-ER Verbs in the Simple Past
Regular verbs in the -ER group include escreverto write and correrto run . Let’s see how they would be conjugated in the pretérito perfeitosimple past :
Indicativo
Nós escrevemos um livroWe wrote a book
- eu escreviI wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito tu escrevesteYou sing.,inf. wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela escreveuHe / She wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito você escreveuyou formal wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito nós escrevemoswe wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas escreveramthey wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês escreveramyou pl. wroteindicativo > pret. perfeito
Indicativo
O cão correu até eleThe dog ran to him
- eu corriI ranindicativo > pret. perfeito tu corresteYou sing.,inf. ranindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela correuHe / She ranindicativo > pret. perfeito você correuyou formal ranindicativo > pret. perfeito nós corremoswe ranindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas correramthey ranindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês correramyou pl. ranindicativo > pret. perfeito
Once you figure out the verb stems, which in this case are escrev- and corr-, you just add the correct ending (-i, -este, -eu, -emos, -eram). Notice that aside from the first person singular, the endings always start with e- for these -ER verbs. This is a good tip to get you started whenever you’re trying to remember the correct conjugations!
Here are couple more examples of common regular -ER verbs:
Indicativo
Tu viveste em Lisboa?Did yousing.,inf. live in Lisbon?
- eu viviI livedindicativo > pret. perfeito tu vivesteYou sing.,inf. livedindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela viveuHe / She livedindicativo > pret. perfeito você viveuyou formal livedindicativo > pret. perfeito nós vivemoswe livedindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas viveramthey livedindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês viveramyou pl. livedindicativo > pret. perfeito
Indicativo
Tu comeste muitoYousing.,inf. ate a lot
- eu comiI ateindicativo > pret. perfeito tu comesteYou sing.,inf. ateindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela comeuHe / She ateindicativo > pret. perfeito você comeuyou formal ateindicativo > pret. perfeito nós comemoswe ateindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas comeramthey ateindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês comeramyou pl. ateindicativo > pret. perfeito
-IR Verbs in the Simple Past
The regular endings for the -IR group are the same as the -ER group, except that they all start with i- instead of e- (-i, -iste, -iu, -imos, -iram).
Some examples of regular verbs in this group are partirto leave, to break , dividirto divide and decidirto decide . Their respective verb stems are part-, divid-, and decid-. Let’s take a look at the conjugations:
Indicativo
Tu partiste o prato da minha avóYou broke my grandmother's plate.
- eu partiI leftindicativo > pret. perfeito tu partisteYou sing.,inf. leftindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela partiuHe / She leftindicativo > pret. perfeito você partiuyou formal leftindicativo > pret. perfeito nós partimoswe leftindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas partiramthey leftindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês partiramyou pl. leftindicativo > pret. perfeito
Indicativo
- eu dividiI sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito tu dividisteYou sing.,inf. sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela dividiuHe / She sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito você dividiuyou formal sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito nós dividimoswe sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas dividiramthey sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês dividiramyou pl. sharedindicativo > pret. perfeito
Indicativo
Ela decidiu mudar de casaShe decided to move out of her house.
- eu decidiI decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito tu decidisteYou sing.,inf. decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito ele / ela decidiuHe / She decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito você decidiuyou formal decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito nós decidimoswe decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito eles / elas decidiramthey decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito vocês decidiramyou pl. decidedindicativo > pret. perfeito
Fantastic, I have never learn’t the simple past before. I found this most helpful and clear for the regular verbs.
Muito obrigada
Laura Parsons
So, the preterite and the present first person plural for ER and IR verbs are the same? i.e. “nós dividimos” can mean either “we divide” or “we divided”? Não gosto disso. 🙂
Yes, for regular ER and IR verbs, the presente do indicativo and pretérito perfeito do indicativo are both the same. So you have to rely on context. Haha, I don’t like it either!
Hello,
So there’s no really difference in pronunciation of ‘dividimos’ (we share/ we shared)? And we can only verify by the context?
Thanks.
Yes, that’s correct 🙂
As a French, I keep thinking that Portuguese is quite similar to French (both are romance languages) but also much simpler.
* conjugations seem simpler (less exceptions, even though there are a few)
* the pronunciation is very logical once we know the rules
* and while French has many doubled letters that are sometimes easy to forget, Portuguese hasn’t (prometer – promettre, coluna – colonne, and so on)
I think Portuguese may well be the easiest language to learn for French people. At least for me, it’s very pleasing 🙂
Olá, Matthieu. I’ve gotten mixed feedback from French speakers in general (maybe some just get frustrated because they can’t shake off the French R pronunciation!), but personally, I agree that there are enough similarities between Portuguese and French to give everyone an easier time 🙂 Just pay attention to false friends such as pourtant/portanto, normalement/normalmente, or ressenti/ressentir, and be careful with how you pronounce “au”, “eu” and “ou” in Portuguese!
I’ve also noticed the similarities between French and Portuguese, having studied French for many years in school. I personally find Portuguese harder, with a lot of tongue twisting pronunciation scenarios, as well as being harder to understand the spoken language with the way Portuguese “smushes” words together. I do remember though that verb conjugation in French was nasty.
I agree, although the French drop a lot of vowels and syllables and elide their words. And all the slang is hard to keep up with
Having just started learning verbs in preterite simple form and being totally confused, I found this quite refreshing to see with the explanations.
In the previous section both pensei and achei are used for I thought. Excuse the pun but I thought the verb achar was to dings and not to think.
Could you explain why the two verbs are used to describe the same past action? There is no explanation in the section.
Thanks.
Sure! The two verbs overlap to an extent, but pensar relates more to the act itself of thinking, while achar refers more to a specific opinion you hold. Here’s an example of a case where they overlap:
– O que acha o Pedro dos seus colegas?
– O que pensa o Pedro dos/sobre os seus colegas?
(What does Pedro think about his colleagues?)
An example where they don’t:
– Estou a pensar em ti. (I’m thinking about you)
– Estou a achar em ti. (gibberish)
‘Achar’ may also mean to find, both in a literal and in a subjective sense. For example:
– Achei aquilo que procurava! (I found what I was looking for!)
– Achei o filme demasiado longo. (I found the movie too long)
Is bastante a word that sometimes means enough and other times means a lot?
Eu aprendi bastante = I learned a lot, or I learned enough?
Obrigado!
Yes, “bastante” can have both meanings, also depending on its function in the sentence. As an adverb, the default meaning is “plenty”/”a lot”, but as a noun, it would be “enough”, for example. Here’s a helpful Learning Note on this subject: Bastante, Quase, and Realmente | Practice Portuguese