Imperfect Past
The Portuguese word 'pretérito' is an adjective that means 'what has passed.'
It is used instead of the word 'past' in the Portuguese past tenses (pretérito perfeito, pretérito imperfeito, pretérito mais-que-perfeito, etc).
We use the imperfect past (pretérito imperfeito) to talk about:
- Time in the past:
- Eram 10 horas quando… (It was 10 o'clock when…)
- Age in the past:
- Quando tinha 6 anos… (When I was 6 years old…)Notice the verb “ter” (to have) is used to tell the age in Portuguese.
- Descriptions of the past:
- 👩🏫 A minha professora primária era muito simpática. (My elementary teacher was very nice.)
- Prolonged actions in the past:
- ☎️ Antigamente, não tínhamos telemóveis. (In the old days, we didn't have cell phones.)
- Habitual actions in the past:
- 🏊 Quando era jovem praticava desporto. (When I was young I played sports.)
- The future from a past time standpoint:
- 🔮 Eu sabia que ias dizer isso. (I knew you were going to/would say that.)
The rest of this lesson is for Plus members
Era, tinha, fazia. The Portuguese imperfect for age, description, habit and past time, and the polite podia and gostava it also gives you.
- Level A2–B1