The Pretérito perfeito

📌 Nota gramatical

The Pretérito Perfeito Simples (simple past) is used to describe completed actions that happened at a specific moment in the past. It views the action as a finished event with a clear beginning and end.

📌 Nota gramatical

To conjugate regular -ar verbs in the preterit, remove the -ar and add: -ei (eu), -aste (tu), -ou (ele/ela/você), -ámos (nós), -astes (veles/vós), -aram (eles/elas/vocês). Note the accent on the 1st person plural -ámos.

📌 Nota gramatical

For regular -er verbs, remove the -er and add: -i (eu), -este (tu), -eu (ele/ela/você), -emos (nós), -estes (vós/vês), -eram (eles/elas/vocês). Note that the nós form (-emos) is identical to the present tense form.

📌 Nota gramatical

For regular -ir verbs, remove the -ir and add: -i (eu), -iste (tu), -iu (ele/ela/você), -imos (nós), -istes (vós), -iram (eles/elas/vocês). Note that the eu form and the nós form (-imos) are identical to the present tense.

📌 Nota gramatical

The verbs 'ser' (to be) and 'ir' (to go) share the exact same conjugation in the Pretérito Perfeito Simples: fui, foste, foi, fomos, fostes, foram. Context clarifies which verb is intended.

📌 Nota gramatical

The verb 'ter' is highly irregular in the past. It shifts its root to 'tiv-' and takes strong endings: tive, tiveste, teve, tivemos, tivestes, tiveram. Note the lack of written accents on these forms.

📌 Nota gramatical

Similar to 'ter', the verb 'estar' adopts the stem 'estiv-' in the preterit: estive, estiveste, esteve, estivemos, estivestes, estiveram. Pay close attention to the vowel changes in the root.

📌 Nota gramatical

The verb 'fazer' changes its root to 'fiz-' in the past, except for the third-person singular ('fez'), which uses an 'e'. Paradigm: fiz, fizeste, fez, fizemos, fizestes, fizeram.

📌 Nota gramatical

The verb 'dar' has a short, unique paradigm with an 'ei' diphthong in the first person: dei, deste, deu, demos, destes, deram. Note that 'demos' has an open 'e' sound.

📌 Nota gramatical

The verb 'dizer' transforms with a 'ss' sound in the stem: disse, dissete (or usually dissem/disteste in some dialects, but standard is 'disteste'), disse, dissemos, dissetes, disseram. Note the double 's'.

📌 Nota gramatical

Certain time markers naturally trigger the Pretérito Perfeito because they point to specific, finished points or blocks of time in the past: ontem (yesterday), anteontem (day before yesterday), na semana passada (last week), antigamente (formerly/used to - though imperfect too), naquele dia (that day).

📌 Nota gramatical

At A2, learn that the Pretérito Perfeito is for a finished, single action that interrupts or happens, while the Pretérito Imperfeito is for background descriptions, ongoing past states, or habits.