Not long ago, I wrote about Portuguese regular verbs and conjugation patterns in the present tense. Now it is time to do the same for the past tense – for both the preterite and imperfect conjugations (pretérito perfeito and pretérito imperfeito correspondingly).

As you’ll see, the preterite and imperfect are “less irregular” than the present tense – there are fewer irregular verbs and no spelling adjustments for regular verbs. 

Let’s get started.

Here’s the analogous article for the present tense: Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Present Tense.

Note! This article is exclusively about conjugation patterns for the preterite and imperfect tenses. Here’s a read for you in case you want to dive into their usage: Portuguese Perfect vs. Imperfect Tense: Know When to Use Which.

• Preterite
• Imperfect

Preterite (Pretérito perfeito)

Regular conjugation

To conjugate Portuguese regular verbs in the preterite tense, remove the infinitive form’s ending – either –ar, –er, or –ir –  and add, instead, the following endings to the stem (as marked in bold):

	1st conjugation: -ar (falar)	2nd conjugation: -er (correr)	3rd conjugation: -ir (domir)
Eu	falei	corri	dormi
Tu	falaste	correste	dormiste
Ele, ela, você	falou	correu	dormiu
Nós	falamos	corremos	dormimos
Vocês	falaram	correram	dormiram
Eles, elas	falaram	correram	dormiram

Irregular cases

Here’re preterite’s irregular verbs:

	eu, tu, ela, nós, vocês/elas
ser	fui, foste, foi, fomos, foram
ir	fui, foste, foi,  fomos, foram
estar	estive, estiveste, esteve, estivemos, estiveram
ter	tive, tiveste, teve, tivemos, tiveram
pôr (repor, transpor, compor, etc)	pus, puseste, pôs, pusemos, puseram
haver	houve (third-person only)
dar	dei, deste, deu, demos, deram
fazer	fiz, fizeste, fez, fizemos, fizeram
querer	quis, quiseste, quis, quisemos quiseram
dizer	disse, disseste, disse, dissemos, disseram
poder	pude, pudeste, pôde, pudemos, puderam
vir	vim, vieste, veio, viemos, vieram
ver	vi, viste, viu, vimos, viram
sair	saí, saíste, saiu, saímos, saíram
cair	caí, caíste, caiu, caímos, caíram
saber	soube, soubeste, soube, soubemos, souberam
trazer	trouxe, trouxeste, trouxe, trouxemos, trouxeram

It is worth noticing that ser and ir share the same verb forms in the preterite (discernment between them is left to context).

Likewise, the verbs ter and estar share a de facto pronunciation. Accordingly, we tend not to pronounce estar’s first syllable – (es)tou, (es)tás, etc. – in everyday life, casual speech.  

Reading tips! Make sure you keep an eye out for high-frequency irregular verbs: Portuguese Must-Know Irregular Verbs.

Imperfect (Pretérito imperfeito)

Regular conjugation

Here’re the conjugation patterns for Portuguese regular verbs in the imperfect tense:

	1st conjugation: -ar (falar)	2nd conjugation: -er (correr)	3rd conjugation: -ir (domir)
Eu	falava	corria	dormia
Tu	falavas	corrias	dormias
Ele, ela, você	falava	corria	dormia
Nós	falávamos	corríamos	dormíamos
Vocês	falavam	corriam	dormiam
Eles, elas	falavam	corriam	dormiam

Notice that the second and third conjugations share the same endings in the imperfect.

Also, the first-person plural of the imperfect tense is always stressed on the third-last syllable, thus the acute accent mark.

Reading tips! Learn more about Portuguese accent marks and word stress: Portuguese Word Stress and Accent Marks.

Irregular cases

The imperfect tense has even fewer irregular verbs than the preterite – there are only four of them:

	eu, tu, ela, nós, vocês/elas
ser	era, eras, era, éramos, eram
ter	tinha, tinhas, tinha, tínhamos, tinham
vir	vinha, vinhas, vinha, vínhamos, vinham
pôr (repor, transpor, compor, etc)	punha, punhas, punha, púnhamos, punham

Reading tips! Here’re a few more reads about Portuguese verbs that you may want to take a look at:

• Portuguese Gerund: Progressive Tenses and Beyond
• Portuguese Verb Tenses and Moods Explained: A Usage Rundown Anchored to English
• Portuguese Personal Infinitive: What Is It and When to Use It