Surprise surprise!

Do you know what constipado means in Portuguese? Probably not what you are thinking...

Get a list of 50+ English-Portuguese False Friends and be surprised.

Magnet False Friends

Passés portugais – Récapitulatif d’utilisation ancré à l’anglais

In this article, we will look at the Portuguese equivalents of the English Past Simple, Past Continuous, and Past Perfect tenses.

Lesson #36 Preterite - Portuguesepedia
Lesson #41 Imperfect - Portuguesepedia
Lesson #65 Past Continuous Equivalent - Portuguesepedia

Voici quelques lectures analogues sur le Présent et Avenir temps :
Temps présents en portugais – Récapitulatif d’utilisation ancré à l’anglais
Temps du futur portugais – Récapitulatif d’utilisation ancré à l’anglais

j'utiliserai le verbe dormir (dormir) pour tous les exemples ci-dessous :

Dormir | Preterite
Pretérito Perfeito
Dormir | Imperfect
Pretérito Imperfeito
Eudormidormia
Tudormistedormias
Ele, eladormiudormia
Nósdormimosdormíamos
Vocês
Eles, elas
dormiramdormiam
Present participle
Gerúndio
dormindo
Past participle
Particípio passado
dormido

Passé simple

There are two Past tenses* that often map onto the English Past simple, namely the Preterite (Pretérito Perfeito) et le Imperfect (Pretérito Imperfeito).

Cela déroute souvent les apprenants dont la langue maternelle n'a pas cette nuance tendue (anglais inclus). Essayons alors de comprendre cela.

* These are technically called “verb aspects” as there’s only one Past tense.

Preterite – Completed Actions

We use the Preterite to talk about past actions that are completed and well delimited in time: 

A Raquel dormiu até às 10 da manhã.
Raquel slept until 10 in the morning.

Comme vous pouvez le voir ci-dessus, le Prétérit (dormiu) se traduit au passé simple (slept) En anglais.

Further, we can also use a compound verb structure with the auxiliary verb estar in the Preterite followed by the preposition a and the action verb in the Infinitive without any substantial change in meaning:

A Raquel esteve a dormir até às 10 da manhã.
Raquel was sleeping until 10 in the morning.

Finally, note that we also use the Preterite in situations where, in English, we use the Present Perfect:

Get my guide "Key Strategies to Learn Portuguese" for FREE.

Magnet Key Strategies

Olá! I'm Pedro and I'm your Portuguese teacher.

Learning European Portuguese? Portuguesepedia is an all-in-one platform providing a wealth of learning resources, from bite-sized video lessons to immersive idiomatic dips. Perfect your pronunciation and listening comprehension with listening drills and solidify your grammar with in-depth articles. Start your Portuguese journey today!

Share this article

Get my guide "Key Strategies to Learn Portuguese" for FREE.

Magnet Key Strategies