-se ontem. — They met yesterday.

Add um ao outro / uma à outra (“each other”) if you need to make the reciprocal meaning explicit: Eles ajudaram-se um ao outro.

Examples in Context

Portuguese	English	Note
Levantei-me cedo.	I got up early.	Completed event; European-style placement.
Eu me levantei cedo.	I got up early.	Same event; usual Brazilian placement.
Ela vestiu-se depressa.	She got dressed quickly.	Completed action.
Divertimo-nos muito na festa.	We had a lot of fun at the party.	-mos + nos loses the final s.
Conheceram-se ontem.	They met yesterday.	Reciprocal meaning: “met each other.”
Quando era criança, deitava-me cedo.	When I was a child, I used to go to bed early.	Imperfect for a past habit.
Naquela época, ela se sentia sozinha.	At that time, she felt lonely.	Brazilian placement; imperfect state.
Enquanto eu me vestia, o telefone tocou.	While I was getting dressed, the phone rang.	Ongoing background interrupted by an event.
Não nos lembrámos do endereço.	We did not remember the address.	Negation puts nos before the verb.
Nunca me arrependi da decisão.	I never regretted the decision.	Nunca triggers pre-verb placement.
Quando se mudaram para Lisboa?	When did they move to Lisbon?	Question word triggers pre-verb se.
Depois do jantar, sentámo-nos na varanda.	After dinner, we sat down on the balcony.	Completed event; European Portuguese.
Todos os verões, nós nos encontrávamos na praia.	Every summer, we used to meet at the beach.	Repeated reciprocal event; Brazilian style.
Ele se esqueceu das chaves.	He forgot the keys.	Esquecer-se de requires de.

Common Mistakes

Leaving out the reflexive pronoun

• Wrong: Eu levantei cedo when you mean “I got up early.”
• Right: Eu me levantei cedo (BR) / Levantei-me cedo (PT).
• Why: Levantar without a reflexive pronoun usually means “to raise/lift” something; levantar-se means “to get up.” In some Brazilian contexts levantar can be used without the pronoun, but keeping it is the safest standard learner pattern.

Using se for every person

• Wrong: Eu se vesti depressa.
• Right: Eu me vesti depressa.
• Why: The pronoun must match the subject: me with eu, te with tu, se with ele/ela/você, and nos with nós.

Putting the pronoun after a negative verb

• Wrong: Não levantei-me cedo.
• Right: Não me levantei cedo.
• Why: Não attracts the pronoun to the position before the verb.

Choosing the preterite for a repeated background habit

• Wrong: Quando era criança, levantei-me cedo todos os dias if describing a general childhood routine.
• Right: Quando era criança, levantava-me cedo todos os dias.
• Why: The imperfect presents a repeated past habit. The preterite is possible only with a bounded period or completed total, for example Durante aquela semana, levantei-me cedo todos os dias.

Forgetting a verb's preposition

• Wrong: Ela se lembrou o nome.
• Right: Ela se lembrou do nome.
• Why: Reflexive lembrar-se normally takes de: lembrar-se de algo. Likewise, esquecer-se de and arrepender-se de keep de in the past.

Applying European hyphenation to Brazilian pre-verb placement

• Wrong: Ela se-vestiu.
• Right: Ela se vestiu (BR) / Ela vestiu-se (PT).
• Why: A hyphen joins a pronoun placed after the verb, not one placed before it.

Usage Notes

European Portuguese normally favors enclisis in a plain affirmative main clause: O Pedro levantou-se. Brazilian Portuguese normally favors proclisis: O Pedro se levantou. This contrast is real, but Portuguese is spoken across many countries and communities, and actual placement varies with register, sentence structure, and local usage. Treat “Brazil before, Portugal after” as a strong beginner guide, not as the whole system.

Portuguese reflexive verbs do not always line up with English verbs containing “myself,” “yourself,” or “themselves.” English says “I got up,” but Portuguese often uses levantei-me / me levantei. Conversely, English “I washed my hands” usually corresponds to Lavei as mãos, not necessarily a reflexive construction. Learn the Portuguese verb together with its pronoun and any required preposition: lembrar-se de, queixar-se de, apaixonar-se por.

Some verbs change meaning with se. Ir means “to go,” while ir-se embora means “to leave/go away”; sentir can mean “to feel or perceive something,” while sentir-se describes how someone feels: Ela sentiu o vento versus Ela sentiu-se cansada. The past tense does not remove that difference.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master every clitic-placement rule at A2, but you will encounter more complex patterns. A clitic is a short pronoun that depends phonologically on a nearby verb; Portuguese me, te, se, nos, vos behave this way.

With compound past forms, the pronoun attaches to or stands by the auxiliary verb (the helping verb), not the past participle: European Portuguese Eu tinha-me levantado and Brazilian Portuguese Eu tinha me levantado mean “I had gotten up.” After a trigger, European Portuguese uses Eu não me tinha levantado. Forms such as tinha levantado-me are not the standard pattern.

A sequence may combine the imperfect and preterite to show background and interruption: Eu estava a vestir-me quando a campainha tocou (common PT) or Eu estava me vestindo quando a campainha tocou (common BR), “I was getting dressed when the doorbell rang.” Here the progressive construction adds another regional contrast, while the completed interruption remains in the preterite.

The pronoun se has jobs beyond reflexive and reciprocal meaning. It can help form impersonal and passive-like constructions, as in Venderam-se todas as entradas (“All the tickets were sold”). That se does not mean that the tickets sold themselves. To interpret it, ask whether the subject can realistically act on itself and whether the sentence instead describes an unspecified agent or a passive event.

Finally, edited formal Portuguese follows placement rules more strictly than casual Brazilian speech. Literature may also use patterns that sound elevated or old-fashioned in conversation. Recognition is more useful than imitation until you have a firm regional model.

Practice Tips

1. Build tense pairs. Take five routine verbs—levantar-se, vestir-se, deitar-se, lembrar-se, and divertir-se—and write one completed event and one past habit for each: Ontem levantei-me às sete versus Naquela época, levantava-me às sete.
2. Choose a regional production model. Rewrite each sentence in common Brazilian or European placement, then read the other version for recognition: ela se vestiu ↔ ela vestiu-se. Do not mix models randomly in the same exercise.
3. Mark the trigger first. In sentences containing não, nunca, quando, or que, underline that word before placing the pronoun: Nunca me esqueci. This turns pronoun position into a visible pattern rather than a guess.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Preterite (Pretérito Perfeito) — supplies the completed-past forms used with reflexive pronouns.
• Useful contrast: Imperfect Tense — helps distinguish a completed reflexive event from a past habit, state, or action in progress.