A Portuguese verb form can appear in a simple tense (only the main verb) or in a compound tense, which is a combination of an auxiliary verb and the past participle of the main verb.
The most common verbo auxiliarauxiliary verb used in tempos compostoscompound tenses is the verb ter. For example:
Ele tem vindo ao café todos os diasHe has been coming to the café every day
The verb haver is another option. For example:
Ele há vindo aqui todos os diasHe has been coming here every day
However, nowadays, haver has fallen into disuse. Older generations may still use it sometimes, but otherwise it mostly only appears in literature or theater. For that reason, we’ll be focusing primarily on sentences with terto have .
Overview of Compound Tenses (Indicative and Conditional Moods)
In this first Learning Note, we’ll talk about compound tenses in the indicativoindicative mood and the condicionalconditional mood. (The subjunctive mood and the nominal verb forms also have compound tenses, which you will learn about later in this unit.)
Before we begin, here’s a quick overview of what these compound tenses look like, using the past participle escritowritten as an example:
- pretérito perfeito composto do indicativo: tenho escritoI have written
- pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto do indicativo: tinha escritoI had written
- futuro composto do indicativo: terei escritoI will have written
- condicional composto: teria escritoI would have written
Now let’s take a look at these compound tenses one-by-one…
Modo Indicativo
The first 3 we’ll discuss are all in the indicative mood.
Pretérito Perfeito Composto
The pretérito perfeito (simple past tense) expresses a finished action that took place in the past. For example:
Passeei o cãoI walked the dog
The pretérito perfeito composto do indicativo, however, suggests continuity and repetition. It’s something that has been happening. This corresponds to the ‘present perfect continuous’ in English.
Tenho passeado o cãoI've been walking the dog
In the example above, you can see how the pretérito perfeito composto is formed: auxiliary verb in the presente do indicativo tense + the past participle. In this case, we have the auxiliary verb ter (tenho), plus the past participle of the main verb (passeado).
Here’s another example:
Tenho escrito imensoI've been writing a lot
And here’s the one instance in which the pretérito perfeito composto expresses the conclusion of an action:
Tenho dito!I have spoken!
This is a common expression you can use when you have nothing else to say.
Pretérito Mais-que-perfeito Composto
Both the simple and compound forms of the pretérito mais-que-perfeito do indicativo are used to indicate an event that took place in the past before another event. The composto (compound) form is the preferred way and, therefore, the most widely used of the two, especially in oral communication.
Here’s an example:
Quando chegaste, ele já tinha tomado banhoWhen you arrived, he had already taken a shower
For this form, we conjugated the auxiliary verb in the pretérito imperfeito and we combined it with – you guessed it! – the past participle of the main verb. This corresponds to the ‘past perfect’ in English.
Here are a few more examples:
Ele tinha avisado que isto ia acontecerHe had warned that this would happen
Não tínhamos falado desse assunto aindaWe hadn't talked about that subject yet
Futuro Composto
An action in the futuro simples (simple future tense) takes place after the time the utterance is spoken and isn’t related to any other actions.
O Pedro falará no congressoPedro will speak at the conference
In the futuro composto do indicativo, however, the action represented by the verb still takes place in the future, but before another event that already took place. This corresponds to the ‘future perfect’ tense in English.
The auxiliary verb is conjugated in the simple future tense and is followed by the past participle.
Nessa altura, já terei acabado o trabalhoBy that time, I will have finished the job
Não sei se já terei jantado quando chegaresI don't know if I will have had dinner by the time you arrive
As you can see, including the adverb já is very common when using the futuro composto, more so than with the mais-que-perfeito composto.
Condicional Composto
This compound tense is in the modo condicional (conditional mood), which is the mood used for certain hypothetical situations. If you haven’t checked out the Conditional Mood learning note yet, click here for more details. Here are a couple examples to jog your memory:
A Paula disse que comeria assim que chegassePaula said that she would eat once she arrived
Eu dormiria melhor se não fizesses barulhoI would sleep better if you kept quiet
Now, the condicional composto can indicate a past event that would have been possible, if a condition had been met, or can express uncertainty about the facts presented. This corresponds to the ‘conditional perfect’ / ‘third conditional’ in English.
The auxiliary verb is conjugated in the conditional and is followed by the past participle.
Se tivesse estudado mais, teria tido melhores notasIf I had studied more, I would have had better grades
Terias dito o mesmo?Would you have said the same?
Similar to what happens with the simple form, the Portuguese usually prefer to go with the pretérito imperfeito rather than with the condicional.
For example, instead of Se tivéssemos ido para fora do país, não teríamos conseguido voltarIf we had gone abroad, we would not have been able to return we could say Se tivéssemos ido para fora do país, não tínhamos conseguido voltarIf we had gone abroad, we would not have been able to return
Note: While the conditional is officially considered a mood, this is not entirely agreed upon. Some argue that it’s not a mood, but rather a verb tense within the indicativo mood, called futuro do pretérito (future past), which is what it’s called in Brazilian Portuguese. In case you ever come across this term, just remember that it corresponds to the conditional mood in European Portuguese.