Tense (past, present, future)

To write successfully in Portuguese, you need to learn the verb tenses. Tense refers to when an event takes place—whether it happened in the past, is happening in the present, or will happen in the future. This information is mainly expressed through verb endings (e.g.: ela falará, “she will speak”) or through combinations of an auxiliary verb and another verb form (e.g.: ela tem falado, eu vou sair).

Within the broad categories of past, present, and future, there are also more specific tenses that allow for finer distinctions in time. These include:

Past

• Preterite (pretérito perfeito) – describes a completed action
  e.g.: falei “I spoke”

• Imperfect (pretérito imperfeito) – describes a past situation or habitual action
  e.g.: falava “I was speaking / used to speak”

• Pluperfect (mais-que-perfeito) – describes an action completed before another past action
  e.g.: tinha falado “I had spoken”

Present

• Present (presente) – describes a current or general action
  e.g.: falo “I speak”

• Present progressive – describes an action in progress at the moment of speaking
  e.g.: estou a comer “I am eating”

Future

• Simple future (futuro simples) – describes a future action
  e.g.: falarei “I will speak”

• Periphrastic future – describes a future action using ir + infinitive
  e.g.: vou falar “I am going to speak”

• Future perfect (futuro composto) – describes an action that will be completed before another future action
  e.g.: terei falado “I will have spoken”