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Regular -AR Verbs in the Simple Past

The English simple past tense (e.g. “I went”, “We ate”, “You finished”) corresponds to the Portuguese pretérito perfeitosimple past .
As with the present tense, conjugating regular Portuguese verbs in this tense is easier once you learn the patterns for each verb group.
Examples of some regular verbs in the -AR group include falarto speak , gostarto like , and andarto walk .
Let’s see the conjugations for the latter:

Indicativo

Eu andei na tua escolaI went to your school, I was a student in your school

    eu andeiI walked tu andasteYou sing.,inf. walked ele / ela andouHe / She walked você andouyou formal walked nós andámoswe walked eles / elas andaramthey walked vocês andaramyou pl. walked

To conjugate other regular -AR verbs in this tense, you just have to figure out the verb stem (in this case, and-) and then add the correct endings (-ei, -aste, -ou, -ámos, -aram). Remember, the verb stem ends just before the last vowel of the verb in its infinitive form. For example, the verb stem of passearto walk is passe-, not pass-.
To conjugate the verb comprarto buy , we would take the verb stem compr- and add the regular endings to get the following:

Indicativo

Eu comprei um livro na livrariaI bought a book at the bookstore

    eu compreiI bought tu comprasteYou sing.,inf. bought ele / ela comprouHe / She bought você comprouyou formal bought nós comprámoswe bought eles / elas compraramthey bought vocês compraramyou pl. bought

A Note on Pronunciation

You’ll notice with -AR verbs that there is a subtle difference between the 1st person plural conjugations in the present tense versus the simple past tense. The spellings are the same, except for an accent on the a (-amos vs. -ámos). The accent tells you that it’s in the simple past tense and that you need to open the vowel.
The a (without an accent) sounds similar to the vowel sound in the English word cut, whereas the á (with an accent) is open and sounds more like the “ah” sound in the English word father. (Note: We’re referring to “standard” American English with these comparisons, and they are just approximations. Rely on the audio examples for more precise Portuguese pronunciation. 😉)
Listen to these examples a few times to try to hear the distinction between the present and past tense pronunciations:
falamoswe speak
falámoswe spoke
Nós ficamos aquiWe stay here
Ficámos muito zangadosWe got very angry

More Examples of Regular -AR Verbs in the Simple Past

Indicativo

Ela olhou para mim na festaShe looked at me at the party.

    eu olheiI looked tu olhasteYou sing.,inf. looked ele / ela olhouHe / She looked você olhouyou formal looked nós olhámoswe looked eles / elas olharamthey looked vocês olharamyou pl. looked

Indicativo

Eles perguntaram por tiThey asked about you.

    eu pergunteiI asked tu perguntasteYou sing.,inf. asked ele / ela perguntouHe / She asked você perguntouyou formal asked nós perguntámoswe asked eles / elas perguntaramthey asked vocês perguntaramyou pl. asked

Indicativo

    eu ajudeiI helped tu ajudasteYou sing.,inf. helped ele / ela ajudouHe / She helped você ajudouyou formal helped nós ajudámoswe helped eles / elas ajudaramthey helped vocês ajudaramyou pl. helped

Indicativo

Eu ensinei a minha irmã a contarI taught my sister how to count.

    eu ensineiI taught tu ensinasteYou sing.,inf. taught ele / ela ensinouHe / She taught você ensinouyou formal taught nós ensinámoswe taught eles / elas ensinaramthey taught vocês ensinaramyou pl. taught

Comments

  • Nice and logical (so far … I know the irregular verbs will come and bite us on the bum one day!).
    To combat rising panic when learning new stuff in Portuguese, I try to focus on understanding it rather than remembering it — on the basis that remembering it will come eventually through practice.
    Thank you, as always, for the clear explanations.

  • For plural, -amos vs. -ámos, I suspect additional exercises will be needed… unless you simply don’t use it as much as the others and thus the inaccuracy isn’t a major communications problem.

    • Thank you for your feedback! It’s important to know the difference between the two, because it’s transversal to a huge amount of verbs and involves two fundamental tenses (simple present, simple past). At the same time, this never really causes any significant communication problems.

      In writing, the accent mark makes things truly simple. Once you memorize that accent = simple past, you’re all set. In verbal communication, native/very fluent speakers will generally be aware of which tense makes more sense in context and if they hear the wrong thing, they can easily overwrite it mentally or just ask the person to clarify. In Brazil, they don’t use the accent in the past tense and they pronounce everything the same. They still do just fine 🙂 The struggle is bigger for Portuguese learners – and we’ll keep you in mind.

  • Thx, easy intellectually. I still think we need 50 to 100 examples, back-to-back for easy comparisons. Perhaps you could record a shorty…We are, then we were

    • “Sabia” is a conjugation of the pretérito imperfeito (past imperfect), while “soube” is in the pretérito perfeito (simple past). We tend to use “soube” more to refer to the moment where you learn something new, and “sabia” more for already acquired (or not) knowledge.
      Eu soube que tu costumavas desenhar. Eu não sabia disso antes! (I’ve found out that you used to draw. I didn’t know this before!)
      Eu sabia que ele ia ganhar! (I knew that he was going to win!)
      Eusoube daquilo ontem. (I’ve only found out about that yesterday)

  • Interesting that Spanish uses the same ending for first person plural conjugations for both simple present and simple past for AR verbs (-amos) and IR verbs (-imos), while ER verbs get different endings (-emos for present and -imos for past). You have to wonder what the language police were thinking when they came up with all their rules! 🙂

  • In the singular first and third person, which syllable is being emphasized in the verb? I know the rule is “generally the penultimate syllable unless there’s an accent,” but I keep listening and think I’m hearing that in some, the -ou or -ei are getting more emphasis. Perhaps it’s just that they are more open vowel sounds. Any insight you have would be appreciated. Thanks!!

    • Olá, Bob. In this tense, the singular first and third person conjugations are stressed on the last syllable, which goes against the rule of thumb you mentioned (don’t hold it to heart, as you’ll probably find many other cases where it doesn’t apply!) 🙂

      • I don’t know the rules of syllabification in Portuguese yet, but is it possible that the ei and ou aren’t diphthongs, but the words are being accented on a penultimate syllable e and o?

        • Good thinking! Here’s a link to our Learning Note on vowel pronunciation where you can see the exceptions to the rule (under the “Stress” section). Diphthongs are one of the exceptions, and I believe the examples here would indeed be considered diphthongs (but occasionally two vowels together will be pronounced separately, like in the word rainha). It’s possible that this is the reason for the exception, though. Pronunciation changes over time, so in the past maybe some of these diphthongs were actually pronounced as separate vowels.

  • Joseph, I’m glad to hear I wasn’t imagining what I thought I heard! Having studied Spanish, this is actually familiar — the singular forms use the same endings (aurally not orthographically) and the emphasis is in the sample place in both languages as well. I’m delighted when I find something is easy. Thanks.

    • You’re welcome! I believe your Spanish knowledge will come in handy many more times in the future 🙂

  • This might be because I’m ancient (70) and not hearing properly. Is the first person singular ending for regular AR verbs pronounced like a long A sound in English as in BAY or more like the sound of the English word “eye?” Or a combination of the two? I’ve imagined I’ve heard it both ways. Can you clarify for this old man? Obrigado/merci/thanks/gura mile maith agat, et al. None of my other nine languages help me much, but I’m determined to learn and speak properly before we move.

    • Olá, Patrick. In general, we can describe it as a combination of the two. Closer to “eye” in the typical Lisbon accent (which is what you hear the most on this website and on Portuguese media), but more similar to “ay” in certain regional accents (e.g. Northern Portugal), or sounding simply like “eh” in others (e.g. Alentejo). So, it’s normal if you’ve heard it with varying pronunciations – they’re all possible! We’ve also talked about this on our forum: Help with pronunciation of “ei”

      • Obrigado, O Senhor Lambert. Eu aprendi bastante! These lessons are the best! We will settle in Tomar in January, if all goes well; I’ll listen and learn carefully.

        • De nada, Patrick. Small correction: it’s just “senhor Lambert” (and with me, just Joseph is absolutely fine). Tomar is a lovely town, great choice!

  • I don’t know if i am the only one but I don’t get well the difference of pronunciation between the verb FALAR conjuguate at the 1st person of the plural (NOS). I can hear there is a difference but I don’t manage to do it 🙁 it seems to be FALEMOS (with the “e” like “eu” for french speaker) and FALAMOS….but it sounds strange when I try to repeat as well….
    DO you have any tricks that could help me?
    Thanks a lot!

    • You’re referring to falamos vs falámos. The main difference is that the 2nd is more open than the 1st!
      Trying to use french words to compare both sounds I’d say that the a in falAmos could be similar to the eu sound in “bEUrre”. The á in falÁmos sounds more like the french preposition “à”. The e in FalEmos sounds like the french “et”.

  • Ola
    For ajudaram and the others 3rd person plural, is the ending pronunciation similar to that of French word “ballon”?
    Thanks for your excellent site
    Les

  • Like the present tense the pattern of simple past is simple to figure out, now to putting in to actual practice should be interesting. I’d comment for the american english that the ” a ” versus the “á ” would be more like our ” am” for the unaccented “a” as in lamb rather than the “cut” example.

    • ACHAR is more associated with an opinion/consideration or judgment thinking (Ex.: Eu acho que sim = I think so). It can also mean “to find” as in finding someone or something that was lost or even as in finding an opinion on something (Ex.: Eu acho que é divertido = I find it interesting).
      PENSAR is mostly thinking, and may be related to opinion making as well (Eu penso que sim = I think so).
      In English you can either say, for example, “I think it’s funny” or “I find it funny”.
      So, within this meaning ACHAR and PENSAR work the same way, with the same meaning. Verbs like CONSIDERAR (to consider) or JULGAR (to judge) can also be used in order to translate an opinion.
      Example: Eu considero que sim / Eu julgo que sim / Eu penso que sim / Eu acho que sim. They all have the same meaning: I think so.

  • Hiya, thank you for this website you created. I wanted to inquire if you have a section or resource dedicated to all the tenses in European Portuguese? A table showing all the tenses in one place with short explanations and rules?
    I believe that apart from the tenses mentioned in the verbs section (Indicativo: Presente, Pretérito, Imperfeito, Futuro; Conjuntivo: Presente, Imperfeito, Futuro, and Imperativo), there are more tenses. If yes, what are those? Thank you.

    • Olá! Thank you for your comment 🙂 We do have a Verbs section, with a selection of hundreds of the most useful verbs. You’ll see their conjugations and also drill them through exercises. All the moods & tenses you mentioned are covered – the only one missing from your list (and also from this section) is the conditional mood, which has its own unit: The Conditional Mood. For additional explanations & rules for some of the tenses, you should also take a look at their dedicated units. The Verbs section is more focused on drilling the conjugations themselves.

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